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Journey to Healing:
Trauma • People-Pleasing • Relationships • Dissociation
Healing from trauma isn’t easy—but you don’t have to figure it out alone. This blog is a safe place to explore what it really means to recover from childhood wounds, break free from people-pleasing, and navigate the ups and downs of relationships after trauma.
As a trauma therapist serving women in North Dakota and Minnesota, I share insights, tools, and real-talk guidance about topics like:
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Understanding the effects of trauma on the nervous system and relationships
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Finding freedom from anxiety, guilt, and shame
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Supporting healing if you live with dissociation or Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID)
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Practical strategies to set boundaries, care for yourself, and move forward
Whether you’re searching for hope, wanting to understand yourself better, or curious about therapy, you’re in the right place. Healing is possible—let’s take this journey together.
The Science of Trauma: How it Shapes the Brain, Body, and Behavior
Trauma can lead to a dysregulated nervous system, where we either become hypervigilant (anxious, on edge) or hypo-aroused (numb, shut down). These aren’t signs of weakness. They’re your body’s way of keeping you safe.
Aug 122 min read
Trauma & the Workplace: How Unresolved Wounds Show UP on the Job
These aren’t personality flaws. They’re coping mechanisms that may have once protected you—especially if you experienced emotional neglect, high-conflict homes, or environments where safety, approval, or worth were conditional.
Aug 52 min read
Cultural Perspectives on Trauma Healing
Healing from trauma isn’t one-size-fits-all. Our backgrounds, traditions, and communities shape the way we make meaning from pain—and how we recover from it. Western psychology often focuses on individual healing. But many cultures emphasize collective care, ancestral wisdom, and spiritual practices.
Jul 291 min read
How People-Pleasing Hides in Trauma Responses
What Is the Fawn Response?
It’s a lesser-known trauma response where someone copes by appeasing others to avoid danger, conflict, or rejection. It’s rooted in the belief: If I’m helpful, quiet, and agreeable, I’ll stay safe.
Jul 251 min read
Trauma And Creativity - How Expression Supports Healing
Healing from trauma isn’t always about talking it out. Sometimes, healing speaks through images, movement, rhythm, or color. Creativity offers a path to access emotions and memories that words alone can’t reach.
Jul 221 min read
Community Support and Healing
You don’t need a huge circle—just a few safe, present people who hold space for your healing. Trauma may have taught you that you had to go it alone. Healing reminds you: you don't.
Jul 151 min read
The Role of Nutrition in Trauma Recovery
Healing from trauma requires care for both your emotional and physical well-being. While therapy and support are essential, nutrition can also play a surprisingly powerful role in your recovery process. Trauma doesn’t just impact your thoughts—it affects your body, especially your nervous system, immune function, and gut health.
Jul 81 min read
Understanding & Managing Flashbacks
Flashbacks are involuntary, intrusive experiences where past trauma resurfaces in a way that feels like it's happening all over again. For some, it's visual—seeing scenes from a traumatic event. For others, it's more emotional or sensory—smelling something familiar, feeling panic without explanation, or noticing your body stiffen or freeze.
Jul 12 min read
Parenting After Trauma: Breaking Cycles and Building Connection
If you’re a trauma survivor raising children, you may feel the weight of wanting to do things differently—wanting to break generational cycles, show up with more patience, and build a safe and nurturing environment for your child. And yet, old wounds can sneak in. Your nervous system may feel constantly on high alert. You may second-guess yourself often. You may feel overwhelmed by your child’s emotions—especially if you were never taught how to handle your own.
Jun 242 min read
Trauma and Spirituality: How Faith and Spiritual Practices Can Support Healing
Trauma can challenge core beliefs about safety, trust, and the world’s fairness. It may leave survivors feeling lost, abandoned, or disconnected—not only from themselves and others but also from their spiritual beliefs. Some may question their faith or feel anger toward a higher power. Others might find new or renewed spiritual meaning that helps them rebuild and find peace.
Jun 172 min read
Navigating Grief After Trauma: Exploring the Complexities and Finding Healing
Trauma survivors often experience grief not only for what was lost but also for the ways trauma has changed their lives, relationships, and sense of self.
Understanding these complexities is an important step toward healing and reclaiming hope.
Jun 102 min read
How EMDR Helps with Complex Trauma: What to Expect in a Session
EMDR is a therapeutic approach developed to help individuals process traumatic memories by using bilateral stimulation. The goal of EMDR is to desensitize the emotional charge attached to these memories, allowing them to be processed and integrated in a healthier way.
While it was initially developed for PTSD, EMDR has proven effective for many types of trauma, including complex trauma. By reprocessing distressing memories, EMDR helps individuals reduce the emotional intensit
May 274 min read
What CPT Therapy Is and How It Helps with Trauma Recovery
At the core of CPT is the idea that trauma can distort our thinking patterns, leading to negative beliefs about ourselves, others, and the world. These distorted thoughts, also known as "stuck points," can prevent healing and cause individuals to feel trapped in the trauma’s grip. Through CPT, clients work to identify these stuck points, challenge them, and replace them with healthier, more balanced perspectives.
May 204 min read
The Connection Between Childhood Trauma and Dissociation in Adulthood
At its core, dissociation is a protective response. It’s the mind’s way of disconnecting from something too painful, overwhelming, or threatening to fully process at the time. Dissociation can show up in many different ways, such as:
Feeling numb or emotionally "shut off"
Losing chunks of time (memory gaps)
Feeling like you’re outside of your body
Detaching from your surroundings (feeling like the world isn’t real)
Zoning out during stressful situations
May 162 min read
IFS Therapy Explained: How Getting to Know Your Parts Can Help You Heal
In IFS, "parts" are inner voices or subpersonalities that each carry their own perspective and role. You might recognize some of your parts without even realizing it—like the part of you that gets super anxious before a big event, the part that criticizes you when you make a mistake, or the part that pushes you to achieve and succeed.
May 133 min read
Why People-Pleasing Isn’t Just ‘Being Nice’—It’s a Trauma Response
One of the most important truths I want you to hear is this: You are not broken. Your people-pleasing isn’t a flaw—it’s a brilliant protective strategy that helped you survive. But patterns that kept us safe in the past can hold us back in the present.
Healing begins when we can approach these parts of ourselves with compassion. We can start learning that our needs matter too. That saying “no” doesn’t make us selfish. That we are allowed to take up space, have boundaries, & p
May 112 min read
Why Relationships Feel Hard When You Have a History of Trauma
When you've been hurt in the past, especially by people you trusted, it changes the way you view the world. Trauma can plant deep-seated beliefs like, “I’m not safe,” “I can’t trust anyone,” or “I’m not good enough.” Even when you consciously know a relationship is safe, your nervous system might still stay on high alert, scanning for signs of danger.
It’s not about being "too sensitive" or "overreacting." It's your brain and body doing their best to protect you based on p
May 62 min read
Debunking Common Myths About Dissociation
The truth is, dissociation is a natural response to overwhelming stress or trauma, and many people experience it to some degree.
Apr 292 min read
No, You're Not Broken: The Truth About Living with Complex Trauma
Let me be clear: You are not broken. What you’re experiencing is the impact of complex trauma, and there is a reason for everything you feel
Apr 222 min read
Triggers in Relationships: Why You're Not Overreacting
It’s not just about what’s happening right now; it’s about everything that moment reminds your nervous system of.
Apr 182 min read
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