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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.
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
You’re Not Broken—You’re Conditioned: Rewriting the People-Pleasing Narrative
People-pleasing isn’t a character flaw. It’s a survival strategy—one your nervous system learned to rely on when you were younger, often in response to trauma, emotional neglect, or unsafe relationships. When being yourself didn’t feel safe, you learned to be who others needed you to be. When setting boundaries led to rejection or punishment, you learned to stay quiet and go along to get along.
You adapted in the best ways you could, not to manipulate or seek attention—but t
Jun 62 min read
Understanding the Different Types of Dissociation: It’s More Than Just Spacing Out
Dissociation is a way your mind disconnects from reality to protect you from intense distress. It can involve feeling detached from your thoughts, body, emotions, or surroundings. While mild dissociation, like drifting off during a boring meeting, happens to most people occasionally, chronic or severe dissociation is often rooted in trauma.
Jun 32 min read
How Dissociation Can Affect Your Daily Life Without You Realizing It
Dissociation is a natural defense mechanism that allows your mind to disconnect from overwhelming thoughts, feelings, or experiences. It’s often linked to trauma, but it can also occur in response to stress, anxiety, or even boredom. While dissociation serves as a protective response, it can interfere with your ability to fully engage in life and cause disruptions in your emotional and physical well-being.
May 304 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 ‘Feeling Numb’ Really Means: A Look at Emotional Dissociation
Emotional dissociation is a psychological phenomenon where a person feels disconnected or detached from their emotions, thoughts, or even their sense of identity. It’s as if your mind and body are no longer on the same page, causing you to feel like you're outside of yourself. This disconnection can manifest in a variety of ways, from feeling numb to having difficulty experiencing joy or sadness, or even forgetting certain events or aspects of your life.
May 234 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
5 Subtle Signs You Might Be a People-Pleaser
These patterns were likely learned, not chosen—and that means they can be unlearned too. Healing from people-pleasing isn’t about becoming selfish or cold—it’s about coming back to yourself with love, boundaries, and a voice that’s finally heard.
May 183 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
Grounding Techniques That Actually Work When You're Dissociating
When you're caught in dissociation, it can feel like there’s no easy way back to the here and now. The good news is: it is possible to ground yourself again—and you don’t have to figure it out alone. Let's talk about some grounding techniques that actually work when you're dissociating.
May 93 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
How Dissociation Shows Up in Romantic Relationships
This isn’t your fault. Your brain is doing what it was wired to do, but healing is possible.
Apr 253 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
The Myth of Moving On: Why Healing from Trauma Isn't About Forgetting
It’s about learning how to carry your past in a way that no longer controls you, rather than pretending it never happened.
Apr 153 min read
The Invisible Struggles: Living With Relationship Trauma
It doesn’t always leave visible scars, yet it can shape how you see yourself, how you connect with others, & how safe you feel in the world.
Apr 114 min read
You Don't Have to Remember Everything to Heal from Trauma
But here’s the truth: You don’t have to remember everything to heal from trauma. Healing isn’t about unlocking every memory...
Apr 83 min read
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