Trauma can be an isolated event, like a car accident, miscarriage, sexual assault, natural disaster, or experiencing the death of a loved one. Trauma can also be ongoing, such as childhood abuse or neglect, getting bullied, chronic or terminal illness, and intimate partner violence. We often think about trauma as something overtly extreme; however, trauma can also be invisible, discreet, developmental, or the absence of something—caregivers withholding affection or showing favoritism, an attachment figure leaving, parenting a child with disabilities, caring for a sick loved one, infertility, or being parentified as a child. Trauma is lonely, but you don’t have to navigate it alone.

Anxiety can present as overthinking, not being able to turn your brain off, irritability, perfectionism, worst case scenario thinking, overachieving, nervous stomach, constantly being on the go, people pleasing, trouble concentrating, and muscle tightness. This only scratches the surface of how anxiety may show up for you. Anxiety can also take a toll on our sleep patterns, relationships, self-esteem, capacity to feel present, and our physical health. There can be relief, and I hope to support you in finding it.

Grief is an emotion that we all come face to face with at one point or another. Although this is a universal thread in the human experience, grief can often be isolating, lonely, and utterly painful. Our human biology is wired for connection, and the loss of a loved one not only affects us emotionally, but it alters our brain chemistry and physiology. Research shows that grief can impact hormone production, the nervous system, sleep cycles, the immune system, and heart function. Grief can present as sorrow, disbelief, anger, numbness, anguish, depersonalization, regret, fear, and a multitude of other distressing emotions. While grief may change shape over the course of our life, it never goes away, and although grief is lonely, know that you are not alone. “It’s okay to grieve. It takes courage to love someone that much.” -A facilitator from the Women’s Mother Loss Support Group at The Austin Center for Grief and Loss

Depression can rob you of your motivation, joy, energy, sense of connection, and self-esteem. It can feel like a palpable heaviness that lives in your chest, numbness or apathy, feeling like a failure or that you’ve let other people down, feeling stuck or helpless, trying to fake it on the outside while you feel empty on the inside, feeling easily overwhelmed or irritable, losing your sense of hopefulness, feeling alone in a room full of people, being more tearful than usual, or feeling that you’ve lost who are. Depression can feel like a bottomless pit with no way out. There can be hope despite the hopelessness that feels so encompassing. Therapy can help you rediscover a sense hope and meaning when it feels like there is none left.