When we experience trauma, sometimes it can begin to feel like our pain is who we are.
Trauma can shake us to our core.
It can shatter our sense of safety in the world and your trust in others.
It can make the world feel like a different and unfamiliar place.
But your trauma does not define you––and in the long run, when faced fearlessly, it will make you stronger.
While trauma is not something we would wish upon ourselves or anyone else, putting our lives back together in the wake of a trauma can help us become more awake, more alive, and more resilient.
Like the Japanese practice of wabi-sabi, we forge the broken pieces together with gold and ultimately are stronger as a result.
We find meaning and strength as we heal and confront the battle within.
As Andrew Solomon says, forging meaning and growing as a result of trauma “does not make what was wrong right, it only makes what was wrong precious.”
If you’re a survivor of abuse and trauma, we’re here to remind you that your trauma is not who you are and you can get to the light on the other side.
When it comes to abuse and trauma, often we internalize a sense of shame and feelings of worthlessness that can endure long after the abuse has stopped.
And as much as we would like to, we can’t just rationalize it away.
We have to do the work. And it’s really hard.
Sometimes it feels unbearable.
But learning we can bear what feels unbearable teaches us our own strength.
We learn we are strong enough to get through anything.
The effects of abuse and trauma can sometimes be so severe that they can even interfere with our ability to do basic things, making it hard to get up in the morning, go to work, or even enjoy time with friends and family.
Anxiety, flashbacks, low self-esteem, and difficulty trusting others can get in the way of forming new relationships and feeling at peace in life.
Sometimes It can be difficult to see past the pain and even believe that healing is possible.
But no matter how it feels, healing is possible if you are willing to courageously face your pain.
No matter how unthinkable what you have suffered is, we will help you discover that your pain is not who you are.
Recovering is all about overcoming what has felt insurmountable.
Our goal is to create an empowering environment that fosters self-worth and autonomy.
Our focus in treatment is to help you uncover the patterns that keep you stuck and to help you find freedom, peace, and transformation.
Our approach is warm and collaborative, and we are fully committed to guiding you to restore the best version of you.
You set the pace. Taking ownership for your healing, you take the power back.
Feelings of grief, anger, and fear are all normal parts of working through trauma.
By building trust together over time and moving at your pace, we restore a sense of safety within and rewrite the story of your trauma so that it no longer rules your life.
Our evidence-based, scientifically proven interventions are shown to be effective in overcoming trauma. Learn more about these empirically validated methods by visiting our Trauma Focused CBT (TF-CBT) and EMDR pages.
We’re so confident in our extraordinary therapists that we guarantee you’ll love your match – or your money back.
At My LA Therapy, our highly-vetted Anxiety experts are selected not only for their clinical acumen but for who they are.
Understanding the different forms of abuse and trauma can ultimately help you heal your wounds and regain control of your life.
It’s important to recognize that any form of abuse or harm can lead to trauma.
In therapy, we refer to big “T” or little “t” trauma to delineate between major, life-threatening traumas (big “T”) and painful life events that everyone experiences that we internalize in such a way that it harms our self-worth and well-being.
Both kinds of trauma can lead us to become alienated from ourselves, our feelings, and even our own bodies.
Trauma in any form can cause us to leave parts of ourselves behind, to become disconnected, afraid, and self-protective.
Little “t” trauma could be something as seemingly trivial as a parent telling you not to express your feelings, encouraging you to behave in ways that aren’t authentically you, or discouraging you from pursuing a relationship, project, or vocation you care about.
Even tacit and non-verbal cues from those close to us can have profound effects on who we are and how we show up in the world––and what we censor and leave behind.
On the other hand, Big “T” trauma refers to major life-threatening experiences in which our physical safety and sense of personal boundaries and autonomy are jeopardized.
Big “T” traumas such as shootings, severe car accidents, physical abuse, and sexual assaults can lead to symptoms of Acute Stress Disorder or even full-blown Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
Regardless of the type of trauma we experience, the effects can be so significant that they interfere with our ability to know what we need and feel, and sometimes even compromise our ability to function.
Below we break down the different forms of abuse and how they may play out in your life:
Physical Abuse
Sexual Abuse
Verbal and Emotional Abuse
Mental and Psychological Abuse
We’re so confident in our extraordinary therapists that we guarantee you’ll love your match – or your money back.
At My LA Therapy, our highly-vetted Anxiety experts are selected not only for their clinical acumen but for who they are.
Financial and Economic Abuse
Cultural and Identity Abuse
Reproductive Coercion
Stalking and Digital Abuse
Although any of these forms of abuse can lead to trauma, the damage doesn’t have to be permanent if you get help from a skilled professional who can help you heal and navigate the challenging steps to empower yourself to get out.
No matter how unthinkable the abuse is, we will help you realize that your pain does not define you, you have the power to leave, and you can recover and find a renewed sense of meaning, strength and peace in your life.
Our evidence-based, scientifically proven interventions are demonstrated to be effective for trauma, codependency, low self-esteem, and other related depressive and anxiety disorders.
Learn more about our empirically based therapy modalities by visiting our Trauma Focused CBT (TF-CBT) and EMDR pages.
We want you to know, whatever your identity, you are safe with us.
We will treat you as an individual.
Not as a label.
Therapy can successfully improve your life by helping you identify and change underlying thought and behavioral patterns that contribute to your struggles, and provide you with strategies to decrease discomfort while restoring an overall sense of peace.
To experience true and lasting joy in our life, we must face and conquer our pain by healing our underlying trauma and confronting our fears.
Our evidence-based, scientifically proven interventions are demonstrated by research to be effective in addressing mental health struggles associated with trans issues including depression, anxiety, trauma, addiction, and self-harm.
See the About Therapy page for a deeper look into this process.
Learn more about our empirically based therapy modalities by visiting our Methods page.
I am blown away! I don’t write testimonials, unless I have been extremely moved by something. I was blessed to work with Brooke on a single session, and before this I was in therapy on and off with multiple therapists for the last 20 years of my life. Brooke was able to do more in one session than many years of work with my previous therapist. She has the true gift of great insight and compassion while also getting straight to the heart of your blind spots and unconscious issues in a way that has truly changed my life.
Skyler J.
There are people who are good at their work there are people like Brooke: who are born to do it. I cannot recommend Brooke more highly. I can only imagine where I would be today if I had started working with her years ago. From the beginning of our session, she knew exactly what tools and questions that would work for my particular psychology and my personal experience. No other therapist has been able to do that or anything close.
What I also really appreciate from our session is Brooke's ability to go directly to the source of the issue while also keeping a very gentle and kind energy with me. I felt very seen, understood, and supported. Everything and more that I could have ever asked for from a therapist. I have a severe trauma history and complex issues she was able to immediately identify and help. If she could help me, I know she can help you too.
Taylor E.
You did more in 45 minutes than my last therapist did in a year.
Jamie
With your help, I've finally started to understand that while my vivid imagination often wants to create terrifying monsters under the bed, in a lot of cases those monsters are nothing more than a heap of decidedly less-terrifying laundry I've avoided for too long that just needs to be aired out and put away. Which is definitely a lot easier than monster slaying. Thank you for shedding light in the dark places I was too afraid to face alone.
Morgan B.
I am extremely fortunate to work with Sydney, who is helping me create real internal change. The talent to listen well is Hall of Fame stuff, and she has that. She then follows with questions, strategies that are organic to the moment. I have come to believe that deep, radical, if occasionally deeply painful change ... and, then, healing can happen. I'm just at the lip of that last part - but would not have gotten there, AT ALL, without Sydney
Ric K.
The best therapist ever! Life-changing 🙂
Catherine H.
Right now, the work is changing my life, sometimes in inches, sometimes in miles.
Ric K.
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