Childhood Neglect Counseling in Central Dallas
For those taught to stay small, silent, or serving — even when it broke you
Therapy for Childhood Neglect in Uptown Dallas and Addison, TX.
As a child, you were taught that being needed was the same as being wanted. Instead of being able to depend on your authority figures, you jumped in to mediate their arguments, lightened the mood when they got overwhelmed with their feelings, and learned to stay quiet about your needs to not cause more drama in the home. You had to protect yourself from constant emotional, verbal, or physical threat, all while trying to navigate all the stages of being a kid.
Shrinking kept you safe and silence was your strength. But what if you were never meant to heal alone?
Trauma from Childhood Neglect often Looks Like:
-Questioning whether your thoughts and feelings are real
-Waking up feeling guilty when you haven’t even had a chance to make a mistake yet
-Consistent frustration that you either can’t remember your past or think about it without feeling overwhelmed by flashbacks or nightmares
-Confusion about what “relaxation” feels like and why other people can access it when you can’t
-Desiring connection more than anything but pushing people away when they come close
-Anger being your most consistent and primary reaction and emotion
-Constant exhaustion despite lots of sleep
-Fear of the one person you’re stuck with: you
Trauma Therapy Connects your Innate Capacity to Survive with your Innate Capacity to Heal.
The fact that you struggle with symptoms of trauma means that your mind and emotions are desperate to integrate your past with your present. Working together, we can learn how your body wants to heal and practice techniques to ground yourself in the present (Somatic Trauma Therapy). As safety builds, you can explore the parts of your personality that adapted to the trauma, learn how they protected you, and foster the kind of self-compassion has the capacity to heal shame (Internal Family Systems Therapy). The thought patterns, nightmares, and flashbacks that keep your brain in constant overdrive can be addressed through EMDR, a modality that uses bilateral stimulation to reduce the emotional distress from traumatic memories. No matter the approach, my trauma recovery services in Uptown Dallas, Addison, and online in TX are designed to help you heal at a pace that works for YOU while honoring all parts of your story.
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This question is so real and worth sitting with gentleness with as you ask it. As a survivor, you have probably learned how to protect yourself in ways that may feel challenged by counseling, so willingness towards the process is key. I tell my clients who ask me this that trauma work happens on their timetable, at their pace, and in ways that benefit them rather than re-traumatize them. At the end of the day, the amount of healing you can experience is boundless; it just depends on your willingness to undergo the process. Some questions I encourage clients to ask themselves if they are on the fence include: “what are the risks of trying something new?”, “how open am I to change?” and “what I can tolerate more of: the pain I’m in now or the discomfort of trying something different?”
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This is so valid. While a lot of clients feel pressure to go over their entire history at the start of treatment, it’s not necessary. Therapy is a process and we will work together at the beginning of treatment to clarify your goals and determine a productive starting point as a team. Additionally, I trust that you will tell me about your history as you are ready. As the owner of your story, YOU are in charge of what you share and when and I follow your lead in the pace of our sessions.
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The process of therapy inevitably brings up discomfort at times, but my approach to trauma recovery does NOT center around having to relive distressing memories (in fact, we actively avoid that as it is not necessary for healing!). Certain treatments like EMDR do require bringing up unpleasant memories, but it is done in a regulated way that is designed to increase healthy processing and decrease distress over time. I keep my client’s goals top of mind when memory work comes up and help you to ground, regulate, and process effectively from start to end.
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Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) uses alternating eye, body, or audio movement to engage both sides of your brain (this is called bilateral stimulation). Fight-or-flight responses impair your brain's ability to process trauma as it is happening, so bilateral stimulation enables your mind do what it couldn’t in the moment of shock and distress: communicate across left and right hemispheres. In an EMDR session, bilateral movements are done in tandem with focusing on a traumatic memory and the negative belief associated with it so that your brain can reprocess both. Benefits of EMDR therapy include being able to process both a memory and the thoughts/feelings you have about it at the same time, leading to decreased emotional distress and healthier belief systems.
I utilize an attachment approach to EMDR, which means we can tailor processing around experiences that affected your ability to relate to self and others in a healthy way. This allows you to rewire relational patterns and begin to connect to self and loved ones with more peace, joy, and security.cription
Childhood Abuse and Neglect Counseling FAQ
Childhood Neglect Counseling in Dallas and TX Online
Childhood Trauma Recovery in Uptown Dallas
Centrally Located Trauma Therapy in Dallas
Connect to your inner capability to heal through approaches that connect your body, mind, and emotions and orient you towards safety
Nearby the Lower Greenville, Old East Dallas, and Love Field Airport neighborhoods
A hybrid of remote and in-person scheduling options available
Addison, TX Childhood Neglect Therapy
North Dallas Resources for Survivors of Childhood Trauma
Privacy and security for your story to be explore in depth and at your pace with integrative therapies that address your whole self
Comfortable office space with ninth floor views of the metroplex, spa water, and coffee service
Located at the intersection of North and Central Dallas
Take the Next Step
You are welcome to reach out to me with questions, a request for consultation or resources, or to see if I’m a good fit for your or someone in your community’s needs. If you’d like to book directly on my calendar, you can click the “book now” button to immediately access my schedule.