Trauma & PTSD Therapy In Houston & Across Texas

When You’re Ready For Trauma To Stop Running Your Life

Relational Trauma Therapy in Houston & Across Texas

People often think trauma strictly means something catastrophic like a single event, a disaster, a crisis. And although catastrophic events are traumatic, the kind of trauma I work with is often older and woven into the relationships that shaped you. It shows up in the things you learned not to feel, not to need, not to ask for, and in the patterns you built to survive.

Most of my clients don’t come in saying they’ve “had trauma.” They come in saying they feel numb, anxious, ashamed, disconnected, or overwhelmed. And when we start talking, the story underneath becomes clear.

The trauma work I do with clients in Houston and across Texas is the kind that doesn’t get headlines, but still follows you everywhere.

The Kind Of Trauma I Treat

This work focuses on the forms of trauma that shape how you love, desire, trust, and move through the world sometimes long after the original experiences have passed. I work with people whose histories shaped them in lasting ways. The kinds of experiences you learned to downplay because they “weren’t that bad.”

For some, the injury comes from relationships where they were unseen, dismissed, or chronically misunderstood. Others grew up shutting down their needs before they even knew what they were.

Many carry the effects of childhood emotional neglect. Some had early sexual experiences that were confusing, overwhelming, or far too adult for who they were at the time.

Others absorbed the impact of secrecy or betrayal and learned not to fully trust again. Many have spent years hiding parts of their orientation, desire, or inner life because it never felt safe to let them exist.

These are the kinds of experiences that don’t show up as “trauma” in a textbook, but they shape everything including how you love, how you desire, how you protect yourself, and how you move through the world.

Trauma Isn’t Always What Happened, It’s What Stays Inside You

Most people survive their trauma by becoming someone who can endure it: the quiet one, the strong one, the helper, the achiever, the one who never falls apart. Those identities protect you, but they come at a cost.

When we talk about trauma, the focus is on who you became in order to survive it. The ways you adapted. The strategies that kept you safe. Those adaptations often follow you into adulthood and shape how you relate, trust, and protect yourself.

Some people move through the world a little numb. They function, they perform, they handle everything, but they don’t feel much. Numbness became the safest way to exist. Others became hyper-responsible and become the reliable one who manages everything because letting go has never felt safe. Shame often becomes the internal narrator, turning every need or reaction into something you believe is “too much” or “not enough.”

Desire can get tangled, too. For some, it shuts down completely. For others, it becomes intense, confusing, or only accessible in secrecy because their trauma taught them to equate exposure with danger. And in relationships, you may find yourself present but distant, going through the motions while feeling far away inside.

These patterns are the ways you kept yourself safe when no one else could. They’re adaptations to the experiences and beliefs that make you who you are.

PTSD Through A Different Lens

People often imagine PTSD as something tied to combat or a single violent event. The truth is, PTSD can come from any overwhelming experience you had to carry alone.

I work with:

This kind of PTSD may not look dramatic. It often hides in plain sight, shaping how you connect long after the original experience ended. It’s real trauma and deserves care.

How I Work With Trauma

I don’t rely on a single technique or follow a rigid protocol. I pay close attention to what happens in real time. My trauma work is grounded in experiential and attachment-based models, including AEDP (Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy) and EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing). These approaches help us work with insights and lived emotional experiences.

AEDP allows us to slow down and stay with emotions as they arise, safely and with support, so that what was once overwhelming can finally be processed.

EMDR helps your nervous system reprocess traumatic memories so they lose their intensity and stop intruding on your present life.

When appropriate, I may also integrate parts-based work to understand the internal strategies that developed to protect you. All of this is done collaboratively, at a pace your system can tolerate.

In the room, I track:

I interrupt the patterns that keep you from yourself, not to push you, but to help you hear the truth you’ve been avoiding. My job is to help you understand what your trauma taught you, and what it’s still demanding from you now.

Trauma That Shows Up In Sex, Desire & Identity

For many people, trauma shows up not in flashbacks or nightmares, but in the parts of life that require the most vulnerability. You may feel shut down sexually, even with someone you love. Or you might find that desire only emerges in secrecy, fantasy, or intensity because it feels safer than being fully seen. Some people experience panic or numbness during intimacy, or feel drawn to people they “shouldn’t” want.

None of this is random. Trauma shapes how you relate to pleasure, connection, desire, exposure, and emotional risk. This is a place where you can talk about those parts of your life honestly without judgment, without shame, and without needing to explain or justify yourself.

What Healing Looks Like Here

Healing doesn’t require you to forget anything or rewrite your history. It begins when you stop stepping over the parts of yourself you had to push aside to get through life, and start letting them matter again in a way that feels grounded and doable.

In this work, healing looks like:

It’s slow, steady, honest work, and it changes everything. And when you start to see what your trauma has been doing inside your life, not just where it came from, that’s usually the moment people realize they don’t want to keep carrying it alone.

Trauma & PTSD Therapy In Houston & Across Texas FAQs:

What kind of trauma do you treat?

I work with the kinds of experiences people tend to minimize because they don’t look dramatic from the outside but they shape everything on the inside. Relational wounds, emotional neglect, confusing early sexual experiences, long-term betrayal, or growing up without room for your feelings. These are the injuries that shape identity, desire, trust, and how you learn to protect yourself. If it’s lived in you for years, it’s valid to bring it into the room.

Do you treat PTSD even if it’s not combat-related?

Yes. PTSD isn’t limited to dramatic or extreme events. It can come from years of emotional strain, abandonment, humiliation, secrecy, or carrying overwhelming experiences without support. Many people don’t recognize their symptoms as PTSD until we start putting language to what their body and mind have been doing for years.

What if my trauma doesn’t seem "bad enough"?

Almost everyone minimizes their own trauma. You may tell yourself it “wasn’t that bad,” or that others had it worse, or that you should be over it by now. But if something still affects how you feel about yourself, how you show up in relationships, or how you handle intimacy and conflict, then it’s worth exploring. Trauma doesn’t need to be dramatic to leave a lasting imprint.

Can trauma affect sexuality or desire?

Yes and in ways that often confuse people. Trauma can flatten desire, intensify it, or send it underground into fantasy or secrecy. It can make intimacy feel dangerous or overwhelming, even when you want it. These patterns aren’t random or shameful, they’re signals of what your system had to learn to survive. Here, you get to talk about your erotic life without being judged or analyzed as a problem to fix.

What if I shut down in therapy?

It happens all the time. Shutdown is a survival strategy, not a failure. If you disconnect, go blank, or can’t find words, I pay attention to when that happens and what it might be protecting. We slow the moment down just enough for you to stay with yourself without pressure or an expectation that you should already know how to do this.

Do you treat military or medical trauma?

No. I don’t work with combat trauma, medical emergencies, or acute traumatic events. My focus is on relational and developmental trauma and the kinds of trauma that shape identity, desire, trust, and emotional safety over time.

Do you offer trauma therapy online in Texas?

Yes. Many people prefer the privacy and consistency of online sessions, especially when talking about things they’ve never said out loud. The work translates seamlessly online. It’s still you, me, and your internal world becoming clearer together, but virtually.

Let’s Talk

If something inside you has been asking for attention… a longing, a fear, or a truth you haven’t named, you don’t have to keep sorting it out alone.

Reach out. We can talk about what’s happening beneath the surface and find the clarity you’re looking for.