In Person in Newport Beach or Online Trauma Therapy across California

For when you've already done the work and the healing hasn't quite landed

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Understanding what happened hasn't been enough

You've done the work to understand what happened to you

You can tell the story, you know the timeline, you can see the shape of how it affected you, and somehow you're still reacting from it, still bracing, still running the same patterns in your relationships, at work, and in your body. The therapy you've done has named the trauma, and the trauma is still here.

Maybe you pull away from people before they can get close enough to hurt you, or you shut down when something feels too tender, or you push through and tell yourself you should be over this by now. Underneath all of that there's exasperation with your own body for still needing what it needs, and with the part of you that hasn't moved on.

Some of what you've been carrying

You can tell the whole story calmly, and your body tenses up anyway.
There are places, people, and certain conversations you quietly avoid, because you know what they'll pull up.
You play it down when people ask, because you don't want to seem like you're stuck on it.
Somewhere along the way you started identifying with what happened, and "I'm this way because of it" became part of how you see yourself.
You can watch yourself reacting in real time, and watching it hasn't stopped the reaction.

None of this is your fault, and the work you've done so far hasn't been wasted. Something deeper is still asking for attention, and it can finally have that here.

What becomes possible when the trauma stops shaping your days

Imagine what it would be like to:

Tell the story of what happened without it taking the rest of your day from you.
Be in relationships without the old patterns showing up in every hard conversation.
Stop flinching before you've even noticed what triggered it.
Recognize yourself in your life again, instead of reacting from what happened.
Start to feel like a person who was shaped by what happened, not someone defined by it.

You don't have to erase what happened, and you don't have to keep organizing your life around it. You can finally feel like yourself again.

You already know the story

Therapy that reaches where the trauma actually lives

The work we do isn't about learning it again. It's about letting the part of you that's been holding all of this finally set some of it down and exhale.

You've probably had sessions where you talked it through, connected the dots, and walked out understanding more than you did coming in. Then the week happens, and you're reacting the same ways, bracing in the same places, stuck in the same patterns. That's because insight on its own doesn't reach the place where trauma actually lives.

Trauma lives in your body, in your nervous system, and in the old reactions that fired when you needed them and never got the signal to turn off.

The work we do reaches all those layers. Your mind, your body, and the part of you that learned to keep you safe in ways that are now getting in the way.

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therapy works

How trauma therapy with me works

Sessions are 50 minutes, one-on-one, and either in person in Newport Beach or online from anywhere in California. The pace is yours. We don't go anywhere before you're ready, and there's no pressure to tell a story you don't want to tell right now.

I draw from approaches grounded in trauma-informed care, including body-based and somatic work, and I adjust what we're doing to match what your system is actually doing at any given point.

Here's how the work tends to unfold:

1

We start with what you already know.

Your history, what you've tried, what's helped and what hasn't, and what you want to be different.

2

We slow down enough to notice what your system is doing,

not just in story, but in real time. What happens in your body, your breath, and your attention when certain things come up.

3

We build steadiness before we go deeper.

Feeling grounded isn't a delay from the work, it's part of the work.

4

We meet what's been running underneath.

Old reactions, beliefs, and patterns that formed for good reasons and aren't your present reality anymore.

5

We give your system time to integrate.

Trauma work isn't a straight line. We move, we pause, and we let what's shifted settle before we go deeper.

6

You start recognizing yourself again.

Not the pre-trauma version of you, but the version that's come through it and can finally set some of it down.

Trauma is one of the most well-researched areas in psychology. We know what helps it actually shift, and the work we do together is built on that. I've seen it create real, lasting change.

What clients say

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Dr. Lauren changed my life. She provided the safety and space I needed to sort through a mess of trauma and self doubt and begin to feel like myself again, but better! I cannot recommend her enough!

Previous client

Tired of knowing more and still
feeling the same?

If you've put in the time and you're still not feeling different, I'd like to hear from you.

I offer a free consultation so we can talk through what you've tried, what you want to feel different, and what this work might look like for you.