Trauma Therapy

“Trauma is not what happens to us, but what we hold
inside in the absence of an empathetic witness.”

– Peter A. Levine

With the understanding that we all experience trauma to various degrees throughout our lives, the therapists at New Leaf work from a trauma-informed perspective. This means all of our therapists implement foundational understanding of how trauma influences the body, mind, and connections to others.

At New Leaf, we provide trauma-informed care, including Brainspotting to address deeper trauma-related issues.

What is Brainspotting?

Brainspotting is a form of therapy that strengthens the body’s capacity to provide healing and recovery from unprocessed trauma. As a neurophysiological therapy, this is accomplished by a focused treatment method, which allows for the deep brain and the body to have direct access to the autonomic and limbic systems within the body’s central nervous system.

Think of this process as going beyond traditional talk therapy. In a brainspotting session, the therapist will help you in finding a “brainspot” within your visual field. This will allow you to become more connected with the part of your brain that is responsible for your “fight or flight” response. It’s why we may have different physical responses to trauma, especially ones we feel we have no control over. When a brainspot is activated, the brain begins to provide reflexive signals to the therapist that there is something there that needs to be processed. Brainspotting is used as a tool within the therapeutic relationship to neurobiologically locate, focus, process, and transform debilitating traumatic memories and the negative beliefs found in relation to the incident. Brainspotting can also be used to strengthen our internal resources and resiliency.