Trauma-Informed Therapy
Trauma-Informed Therapists in Fort Collins:
Heal From Trauma and PTSD
Trauma casts a long shadow, affecting mental, emotional, and physical health. Many trauma victims avoid therapy because of the intense fear that they will be triggered by speaking about what happened to them. Recognizing this, trauma-informed care takes a gentle approach to avoid re-traumatization of patients.
What is Trauma-Informed Therapy?
The focus of trauma-informed therapy isn’t to discuss what happened in the past. It’s to pinpoint and fix how it impacts your life right now. However your trauma or PTSD manifests, our counselors can provide a safe environment to discuss fears, feelings, and how the traumatic event is holding you back.
We’ll use cognitive behavioral therapy to break down negative spirals bit by bit, helping you understand why your fight-or-flight responses are kicking in and developing mechanisms to reclaim control. The goal of trauma-focused therapy isn’t to forget what happened. It’s to acknowledge it, heal from it, and learn from it.
Find a Therapist Today
If you feel like your trauma is holding you back, take the first step toward a brighter future with Light of the Rockies therapy in northern Colorado. We’ll help you match with the right team member that can meet you exactly where you are in your healing journey. Whether you’re weighed down by grief and loss or find yourself struggling with symptoms of PTSD, our team is here to find the right trauma treatment for you. Sessions are available online and in our Fort Collins office.
Don’t Carry the Weight Alone
Trauma manifests differently for everyone. You may walk through life consciously avoiding certain places or experiences for fear of flashbacks. Maybe you find yourself unable to trust others, and your relationships are suffering for it.
This is because trauma takes many forms, including childhood neglect, sexual abuse, bullying and gaslighting, physical assault – the list goes on. At Light of the Rockies, our therapists and psychologists in Fort Collins have experience helping patients find healing from:
- Domestic Violence: Being part of a relationship where physical, emotional, or sexual violence is present.
- Physical Abuse: Experiencing physical harm or violence can leave lasting emotional scars.
- Traumatic Loss & Grief: Sudden or violent loss of a loved one, including unexpected deaths, suicide, or homicide.
- Military Violence: Exposure to war zones, being a combatant or a civilian in war-torn areas, including witnessing death and destruction.
- Accidents: Serious injuries resulting from car accidents, workplace incidents, or other unexpected events.
- Historical or Intergenerational Trauma: Trauma passed down from previous generations due to massive collective experiences of oppression, such as slavery, genocide, or colonization.
Our Fort Collins Trauma Therapy Services
Individual Therapy
At Light of the Rockies, our licensed clinical social workers specialize in individual trauma therapy, offering compassionate support for those dealing with the lingering effects of trauma. We can work with you in a one-on-one setting, addressing mental health issues stemming from traumatic events from sexual assault to racial trauma. We understand the instinct to shut down or become defensive when addressing trauma and will give you the time and space to open up how you feel safe.
Group Therapy
When trauma affects couples and families, it can make us feel lost and disconnected from each other. Our trauma and PTSD therapists conduct group therapy sessions that help families find trauma healing together. Through these therapy sessions, we create a safe space for each member to express, understand, and mend, gently navigating the complexities of shared pain,
Specialized Trauma Treatments
Our arsenal includes EMDR, EFT, and CBT, among other specialized treatments, offering new pathways to process and cope with trauma. These evidence-based therapies are integral to our practice, providing effective tools for managing symptoms and fostering long-term well-being.
About Us
Locations
Schedule Now
Reach out to our office team today to set up an appointment! They can assist you in pairing up with the right therapist and understanding which payment option will work best for you.
Our Approach
Trauma-Informed Care Principles
There are a number of well-researched approaches to trauma focused therapy. We give patients the option to try out each technique, honing in on the one they feel the most comfortable with. This could look like:
- Prolonged exposure
- Gently encourages you to face and gain control over your fear by repeated exposure to thoughts, feelings, and situations related to the trauma. It’s about breaking the cycle of avoidance to reduce the power trauma holds over one’s life.
- Impact statements
- Writing or verbalizing impact statements allows individuals to articulate the effects of their trauma, providing a powerful outlet for emotions and thoughts. This process helps validate experiences and start the healing process.
- Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR)
- By focusing on external stimuli like eye movements, individuals can reprocess these memories in a safer context, helping to alleviate distress.
- Imaginal Techniques
- Safe and controlled visualization of traumatic events or triggers. By mentally confronting these aspects with the guidance of a therapist, you can work through your emotions and reactions in a supportive, low-risk setting.
- Stress Inoculation
- We’ll provide you with coping mechanisms to handle stress and anxiety. Through techniques like relaxation, breathing exercises, and positive thinking, it builds resilience against the psychological impact of trauma.
Holistic Support
Healing is a journey that encompasses mind, body, and spirit. At Light of the Rockies, our trauma therapists work with individuals to make sure they’re taking care of all three. Trauma often manifests in physiological ways, raising your blood pressure and cortisol levels to unhealthy limits. While we work on healing your past wounds, we’ll teach you coping mechanisms in the meantime to protect your mind and body from the harmful effects of stress.
Culturally Competent Care
Diversity and inclusivity are central to our mission at Light of the Rockies. We strive to respect and honor the unique experiences and backgrounds of each client. Our trauma therapists understand the intersection of cultural factors and trauma, and consider all aspects when tailoring our care to you. We work with individuals from all walks of life and in all stages of life transitions.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
-
Trauma therapy adopts a therapeutic approach specifically designed to address and heal from the impacts of experienced trauma. Unlike regular therapy, which might focus on a broader range of mental health issues, trauma therapy delves into the ways that past traumatic events impact daily life, aiming to restore the individual’s ability to function.
-
Therapeutic techniques like trauma-informed therapy and EMDR are highly effective for many, offering a structured approach to process and heal from trauma one step at a time.
-
Practices like somatic experiencing and trauma-informed yoga encourage the body to let go of stored trauma, assisting clients in regaining a sense of peace and function. Working with a therapist is the best way to find the right trauma-releasing technique while talking through what happened in a safe place.
-
The 5 principles of trauma-informed care are safety, trustworthiness, choice, collaboration, and empowerment. These principles ensure that every step of the therapeutic process is conducted in a way that respects and supports individuals who have experienced trauma, guiding them toward recovery at their own pace, one step at a time.
Take the first step towards a brighter future today. Contact Light of the Rockies Christian Counseling Center for Trauma-Informed Therapy services in Fort Collins, CO, and experience the transformative power of compassionate, faith-based support.
Get Started With Trauma-Informed Therapy Today
STEP
ONE
STEP
TWO
STEP
THREE
Move Toward Hope and Healing
Feeling weighed down by mental health struggles or curveballs life has thrown you? You may benefit from the guidance and support of a Christian counselor.
We’ve been honored to provide affordable mental health care in Northern Colorado since 1994. Our skilled and passionate therapists currently provide individual therapy, child and teen therapy, couples counseling, and family therapy. Our therapists work from a variety of different therapeutic approaches and have specializations in many different areas, which allows us to better serve the many different needs of our community.
Individual
Couples
Child or Teen
Family