Our therapists offer PTSD & trauma therapy in Austin, TX

When working with clients who have experienced trauma, I assist the client in learning mindfulness practices and ways of thinking that assist the client in developing a repertoire of skills to support healing and resilience. The cultivation of mindfulness anchors individuals in the present moment with compassionate awareness. Through mindful breathing exercises, body scans, and guided meditations, clients learn to observe their thoughts and emotions without judgment, fostering self-awareness and acceptance. Additionally, cognitive restructuring techniques empower clients to challenge and reframe maladaptive beliefs stemming from traumatic experiences and develop coping strategies to manage distressing symptoms. Collaboratively, the client and I will navigate the intricacies of trauma processing, fostering resilience and a path toward healing and growth.

The specific tools that I use with a client depend on their individual needs and circumstances. The following are often helpful:

• Mindfulness meditation, or mindful activity, involves learning to notice when the mind drifts, let go of thinking, and return focus to a predetermined word, phrase, image action, or sensory experience.
• Cognitive reframing is used to explore alternative perspectives.
• Cognitive challenging helps clients question their thoughts and beliefs in order to uncover patterns of thinking that are no longer helpful.
• Cognitive distraction gives clients the ability to move away from intrusive and unwanted thoughts.
• Sensation labeling is a mindfulness technique that assists with disrupting unwanted thinking by focusing on sensory input.
• Strategies for grief processing are used to observe, accept, experience, and release the chaos of emotions that accompany an experience of loss.
• Mental shield imagery develops skills in managing mirror neurons to reduce emotional reactivity to other people's emotions.
• Thinking strategies to address catastrophic thinking and increase confidence in dealing with undesired outcomes should they arise.
• Positive communication skills such as reflective listening, “I” statements, nonviolent communications, and positive behavior support can decrease conflict and increase skills in collaboration.
• Motivation skills reduce procrastination and avoidance.
• Strategies for gaining acceptance of mistakes and letting go of shame and guilt.
• Task partialization to reduce overwhelm and procrastination.
• Imagery and relaxation strategies for pain management and reduction of medical anxiety.

I check in with clients about their progress with their goals and the improvements they are seeing in their symptoms every session. Meaningful progress is evident as the list of progress and successes gets longer and the list of challenges gets shorter.

Clients' efforts to implement the skills they are learning and the goals that they set between sessions are essential to making progress in therapy.

Clients can prepare for therapy by thinking about what they want to achieve, in addition to what it is they want to move away from.