Trauma Therapy in
Kitchener-Waterloo
Healing that honors your pace.
You have been carrying something heavy for a long time. Maybe you know exactly what it is. Maybe you do not. Either way, your body remembers.
The exhaustion of holding it all together, the vigilance that never quite turns off, the sense that something is wrong even when everything looks fine on the outside.
These are not signs that you are broken. They are signs that your nervous system learned to protect you, and it is still trying to do its job.
When something overwhelming happens, especially when you are young or when escape is not possible, your brain and body make rapid decisions about how to survive. Those adaptations made sense at the time. But they may no longer be serving you.
Trauma therapy is not about forcing you to relive painful experiences before you are ready. It is about creating enough safety that your system can finally begin to rest.
It Is NotJust inYour Head
One of the most isolating parts of living with unresolved trauma is the sense that you should be "over it" by now.
That if you just thought about it differently, or tried harder to move forward, you would feel better.
But trauma does not live in thoughts alone. It lives in your nervous system, your muscles, your gut, your breath.
When something overwhelming happens, especially when you are young or when escape is not possible, your brain and body make rapid decisions about how to survive.
These decisions get encoded not as memories you can easily access and process, but as automatic responses.
Your body learned that the world was not safe, and it has been operating from that blueprint ever since.
This is not a failure of willpower. It is biology.
The symptoms you experience now, whether that is chronic tension, difficulty sleeping, a startle response that feels out of proportion, or a persistent sense of dread, are your nervous system doing exactly what it was designed to do.
It learned to protect you. The problem is that it has not yet received the signal that the danger has passed.
Trauma-informed psychotherapy in Ontario works with this understanding at its core. We are not trying to talk you out of what your body knows. We are helping your body learn, slowly and safely, that something different is possible now.
Big "T"andSmall "t"
But trauma is not defined by the event itself.
It is defined by how your nervous system responded and whether you had the support to process what happened.
When most people hear the word "trauma," they think of catastrophic events. War. Car accidents. Assault. These are sometimes called "Big T" traumas, and they certainly qualify.
This means that many experiences qualify as trauma even though they might not seem "bad enough" to count. Emotional neglect. A parent who was physically present but emotionally unavailable. Bullying that no one took seriously. Growing up in a home where emotions were not allowed. Being the responsible one in a family that was falling apart.
These are sometimes called "Small t" traumas, though the word "small" is misleading. There is nothing small about the impact of chronic invalidation or invisible wounds that accumulate over years.
In many ways, these experiences are harder to name because there is no single event to point to. There is just a pervasive sense that something was missing, or wrong, or unsafe.
If you have ever thought, "Other people had it worse, so I should not feel this way," you are not alone.
But comparison does not heal. Your nervous system does not care whether someone else's experience was more dramatic. It only knows what happened to you.
Childhood trauma counseling, whether it involves distinct events or the slow erosion of safety over time, begins with acknowledging that your experience was real and that it shaped you in ways that make sense.
The Difference BetweenPTSD & C-PTSD
Not all trauma responses look the same. Understanding the distinction between PTSD and Complex PTSD can help you make sense of your own experience and find the right kind of support.
PTSD: Trauma from a Distinct Event
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder typically develops after a single, identifiable traumatic event. This might be an accident, an assault, a natural disaster, or witnessing something horrifying.
The hallmarks of PTSD include intrusive memories or flashbacks, avoidance of anything that reminds you of the event, heightened startle responses, and difficulty feeling safe even in objectively safe situations.
PTSD treatment in Ontario often involves helping the brain and body process the specific event so that it can be stored as a memory rather than experienced as an ongoing threat.
C-PTSD: Trauma from Prolonged Exposure
Complex PTSD, sometimes written as C-PTSD or CPTSD, develops from prolonged, repeated trauma, especially when escape was not possible and when the trauma occurred within relationships that were supposed to be safe.
This includes ongoing abuse, neglect, or instability in childhood. It also includes experiences like domestic violence, prolonged captivity, or growing up with a caregiver who was frightening, unpredictable, or emotionally absent.
C-PTSD includes the symptoms of PTSD, but it also includes additional layers. Difficulty regulating emotions. A deep sense of shame or worthlessness. Problems with relationships, including difficulty trusting or a pattern of relationships that repeat the original dynamics. A fragmented sense of self. Dissociation.
If you resonate with the description of complex trauma, you are not more broken than someone with PTSD.
You simply experienced a different kind of injury, one that requires a different pace and depth of care.
A complex trauma therapist understands that healing is not just about processing events.
It is about rebuilding a relationship with yourself, learning to trust, and developing the capacity to feel safe in connection with others.
How TraumaLives in theBody
You may have heard the phrase "the body keeps the score." It has become popular for a reason. Trauma is not just a psychological experience. It is stored in the body as sensation, tension, and automatic responses.
Your nervous system has several states it moves between, depending on how safe or threatened it perceives the environment to be.
Sympathetic activation
is the state of fight or flight. Your heart rate increases. Your muscles tense. You become hypervigilant, scanning for danger. This state is designed to mobilize you for action.
Dorsal vagal shutdown
is the opposite. When the nervous system determines that fight or flight will not work, it moves into a collapse state. This is freeze. It can look like depression, numbness, exhaustion, or the sense of being checked out from your own life. You may feel like you are watching yourself from a distance, or like there is a fog between you and the world.
The fawn response
is a survival strategy that involves becoming attuned to what others need in order to stay safe. People-pleasing, over-accommodating, losing yourself in relationships. These are not personality traits. They are learned responses to environments where having your own needs or boundaries was dangerous.
Many people with trauma histories cycle between these states. Hypervigilance one day, collapse the next. Or a baseline of low-grade anxiety punctuated by episodes of total shutdown.
Somatic trauma therapy works directly with these body-based patterns. Instead of relying only on talking about what happened, we learn to notice what is happening in the body right now.
Tightness in the chest. A sense of bracing. The impulse to flee. These are not just sensations. They are information.
Your body has been trying to communicate with you. Learning its language is part of how healing happens.
If you experience unexplained physical symptoms like chronic pain, digestive issues, or fatigue that does not improve with rest, it may be worth considering whether unresolved trauma is part of the picture.
This does not mean your physical symptoms are not real. They are very real. It means that the body and the psyche are not separate, and healing often needs to address both.
Signs You Are Operating in Survival Mode
Sometimes trauma does not announce itself clearly.
You may not have flashbacks or nightmares. You may function well in your career, maintain relationships, and appear to have it together.
But underneath, there is a hum of something that never quite settles.
Here are some patterns that often show up when trauma is running in the background.
Hypervigilance
01You are always scanning. Monitoring other people's moods. Noticing exits in a room. Anticipating what could go wrong. This can look like anxiety, and often overlaps with it. The difference is that hypervigilance is not about a specific worry. It is a baseline state of readiness that never turns off.
Numbness or disconnection
02You know you should feel something, but the feelings do not come. Or they come, but they feel distant, like they belong to someone else. Emotional numbness can look like depression, and sometimes it is. But it can also be the nervous system's way of protecting you from overwhelm.
Perfectionism as control
03If you grew up in chaos, you may have learned that being perfect was the only way to stay safe. Perfectionism is not about high standards. It is about the belief that mistakes are dangerous. That you must manage every detail or something terrible will happen.
Difficulty with rest
04You cannot relax. Even when you have time off, you feel guilty or restless. The idea of doing nothing feels impossible, maybe even threatening. Your system learned that letting your guard down was not safe.
Relational patterns
05You may find yourself in relationships that repeat old dynamics. Choosing unavailable partners. Becoming a caretaker. Feeling like you disappear in connection. Or avoiding intimacy altogether because the risk feels too high.
Emotional flashbacks
06Unlike visual flashbacks, emotional flashbacks do not always come with images. You simply feel, suddenly and intensely, the way you felt as a child. Helpless. Small. Terrified. Ashamed. The trigger might be subtle, something someone said, a tone of voice, a sense of being dismissed. But the feeling is enormous, and often confusing.
These patterns make sense. They were adaptations. They helped you survive.
The work of trauma therapy is not to shame these parts of you, but to help them update.
To let them know that you are no longer in the situation that required them.
Registered Psychotherapist
Leanne's Approach to
Trauma Therapy
Safety First
Trauma therapy that works is trauma therapy that goes slowly.
This might seem counterintuitive. When you are suffering, you want relief. You want to process everything, get through it, and come out the other side. But the nervous system does not respond well to being pushed. If we move too fast, the system shuts down, or activates so intensely that therapy itself becomes overwhelming.
My approach to trauma work is grounded in a principle called titration. This means we go in small doses. We touch into difficult material and then come back out. We build your capacity to be with sensation and emotion without becoming flooded. Over time, your window of tolerance, the range of activation you can experience while still feeling present and grounded, expands.
You will not be asked to tell me everything that happened in the first session. Or the fifth. You are in control of what you share and when. Some people never need to tell the full story. Healing can happen without a detailed narrative. What matters is that your body learns, through experience, that safety is possible.
Somatic awareness is central to how I work. I will invite you to notice what is happening in your body as we talk. This is not about analyzing or interpreting. It is about developing a relationship with your own internal experience. Many trauma survivors have learned to disconnect from the body because it held too much pain. Reconnecting, gently and at your own pace, is part of how the nervous system heals.
I also draw on attachment theory and an understanding of developmental trauma. If the wounds happened in relationship, then relationship is where healing needs to happen too. This does not mean I will replace what was missing. It means that the therapeutic relationship itself becomes a place where you can have a new experience. Being seen without being fixed. Being held without being controlled. Being allowed to exist exactly as you are.
For some clients, exploring their inner child or engaging in reparenting work becomes an important part of the process. For others, this framing does not resonate, and that is fine. There is no single path through trauma.
We find the path that fits you.
What Healing
Actually Looks Like
Healing from trauma is not about erasing the past or becoming a different person.
It is about integration. Metabolizing what happened so that it becomes part of your story rather than the thing that runs your life.
People often ask what healing will look like in practical terms.
Here is what I typically see as trauma therapy progresses.
The nervous system becomes more flexible.
Instead of being stuck in hypervigilance or collapse, you begin to move between states more fluidly. You can feel activated without being overwhelmed. You can rest without feeling guilty.
Triggers lose their charge.
The things that used to send you spiraling begin to feel less intense. Not because you are suppressing them, but because the unprocessed material underneath has been addressed. You might still have a reaction, but you recover faster.
You feel more present.
Trauma often keeps people anchored in the past (flashbacks, rumination) or bracing for the future (hypervigilance, catastrophizing). As the nervous system settles, you have more access to the present moment. Things that used to feel gray begin to have color again.
Your window of tolerance expands.
You can be with more intensity, more emotion, more intimacy, without shutting down or exploding. This does not mean you become invulnerable. It means you become more resilient.
Relationships shift.
As you develop more internal safety, your relationships often change. You may find yourself drawn to different kinds of people. You may set boundaries that you could not set before. You may experience vulnerability without terror.
You grieve.
This is not a detour. It is part of the path. Grief and trauma are deeply intertwined. As you heal, you may grieve what was lost, what never happened, what you deserved and did not receive. This grief is not a sign of regression. It is a sign that you finally have enough safety to feel what was too dangerous to feel before. Healing does not mean you will never struggle again. It means you will have more capacity to meet what arises. You will know yourself better. You will trust yourself more.
Practical DetailsOnline and In-Person Trauma Therapy
I offer trauma therapy both in person in Kitchener-Waterloo and through secure video sessions for anyone in Ontario.
Online trauma therapy works well for many people, especially those who find it easier to feel safe in their own environment.
For others, being in a shared physical space feels important. We can discuss what makes sense for you.
Insurance and Fees
I am a Registered Psychotherapist (RP) with the College of Registered Psychotherapists of Ontario (CRPO).
Sessions are covered by most extended health insurance plans that include psychotherapy.
I recommend checking with your provider before your first session to confirm your coverage and any requirements, such as referral letters.
For full details on rates and the insurance process, please visit the Fees & Insurance page.