Trauma
Trauma & PTSD Therapy in Charlotte, NC
Trauma is not only what happened. It is what your nervous system learned from it, and what it still does to protect you long after the danger passed.
Trauma can show up as
- Hypervigilance, scanning rooms, reading tone, never quite off duty
- Avoidance of places, people or conversations
- Intrusive memories, flashbacks or nightmares
- Emotional numbness, or intensity that arrives with no warning
- Startling easily and struggling to settle
- Trouble trusting, or trusting too quickly
- Physical symptoms with no medical explanation
- A sense that something is wrong with you specifically
Recognize several of these? That is usually reason enough to start a conversation. Request an appointment →
We move at your pace, deliberately
Trauma work that moves too fast is not brave. It is counterproductive. Our clinicians are trained to build stabilization and regulation skills first, so that when you do approach the difficult material you have somewhere to stand.
Brooke Wagner is a Certified Trauma Professional working primarily through Internal Family Systems, a model particularly effective for complex trauma, because it works with the protective parts of you rather than against them. Kelly Roberson is completing certification in Polyvagal-Informed Somatic Trauma Treatment for clients whose trauma lives more in the body than in the narrative. Ashleigh Bryan specializes in birth trauma and postpartum PTSD.
What we treat
- Post-traumatic stress disorder
- Complex trauma and childhood adversity
- Birth trauma and postpartum PTSD
- Acute stress following an accident, assault or loss
- Medical trauma
- Relational and betrayal trauma
- Emotional abuse and coercive control
- Grief complicated by trauma
- Trauma presenting as anxiety, anger or substance use
You do not have to retell everything
A common fear is that therapy will require a detailed account of the worst thing that has happened to you. It will not. A great deal of effective trauma work happens through the present, how your body responds now, what your protective patterns are costing you now, without a blow-by-blow narration.
You decide what gets said and when. That is not a courtesy; having control is part of the treatment.
What changes
What clients tend to notice
- A nervous system that can come down out of alert
- Memories that are memories rather than re-experiences
- Self-understanding in place of self-blame
- Relationships that feel safer to be inside
Who provides this
Brooke Wagner
MA, LCMHCA, LCAS-A
Holistic, parts-informed work for people ready to feel like themselves again.
Kelly Roberson
MA, LCMHCA (NC), LPC (SC), NCC
Couples work, adult ADHD, and the question of what you actually want your life to be.
Ashleigh Bryan
MS, LMFT, PMH-C
Couples therapy and maternal mental health, grounded in 17+ years of practice.
Also available with Josh Gorelick.
Trauma & PTSD: questions we are asked
Do I have to talk about what happened?
Not in detail, and not before you are ready. Many effective trauma approaches work through present-day responses and bodily experience rather than narrative retelling.
What is Internal Family Systems?
IFS is an evidence-based model that understands the mind as made up of parts, protectors, exiles, and a core self. Rather than fighting the parts of you that seem to sabotage, IFS works to understand what they are protecting. It is particularly well suited to complex and developmental trauma.
Do you offer EMDR?
We do not currently provide EMDR in-house. We use IFS, somatic and polyvagal-informed approaches and CBT, and we will refer you to a trusted EMDR clinician if that is the right fit for you.
How long does trauma therapy take?
Longer than anxiety or depression work, typically. Single-incident trauma may resolve in a few months; complex or developmental trauma is usually a longer engagement. We will give you an honest picture once we understand what we are working with.
Get started
Taking the first step is the hardest part.
Tell us a little about what is going on and we will match you with the right clinician, usually within a few days.
In-network with BCBS PPO & Aetna · Self-pay from $155 · Evenings until 8 PM