Therapy Isn’t Just Talking… Especially When Healing Trauma
Most people coming into therapy looking for support wonder: “Isn’t therapy just… talking?”
The simple answer: No, therapy isn’t just talking anymore. Today’s therapies incorporate your nervous system, your emotions, your inner world, and your body’s wisdom, not just your thoughts.
Let’s break down a few approaches I use most often and why they matter for your healing.
Why Therapy Isn’t One-Size-Fits-All
Decades ago, therapy was almost entirely talk-based. You sat on a couch, shared your week, and processed it with a therapist. Talk therapy can be incredibly valuable, and it’s still a foundation of the work my team does.
But for trauma, chronic stress, emotional numbness, or long-standing patterns that seem “stuck,” talking isn’t always enough. Sometimes your body remembers what your mind forgets. Sometimes emotions live deeper than words can reach.
This is where methods like Brainspotting, ImTT, IFS, and somatic work come in. They help us access healing pathways we can’t always reach through conversation alone.
What Is Brainspotting?
Brainspotting (BSP) is a powerful mind-body therapy based on a simple idea: Where you look affects how you feel. By identifying specific eye positions (“brainspots”), we can tap into the deeper parts of the brain where emotional pain, trauma, and stuck memories are stored. From there, your brain and body begin naturally processing what’s been held beneath the surface.
Brainspotting can help with trauma (big or small!), anxiety and emotional overwhelm, feeling numb or checked out, patterns of self-sabotaging behaviors, and seemingly unexplainable emotional triggers.
In session, Brainspotting feels grounded, slow, and safe. You don’t have to talk the whole time. You don’t have to retell painful stories. Your brain does the work, and I guide the process with compassion and pacing. Many clients describe Brainspotting as reaching places they’ve never been able to reach in talk therapy without feeling re-traumatized.
What Is ImTT (Image Transformation Therapy)?
Image Transformation Therapy (ImTT) is a gentle but effective method for addressing emotional pain, trauma imagery, and distressing experiences without forcing you to relive them. Traditional trauma therapy often involves retelling what happened. ImTT allows us to release the emotional charge around memories without going through the details again.
Clients and I love ImTT because it’s gentle and doesn’t feel invasive, you don’t need to explain everything, it helps dissolve shame and stuck emotions, and it works even if the memories are unclear or blurry. ImTT uses guided imagery, sensory awareness, and a series of steps that help your nervous system let go of emotional residue you’ve carried for years.
Other Approaches We Integrate
My team and I tailor therapy to the whole person, including your history, your strengths, your nervous system, your spiritual or non-spiritual worldviews, and your goals.
Here are a few other approaches you might see on my website:
Internal Family Systems (IFS): Helps you understand your “parts,” or the inner protector, the critic, the child self, the avoider, and bring them into harmony.
Somatic Therapy: Helps you tune into your body’s signals, tension, and sensations to gently release what’s been stuck.
ACT and Mindfulness-Based Approaches: Help you build awareness, presence, and compassion for yourself while working toward change.
Psychodynamic & Attachment-Based Therapy: Helps you understand how early experiences shaped your emotional life and how to create more secure relationships now.
So… Do You Need to Pick an Approach?
No. You don’t need to show up knowing which method is right for you. Think of therapy approaches like tools, and you don’t need to know which tool fixes a sink for the repair person to help.
Your job is simply to show up as you are. My job is to help you feel safe, seen, and supported; and to guide the work in a way that fits you.
Many of my clients come in feeling confused, overwhelmed, or unsure of what they even need. That’s okay. We figure it out together.
Therapy today is richer and more flexible than ever. Talking is important, yes, but healing often requires deeper layers of nervous system awareness, emotional integration, and compassion for the parts of yourself that have been trying to survive.
Whether we use Brainspotting, ImTT, somatic work, or traditional talk therapy, the goal is the same: to help you find clarity, connection, and a more fulfilling way of living.
If you’re ready to explore what approach might work for your healing journey, we’d be honored to walk with you.
