“How does one become a butterfly?" she asked.
You must want to fly so much that you are willing to give up being a caterpillar.”

― Trina Paulus

Carla Naragon, M.A., LMFT ³⁷⁵⁰⁹ Specializing in Trauma Recovery, Trauma-based Depression & Anxiety.

I have spent the last 24 years working with people struggling to recover from the debilitating effects of PTSD. Along the way I have taught women’s empowerment classes, run addiction recovery groups and facilitated healthy communication skills workshops. Regardless of the venue or population the common threads that apply to every process include compassion for self and others, discovery of one’s own natural resilience and the instillation of hope for a happier and healthier life.

Go to interventions include:
Somatic Experiencing (S.E.) – S.E. involves gently increasing your awareness of the language of your mind (thoughts, images, symbols), the language of your body (sensations), and the language of your spirit (emotions), thus inviting your whole self to rise up and have a voice. I think of this process as waking up and welcoming back the sleeping parts of ourselves that feel lost, hopeless and overwhelmed as a result of past trauma.. Allowing yourself to feel and release the emotional charge connected to painful memories will release energy you can use to live your best life. When the emotional pain is released, the memory takes its rightful place in back of your mind instead of haunting you in the present moment.
Gestalt Empty Chair – Some people come to therapy wishing they could cut out and remove the parts of themselves they love to hate. That’s not possible. In fact the more we try to trash the unwanted parts of ourselves, the more depressed we become. Experiential techniques like gestalt empty chair are powerful modalities that helps us to discover the language, compassion and kindness necessary to welcome home our inner outcast.
Didactic Education – There is always something new to learn, like the difference between pity and compassion, the basics of healthy communication or the empowering side effects of creating healthy boundaries. The best part is that you get to decide what you want to learn about because after all it is all about you!

The Missing Link - Trauma is at the heart of most problems found within the individual, the couple, family, classroom and community. When exploring the psychological core of depression, anxiety, addiction, divorce, or even sleep disorders and other social problems, we often see unresolved trauma at the heart of the problem. That’s because “traumatized people are not suffering from a disease in the normal sense of the word -- they have become stuck in an aroused state. It is difficult if not impossible to function normally under these circumstances.”
― Peter A. Levine

Book recommendation:
"Waking The Tiger, Healing Trauma" by Dr. Peter Levine

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