Trauma Therapy in St. Louis for Attachment, Relational, & Childhood Trauma

Trauma can impact how you feel, think, and relate to others, often in ways that feel confusing or out of your control. Some symptoms you might be experiencing:

Feeling anxious, on edge, or overwhelmed without fully understanding why
Overthinking situations or struggle to “turn your mind off”
Strong emotional reactions that feel hard to control
Disconnection from yourself, others, or your surroundings
Avoidance of certain conversations, people, or situations
People-pleasing, shutting down, or pulling away in relationships
Struggling to trust others or feel secure in relationships
Getting stuck in the same patterns, even when you want to change them
Feeling easily triggered or react more intensely than you’d like
Having a hard time relaxing, even when things seem “fine

If anxiety, confusing behaviors, or relationship struggles keep showing up, even though maybe life “looks okay” on the outside, past painful experiences may be part of what’s keeping you stuck.

Common Symptoms and Effects of Trauma

Why You Feel This Way After Trauma

After experiencing trauma, your mind and body might begin to respond in ways that feel automatic or out of your control. You might find yourself wondering, “Why do I feel this way after trauma?”

Trauma changes how your brain and nervous system respond to stress, often keeping you in a protective state—even when the danger has passed. Instead of recognizing that the threat has passed, your body can stay in a protective state: constantly scanning for danger, shutting down, or reacting quickly to keep you safe. These responses were once necessary to help you physically or emotionally survive, but they can continue long after the trauma is over, which is why your reactions may feel confusing or out of place.

This isn’t a personal flaw, and it isn’t your fault. These are common effects of trauma and signs that your nervous system is still trying to protect you. Your brain holds onto patterns that were once necessary for “survival,” even if they no longer feel helpful now.

If you’re looking for trauma therapy in St. Louis, anxiety counseling, or help with relationship patterns, therapy can support you in creating lasting, meaningful change.

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Many people seek trauma therapy when they feel stuck in patterns that don’t fully make sense or continue repeating despite their best efforts to change them.

In our work together, we focus on understanding why you feel triggered, overwhelmed, or disconnected (and how to feel more in control), helping you heal from past experiences so they stop impacting your present.

As a Certified Trauma Therapist in St. Louis, I help adults:

How Therapy Helps You Heal & Grow

Move Out Of Fight, Flight, Freeze, & Shutdown—Build emotional and physical safety

Understand Trauma Responses—Learn why you feel triggered or overwhelmed

Regulate Your Nervous System—Use practical skills to regulate your body and emotions when triggers arise

Heal From Past Experiences—Reduce the impact of trauma on your current relationships

Reduce Shame & Self-Blame—Strengthen your sense of self and develop boundaries

My Approach

I provide trauma-certified therapy for individuals and couples in the St. Louis area who want to learn how to stop overthinking, feel less anxious, heal from trauma, break unhealthy patterns, feel secure in relationships, and regulate their emotions.

Many people seek trauma therapy when they feel stuck in patterns that don’t fully make sense or continue repeating despite their best efforts to change them.

My approach to treating trauma integrates:

nervous system regulation
cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)
attachment-focused work
narrative therapy

This approach helps clients build greater emotional stability, understand their responses, and develop healthier patterns over time.

Contact Chloee

Many clients I work with have experienced things like:

Childhood trauma, or emotional neglect
Difficult or unpredictable family environments
Relationship trauma or betrayal
Emotionally unsafe relationships
Long-term stress or instability during childhood
Experiences that left you feeling unsafe, unsupported, unseen, or overwhelmed

Traumatic Experiences I Help Clients Heal From

When Trauma Therapy Is Helpful

You don’t need to have a formal diagnosis to benefit from trauma therapy, what matters most is if past experiences are continuously showing up in your life now.

You might find trauma therapy helpful if any of the following feel familiar:

You often feel “on edge” or overwhelmed even in situations that don’t seem dangerous or stressful. Your nervous system may still be stuck in survival mode.
You often struggle to understand why you reacted the way you did in certain situations.
Your responses sometimes feel automatic, like they happen before you have time to think.
You find yourself coping by staying very busy, isolating, or avoiding.
Anxiety, worry, or tension show up most days and it’s hard to relax or feel calm.
Your emotions feel intense or unpredictable, like feeling numb one moment and flooded the next.
Relationships feel hard, like it’s difficult to trust, connect, or feel understood by others.
Physical symptoms show up without another clear cause, such as sleep problems, headaches, muscle tension, or chronic fatigue — especially when emotions seem connected to your body’s reactions.
You avoid certain places, people, memories, or situations because they feel triggering or unsafe.
Intrusive thoughts, flashbacks, or distressing memories pop up unexpectedly and interfere with daily life.
Life may feel smaller or less fulfilling than it once did, even when things appear fine on the outside.

Many people who benefit from trauma therapy do not initially think of their experiences as trauma. Instead, they notice patterns such as persistent anxiety, emotional overwhelm, difficulty trusting others, or repeating similar relationship struggles.
If past experiences continue to influence how you feel, react, or relate to others today, trauma therapy may help you better understand those patterns and develop healthier ways of responding.
When someone experiences trauma, the nervous system can become stuck in survival responses such as fight, flight, freeze, or shutdown. This can lead to symptoms like anxiety, hypervigilance, emotional numbness, or feeling constantly on edge.
Trauma therapy often focuses on helping the nervous system learn that it is safe again, which can reduce these responses and create greater emotional stability.
Yes. Many forms of anxiety are closely connected to how the nervous system responds to stress and perceived threat.
Trauma-informed therapy can help you understand the underlying patterns behind anxiety and develop tools that support both emotional regulation and nervous system balance.
Being trauma certified means a therapist has completed specialized training in understanding how difficult or overwhelming experiences can affect the brain, nervous system, emotions, and relationships. This training focuses on recognizing trauma responses and supporting clients in ways that feel safe, supportive, and appropriately paced.
This training can also be helpful when working with concerns beyond trauma, such as anxiety or relationship stress, because many of these challenges are connected to how the nervous system responds to stress and perceived threat.
Yes. Past experiences can sometimes influence how partners respond to conflict, closeness, trust, and emotional safety within a relationship. Couples counseling can help partners better understand these patterns and how they may be affecting communication, reactions, and connection with each other.
In our work together, we focus on increasing understanding between partners, improving communication, and creating a sense of emotional safety within the relationship. We may also explore how each partner’s individual experiences shape their responses to stress, vulnerability, and connection.
The goal of couples counseling is not to assign blame, but to help both partners better understand each other’s experiences and develop healthier ways of responding and relating to one another.
The length of therapy varies depending on each person’s goals, experiences, and the patterns they want to work on.
Some clients focus on short-term goals such as reducing anxiety or improving coping skills, while others choose to work more deeply on long-standing patterns connected to childhood experiences or relationships.

Frequently Asked Questions