Psychotherapy
Trauma-Informed Approach
Healing That Honors the Whole Body-Brain System
Psychotherapy at WellMind is grounded in trauma-informed, evidence-based care that honors the nervous system and the pace of healing. We work with children, adolescents, adults, and families to support emotional regulation, insight, and meaningful change.
Psychotherapy may be helpful if you’re experiencing:
Trauma or chronic stress
Anxiety or panic
Depression or low mood
- Poor sleep quality
Emotional dysregulation
Relationship or identity concerns
Difficulty processing past experiences
safety first & throughout care
A collaborative approach focused on maintaining safety, connection, and access to support during challenging moments.
Safety planning at WellMind is a collaborative process focused on supporting safety, autonomy, and resilience during periods of increased distress. We approach safety planning with care and respect, recognizing that a felt sense of safety is foundational to healing and effective treatment.
When appropriate, clinicians work with clients to develop personalized plans that include protective strategies, early warning signs, and access to trusted supports. Safety planning also emphasizes identifying stabilizing experiences that help orient the nervous system toward safety, connection, and regulation during challenging moments.
Our approach to safety planning is not about control or restriction, but about supporting informed choice and meaningful support. When additional care is needed, we assist clients in identifying appropriate resources, including crisis lines, medical services, and community-based supports, so clients feel connected both within and beyond the therapeutic space.
deep brain reorienting therapy
Deep Brain Reorienting (DBR): Gently Resolving Shock at the Brainstem Level
Deep Brain Reorienting (DBR) is a gentle, body-based therapy designed to help resolve shock and threat responses that occur at the deepest levels of the nervous system. Developed by Dr. Frank Corrigan, DBR works with the brain’s earliest survival responses; often activated before we can think, speak, or make meaning of what is happening.
Unlike traditional talk therapy, DBR does not require retelling traumatic events in detail. Instead, therapy focuses on subtle body-based signals that emerge when the nervous system detects threat. With guidance from your clinician, you may briefly notice a recent trigger and then gently track physical sensations (often around the eyes, forehead, or base of the skull) that reflect the nervous system’s initial orienting response.
As these sensations are followed slowly and safely, the nervous system is able to complete responses that were interrupted during the original experience. This process allows shock to resolve at its source, creating space for increased regulation, emotional clarity, and a felt sense of relief. Many clients describe DBR as profound yet non-overwhelming, with changes that feel deeply embodied rather than purely cognitive.
DBR can be especially helpful for individuals who experience dissociation, hypervigilance, or who have found other trauma therapies difficult to tolerate. By working beneath defensive layers, DBR supports integration and healing at the level where trauma first takes hold.
emdr therapy
Eye-Movement Desensitization & Reprocessing (EMDR): What happened to you matters, and trauma reflects how those experiences are held in the nervous system.
Trauma is not a weakness or a failure of thinking; it reflects how the brain and nervous system learned to respond to adverse experiences. When something overwhelming occurs, the nervous system automatically activates protective responses such as fight, flight, freeze, or shutdown. For some individuals, these protective responses remain active long after the event has passed, even when the present environment is safe.
In these situations, memories associated with the experience may remain unintegrated and continue to signal danger. The nervous system responds as if the threat is ongoing, which can lead to symptoms such as hypervigilance, panic, emotional numbing, or avoidance. For example, someone who nearly drowned may experience intense anxiety around water long after the incident, not because the danger is present, but because the nervous system has not fully processed and updated the experience.
EMDR, which stands for Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing, is a structured therapy that supports the brain and nervous system in processing these experiences. Using bilateral stimulation—such as eye movements, tactile input, or auditory tones—EMDR helps the nervous system integrate memories so they can be experienced as part of the past rather than as an ongoing threat. Over time, the emotional intensity decreases and new insight, perspective, and meaning can emerge.
EMDR is recognized as an evidence-based treatment for trauma and PTSD and is approved by organizations including the Department of Defense, Veterans Affairs, and the World Health Organization. Many clients appreciate that EMDR does not require recounting every detail of a traumatic experience. Instead, the focus is on regulation, integration, and restoring a sense of safety and choice in the present.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
Cognitive and Behavioral Therapies:
Supporting Insight, Skill-Building, and Change
Cognitive and behavioral therapies focus on helping individuals understand patterns of thinking, emotion, and behavior, while developing practical strategies for change. At WellMind, this work may include challenging and reframing unhelpful thoughts, developing insight, strengthening attention and focus, and implementing behavioral strategies such as exposure-based approaches, mindfulness practices, Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) skills, behavioral activation, and sleep-supportive routines.
These approaches are woven thoughtfully throughout the course of treatment and are most effective when integrated with nervous system–based therapies. As clients process previous adverse experiences and achieve greater regulation, the nervous system becomes more receptive to new learning and change. In this context, cognitive and behavioral strategies are more easily accessed, practiced, and sustained, supporting meaningful shifts in daily functioning, relationships, and overall well-being.