Trauma therapy for women in Grayslake, IL

Your mind may know the war is over, but your body needs to trust that it can put down the sword. Trauma therapy in Grayslake, IL will show you how.

“So that for the first time you can walk away from that place, Reunited with your banished heart, now healed and freed, And feel the clear, free air bless your new face.”

― John O'Donohue, To Bless the Space Between Us: A Book of Blessings

Does this resonate?

You keep busy because you’ve learned that is safer than having time to think. Relationships can feel confusing and unsafe. You are sensitive to others’ moods. You tend to apologize reflexively, always worrying that it could be your fault. You might be more comfortable focusing on work, or your child’s struggles, because it allows you to distance yourself from your own internal landscape. Sometimes you choose to handle things by yourself, because isolation feels safer. You second-guess yourself constantly, and jump to people-pleasing on automatic pilot. Anxiety can be constant, insomnia and nightmares have followed you for years.

Why?

Why is it so hard to organize the clutter? Why is it a constant struggle to regulate your eating? Why do you experience physical pain that does not seem to have a clear cause? You might not realize that these are the effects of trauma, because maybe all that was a long time ago. You tell yourself, “It wasn’t that bad. Other people have been through worse.” Or that you “should be over it by now.” The shame and guilt you carry because you aren’t, just keep you stuck.

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Therapy for trauma in Grayslake, IL can bring you from:

Feeling numb or disconnected

→ To being present in your life and feeling alive in your body

Hiding parts of yourself and denying your needs

→ To trusting that you are worthy of having what you need and want

Distancing yourself because closeness feels unsafe

→ To feeling open and secure in connection

Always being on alert, even when you’re supposed to be resting

→ To being able to relax and sleep without insomnia and nightmares

Striving for perfection to stay safe

→ To accepting your natural imperfections without all the anxiety

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With therapy for trauma in Grayslake, IL, you don’t have to stay on guard.

You can relax, even drift into sleep without insomnia or nightmares. You can release self-blame and people-pleasing, and stop pulling away in relationships. You can rest in the full mind-body assurance that all of that was in the past, and it is safe for you to live in the present without staying on full alert.

Trauma-informed therapy in Grayslake, IL can help your body trust that the danger is over, just as your mind knows that it is.

Your nervous system was trying to protect you. It often told you to make yourself smaller, ask for little, and stay distant. You felt the need to disconnect and please others. You still react to things from years or decades ago because your nervous system got stuck. It was strongly activated, trapping both the trauma and your responses in your body. Trauma-informed therapy helps you see how past events affect your present. It reveals patterns you might not notice, which guide your life. Trauma is stored in the body, not just the brain. Trauma-informed therapy helps you connect with your body and gently release what it holds.

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Meet your Grayslake, IL trauma therapist

Hi, I’m Susan. For over 25 years, I have helped adults understand how their experiences created patterns that have finally become too heavy to carry. Trauma does not have to be “big T trauma,” like having survived a catastrophic event or obvious violation or abuse, as many people have. It is often more insidious. It could have been “just the way I grew up,” so it was all you knew, and this can be more difficult to come to terms with. Children, for example, assume that something is wrong with them that they could not handle things differently. This grows into an adult belief that they did not do enough then, are not doing enough now, and should be able to. The shame of this feeds the painful cycle and keeps the trauma trapped where it has always been—in the body, not just the mind.

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Frequently asked questions about trauma therapy in Grayslake, IL

You are not alone! Many people have clear memories of one or more traumatic events in their past. Many others have experienced a more “chronic” situation, often a childhood where the person had to take on the parental role because their parents were unable to care for them emotionally.
The environment might have been chaotic and unpredictable. Living like this can cause what is known as “complex trauma.” People who grew up like this often discount their experience because it is all they knew, and they have not identified it as trauma.
You may or may not remember past trauma. But if you feel hypervigilant, emotionally numb, constantly on edge, and unable to trust yourself, trauma-informed therapy can help. You can finally experience safety and allow your nervous system to relax, when both your brain and body understand that the danger was then, not now.
People who have experienced trauma can be hard on themselves about everything. This is partly because you learned that it was safer not to have needs, including the need to be taken care of and protected. This wired your brain to believe you should be able to just “get over it.”
Then the shame that you haven’t gotten over it feeds the story that there is something wrong with you. You stay stuck in the cycle of fear, shame, guilt, and self-rage. Trauma remains in both the body and the mind. Trauma-informed therapy can help you understand how it has affected you and release what your body is holding onto.
Trauma can leave clear marks. You might feel triggered, have intrusive thoughts, and often experience nightmares. You might feel like you can't relax, or you may feel numb. Then, out of nowhere, you could react with strong emotions.
You might struggle to feel safe in relationships and often distance yourself. You may find yourself pleasing others while ignoring your own needs. Trauma-informed therapy can help you feel safe, comfortable, and like you can finally know and trust yourself.
Because trauma lives in the body as well as the mind, traditional talk therapy alone can miss the mark. Trauma-informed therapy offers insight into how your patterns formed. But importantly, it also includes somatic treatments and tools.
For example, mindfulness helps you connect with your body, and EFT tapping can help release trauma stored within you.