Lifekey: Healing Complex Trauma

Counseling individuals and couples in the Portland area, Lifekey Counseling provides mindful, body-based, experiential psychotherapy for the complex trauma of life, including anxiety, shame, and unwanted patterns.

Trauma is a term used to describe the psychological wound following an event that shocks or overwhelms our body’s natural protective strategies/resources, resulting in an extensive recovery process that usually includes not simple reparation of old structures but creation of new organizational structures and strategies.


In contrast, ‘Complex Trauma‘…

~ refers not only to a single, identifiable, sometimes impersonal event, but to prolonged or repeated interpersonal injuries that accumulate over time. It sometimes represents a conceptual model of human development in ordered response to these ongoing injuries.

~ often presents as symptoms including anxiety, fatalism, internalized oppression, and a broken/fragmented identity or inconsistent sense of self.

~ is often diagnosed and treated as separate components — as anxiety, depression, ‘learned helplessness, dependence, ADHD, PTSD, IBS, addiction, personality ‘disorders’, and a whole range of physical or mental disorders.

For those that are clients, please be aware that your confidentiality is completely up to you. I will not be disclosing information about you (even acknowledging you as a client) unless you choose to do so.

For everyone, thank you for your interest. Interaction and questions are always welcome.