Hey Survivor, looking for a space where you can finally be vulnerable and imperfect enough to heal yourself and/or your relationship?

Stop me if you’ve heard this one:

You (likely) identify as a woman. You grew up in a chaotic, traumatic household, and statistically you experienced sexual violence before age 18. From a young age you started picking up slack, taking care of the needs of others, becoming your own parent. You learned to keep yourself safe by smoothing things over, anticipating others' needs, ignoring the little voice that said “this is wrong” or “this isn’t safe.” There’s a good chance this came to a head in your teens and you left home early, which left you vulnerable to your first serious relationship (often with someone much older). That relationship was varying degrees of unhealthy and you may have become a young parent, perhaps having your first child in your teens. To keep you (and perhaps your little one) safe, you leveled up your "people-pleasing, taking care of others, putting my needs last" skills. Despite all of this, or perhaps because of it, you managed to become “stable” and “successful” in life. And now, those skills that kept you alive are keeping you from living. When you share your story with people and they tell you how brave and strong you are, you want to scream “I don’t want to be brave or strong! Can’t you see? I can’t be anything but brave and strong or it all comes crashing down!” That’s a lot of pressure you’ve been carrying over the years.

If you’re asking yourself “how did this therapist manage to basically read my mind and post it on the internet—I don’t know if I should be impressed or creeped out” it’s because I’ve been working with individuals with similar stories since 2014.

Hi, I’m Rebecca Castle-Waller, LCSW and I help badass, high-functioning women with complex trauma backgrounds to heal and engage more presently and authentically in their relationships. With individuals, I use EMDR or CPT to help folks heal from trauma. With couples, I use Gottman Therapy to help build trust and strengthen their relationships. If you’re ready to start healing, or just curious about what the process might be, feel free to put a session on my calendar and let’s talk.