4 Highly Recommended Minneapolis Trauma Therapists
Takeaway: If you are suffering because you have experienced trauma, please know that you are not alone and therapy can be very helpful. Here, I’ll introduce you to myself and a few other local trauma therapists in order to help you find the right fit.
Please reach out when you’re ready to start the healing process!
Experiencing trauma can affect many aspects of a person's life long after it occurs. This is because our brain stores memories of the trauma, including what we saw, heard, and felt during the event. The more traumatic the experiences are, the more vivid and scary the memories are. At times, they have such a great effect on a person that therapy is needed to heal them. It takes a great deal of courage to seek help to unhook from those traumatic memories and since you are here, reading this blog, I am guessing that you have that courage!
I am a mental health therapist with a specialty in helping high achieving women break through what's holding them back. One of my reasons for working with these women is that I had a successful corporate business career before I became a therapist, which gave me first hand knowledge of what they deal with.
One of the issues my clients bring to me is what I call complex trauma. This is the type of trauma experienced by children raised in neglectful, abusive, and/or chaotic households. This is sometimes caused by being parented by a person with substance abuse issues or untreated mental illness or you may have heard of the popular self-help book "Adult Children of Immature Parents".
Many high achieving women rose above their difficult childhoods by doing well in school and taking care of their parents and siblings. Or they left home at an early age to get away from the dysfunction to pursue their own path. They also likely sought perfection as a way to get the approval they did not get from their parents. Due to their having had to take care of others at a young age, they sometimes continue to take care of their parents and siblings into adulthood, creating a dependency that affects their own families. They also may find themselves in a love relationship with someone who needs more than they can give because these are the types of relationships they have always known.
My clients come to me when they want something more, they want to feel less burdened, or they are not able to cope in the way they used to.
If this resonates with you, book a free 30 minute consultation with me to figure out if we are a good fit!
More Minneapolis trauma therapists
While I treat complex trauma, there are many other types of trauma that therapists treat. It is not always clear which therapists work with which types of trauma, which makes the search for a trauma therapist quite confusing. Additionally, you may not know anyone who can recommend someone or may not feel comfortable asking your friends and family because you don't want them to know you are struggling. So, you turn to the daunting Google search!
In order to help you with this process, I have compiled a small list of Twin Cities therapists that I would recommend for their area of expertise.
1. Kimberly Brady
Kimberly is a therapist at Convex Therapy in St. Paul. In my experience, Kimberly is a compassionate person dedicated to helping her clients heal.
Credentials: Licensed Psychologist LP, Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor LPCC
Location: In-person sessions in St. Paul, virtual sessions throughout Minnesota
Best for: Victims of violence or accident victims.
2. Lee Start
Lee is a therapist at Noble Tree Therapy in St. Paul. Lee is takes a non-judgmental stance and prioritizes reducing harm. She works under the lens of intersectional feminism, abolition, and anti-capitalism.
Credentials: Lee is a dually Licensed Alcohol and Drug Counselor LADC and Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker LICSW
Location: In-person sessions in St. Paul, virtual sessions throughout Minnesota
Best for: The LGBTQIAI+ community with religious trauma and/or spiritual abuse.
3. Kay Manahan
Kay is a therapist at Anchor Point Therapy Services in St. Paul. Kay grew up in a first responder home, which has given her unique insight into the trauma experienced by this population and it's affect on the family. I have known Kay for quite a while and find her to be warm and accepting, a lifelong learner, and dedicated to her treatment of first responders and veterans.
Credentials: Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist LMFT, Certified First Responder Counselor CFRC
Location: In-person sessions in St. Paul, virtual sessions throughout Minnesota
Best for: First responders and veterans who have experienced or witnessed traumatic event(s) that are affecting their daily functioning.
FAQs about trauma counseling
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There is not one type of therapist that is the "best" when treating trauma. There are several factors to consider when looking for a therapist that is right for you. One of the most important factors is that you feel safe and comfortable talking to them. It is also important that they have had the training and experience in the type of therapy that works well with your trauma. For example, a therapist may be experienced treating trauma caused by accidents but not trauma caused by a neglectful and/or an abusive childhood.
To help with this difficult decision, many therapists offer free consultations, which allow you to ask them questions to determine if you feel safe and comfortable with them, what their style is, and what their training and experience is.
Note that regardless of what therapist you choose, you are always free to find a different therapists. We as therapists are committed to our clients getting the best treatment, even when it is not with us. So, if you don't feel comfortable with your therapist's style, feel free to bring this up with them and they will help you find someone else that is a better fit for you.
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The only difference between a therapist and a trauma therapist is that trauma therapists are competent in treating trauma. The label "Trauma Therapist" is not an official name so therapists who treat trauma won't always label themselves that way. Therefore, you will likely have to look at their website's about page or specialty pages.
I am a therapist with training and experience treating complex family dynamics and adult children of these families.
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Similar to there not being one type of therapist that is best for trauma, there is no singular "best" therapy for trauma. The important factor is that the therapy has features that address the difficulties created by the trauma. Many therapists utilize multiple therapies to address the various effects of the trauma.
The following are common therapies used to treat trauma.
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) This is a structured therapy that does not require discussion of the details of the trauma but instead, the therapist guides the client to bring up traumatic memories in their mind while they simultaneously move their eyes to create what is called bilateral stimulation. This process reduces the vividness and emotion associated with the traumatic memories, resulting in experiencing less fear when reminded of the trauma.
Accelerated Resolution Therapy (ART) This is a structured therapy that does not require talking about the trauma. Instead, the client is guided by a therapist to mentally remove triggers and replace negative images about the trauma with positive images of the client’s choosing. Like EMDR, eye movement is also used to create bilateral stimulation. The effect of this process is that the client remembers the traumatic events with less emotion.
Trauma-Focused ACT (T-FACT) This is an unstructured therapy that helps the client re-introduce flexibility in their lives by addressing the results of the trauma such as depression, anxiety, moral injury, chronic pain, shame, insomnia, complicated grief, and relationship issues
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) This therapy focuses on the relationship among thoughts, feelings, and behaviors; targets current problems and symptoms; and focuses on changing patterns of behaviors, thoughts
Somatic Experiencing (SE) This therapy resolves memories of stress, shock, and trauma that is stored in our bodies. SE helps to release and recover from patterns of fight, flight, or freeze that our bodies have become conditioned to.
Prolonged Exposure Therapy (PE). Prolonged exposure is a specific type of cognitive behavioral therapy that teaches individuals to gradually approach trauma-related memories, feelings and situations. This is based on people avoiding things that bring up memories of the trauma. However, by doing so, the fear worsens and causes more things to be avoided, making their worlds smaller and smaller. When people face the things that bring up these memories in a gradual manner, their fear response learns that the memories are not dangerous.
In my practice, I combine the methods of T-FACT, CBT, and PE to treat complex trauma.
For more information on treatments for trauma, refer to this article by the American Psychological Association.
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The trauma therapy process begins with building a safe and trusted relationship between the therapist and client and ends when the client feels that they have experienced enough growth that they are ready to continue on their own without the guidance of a therapist.
The following are the main components of the therapy for treating the client's trauma:
The therapist learns about the symptoms resulting from the trauma and the additional biological, psychological, and/or social factors that negatively affect the client's well-being. The therapist and client start establishing a safe environment for therapy, which continues throughout the process.
The therapist and client collaboratively identify goals and develop a treatment plan tailored to the client's unique situation.
The therapist and client work collaboratively to resolve the undesirable symptoms resulting from the trauma.
The client prepares to continue their work without the guidance of a therapist.
The feeling of safety by the client is a crucial part of therapy as facing memories of the trauma can feel scary or even embarrassing. The client needs to know that the therapist will not judge them and will continue to accept them throughout the process. The next most important component are that the techniques used are effective in the client seeing results