We specialize in Relational Trauma—the psychological harm and emotional wounds caused by the chronic disruption of one’s emotional, physical, and/or sexual safety in close relationships.

Relational trauma often stems from early experiences within the family system or with one’s caregiver with themes of accumulative emotional neglect, abandonment, enmeshment, patterns of emotional ruptures with little to no repair, and inconsistent or absent safety, attunement, and responsiveness. These early disruptions in connection can shape how we see ourselves, how we relate to others, and how we show up in the world.

While often stemming from early and familial experiences, relational trauma can occur at any point in one’s life and in any type of interpersonal relationship including religious, marital, friendship, and more. This can be the result of betrayal, narcissistic abuse, imbalanced power, emotional manipulation, or repeated breaches of trust that erode a person’s sense of safety and worth in the relationship.

How does this impact you?

Relational trauma can have a significant and lifelong impact. This can lead to deep attachment wounds that affect your sense of safety and trust in relationships, as well as your relationship with yourself. You may find yourself struggling with emotional regulation, self-esteem, interpersonal relationships, people-pleasing, perfectionism, avoidant or anxious attachment patterns in romantic connections, and chronic dysregulation or stress in the body.

It is not uncommon for this type of trauma to result in Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Anxiety Disorders, Mood Disorders, Personality Disorders, and other trauma-related conditions.

The impact of relational trauma can look like:

• Difficulty expressing emotions, asserting your needs, or feeling safe with others.

• Struggling with an insecure attachment (anxious, avoidant, or disorganized).

• Repeating unhealthy relationship patterns.

• Feeling consistently dysregulated as in edgy, numb, frozen, or jittery.

• Chronic shame and low self-esteem

How does this impact couples?

In couples, relational trauma often shows up as challenges related to attachment such as fear of abandonment or a fear of intimacy, difficulty expressing needs, or emotional withdrawal. These patterns can create cycles of misunderstanding, emotional distance, or reactivity that undermine connection. You and your partner may find yourselves locked in attachment dynamics that unconsciously re-create early or familial dynamics.

This can look like a couple where both partners grew up feeling emotionally neglected and may now struggle to trust that their needs will be met. As a result, one partner may avoid vulnerability and choose self-reliance while the other partner may seek constant validation and become hypervigilant to perceived or real threats to emotional safety. This dynamic of one partner’s stance as avoidant and the other as anxious, can leave both feeling misunderstood, emotionally disconnected, and stuck in a cycle where their attempts to protect themselves inadvertently push the other further away.