What helped you to survive doesn’t have to limit the life you can build now.

Trauma Therapy in Ontario

Healing doesn’t erase the past, but it can change how much of your present the past occupies.

Trauma can affect how you feel in your body, understand yourself, connect with others, and respond to the world around you. Whether you need help finding a way back to yourself again or feel ready to process what’s underneath, we’ll meet you where you are and help you find a way forward.

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How trauma therapy works

Virtual therapy across Ontario · Limited in-person options in Toronto

The past may still be shaping the present

When insight has helped, but something still feels stuck

Trauma may be part of the picture when present-day reactions are shaped by past experiences that felt overwhelming, unsafe, or inescapable, and continue to feel present even when circumstances have changed. These reactions are not signs of failure- they may be protective responses that once helped you survive or adapt.

If you already understand your patterns and have learned how to regulate, you may have been doing stabilization work without calling it that. The insight and skills you’ve developed can provide the foundation for deeper processing, if and when you choose. Whether stabilization is the goal or you want to explore what lies underneath, we’ll help you find the right next step.

Trauma can be part of the picture when…

Your body reacts before you know why. Certain situations, sensations, sounds, or interactions can bring on panic, anger, shutdown, or overwhelm before you can make sense of what is happening.

Part of you is always watching for danger. It can be difficult to relax, release control, or trust that things are okay, even when you logically know you are safe.

You disconnect when things become too much. You may become numb, blank, distant from your body, or unable to access what you feel or need. This can be a form of dissociation, a protective response that can occur with trauma.

You avoid reminders, even when avoidance limits your life. Certain places, conversations, relationships, sensations, or emotions may feel too threatening to approach.

What happened has shaped what you believe about yourself. Beliefs such as “I did something to bring this upon myself,” “My needs don’t matter,” “I have to stay in control,” or “I’m not safe with other people” can persist long after the original experience.

What happened to you and the responses that once protected you don’t have to dictate your life forever. They can begin to soften with the right support, making more room for safety, choice, connection, and the life you want to live.

OUR APPROACH TO TRAUMA PROCESSING

Support for the full healing journey

Whether you’re experiencing overwhelm and confusion without knowing where to start, or you already have significant insight and regulation skills and want to take the next step of trauma processing, our team will meet you where you are and guide you along this journey.

Regain your balance

SAFETY AND STABILIZATION

We begin by helping you build enough capacity to stay present and recover when distress arises. This may include distress tolerance, emotion regulation, responding to dissociation, and reconnecting your thoughts, emotions, and body’s signals. This step is also crucial to maintaining safety during trauma processing.

For many people, stabilization alone brings the relief and balance they want. Others arrive having already built this foundation and may be ready to move into trauma processing sooner.

Heal what’s underneath

TRAUMA PROCESSING

Once enough safety and stabilization are in place, we can begin trauma processing. Depending on your needs and preferences, this may include EMDR, AEDP, IFS-informed parts work, or body-based and somatic approaches.

The goal is not to erase what happened, but to help your mind and body process it. Some people become able to recall the traumatic experience with little or no distress; others find that triggers become less intense, less frequent, and easier to recover from. This is healing at the roots, so your body doesn’t have to keep the score forever.

Reconnect with yourself

INTEGRATION AND CONNECTION

As triggers become less intense and the need to stay on guard begins to soften, energy that once went toward survival can become available for living. Integration is about building on that space: reconnecting with your needs, values, positive relationships, and sense of self.

Together, we can help you make choices from what matters to you rather than fear, experience deeper connection, and make room for hope and joy. The goal is not only to feel less distressed, but to feel freer and more fully present in your own life.

Find support for where you are

TRAUMA PROCESSING MODALITIES

There is more than one way to process trauma

Trauma therapy is not limited to one technique. Our team of therapists can help you explore approaches that fit your needs, preferences, readiness, and existing strengths. The modalities available will depend on your therapist’s training and scope of practice.

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)

EMDR uses bilateral stimulation (most often guided side-to-side eye movements) within a structured process designed to support the brain in reprocessing experiences that continue to feel present or easily triggered. The memory remains, but its emotional and physical intensity may decrease significantly. Some people describe being able to remember what happened while feeling neutral or “unbothered,” as though the memory now belongs fully in the past.

EMDR is not hypnosis. You remain awake, aware, and in control throughout the process.

Learn more about EMDR →

Internal Family Systems & Parts Work

Parts work, including Internal Family Systems (IFS) therapy and Ego State therapy, helps you understand the parts of yourself that developed around painful experiences. Some protect you, some carry hurt, and others may react in hurtful ways. By recognizing which parts are activated, you can respond with greater curiosity, compassion, and choice from a more grounded sense of self. Some people describe parts work as a gentle form of trauma processing.

Body-based and somatic approaches

Somatic approaches explore how stress and trauma show up in the body, not only in thoughts or memories. Therapy may involve noticing sensations, tracking shifts in activation, and using grounding, breath, movement, or other body-based practices to build regulation and a greater sense of safety. This approach may be especially helpful if you feel disconnected from your body, experience intense physical reactions or shutdown, or understand your patterns but find that insight alone has not changed how your body responds.

Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy (AEDP)

AEDP uses a safe, supportive therapeutic relationship to help you approach emotions and bodily responses that once felt too overwhelming to experience alone. In therapy, you may revisit the feelings, unmet needs, and beliefs connected to a painful experience while receiving the safety, understanding, and support that were missing at the time. This new emotional experience can help the memory become integrated into the past, so it no longer shapes your present-day reactions in the same way.

You don’t need to choose a modality before reaching out. We’ll help you understand what each approach involves and what may fit where you are now.

Get matched with a trauma processing therapist

Meet our trauma processing therapists

Trauma can take many forms

EXPERIENCES THE TEAM SUPPORTS

Trauma is not defined only by what happened. It can also be shaped by how overwhelming, unsafe, inescapable, or unsupported an experience felt. Across our team, our therapists have experience supporting people affected by:

Childhood/developmental trauma

Growing up with instability, neglect, abuse, frightening experiences, or needs that repeatedly went unmet can shape how safety and connection develop. In adulthood, you may struggle to recognize your needs, trust others, regulate intense emotions, or believe that you must perform, please, or caretake to be safe and valued.

Workplace and vicarious trauma

Posttraumatic symptoms can develop through harassment, discrimination, unsafe working conditions, or repeated exposure to other people’s suffering (particularly in healthcare, emergency response, and helping professions). You may feel constantly on guard, emotionally numb, guilty, depleted, or unable to mentally leave work behind.

Relationship trauma and abuse

Harm within an important relationship can include emotional or physical abuse, coercion, betrayal, manipulation, or having your reality repeatedly dismissed. You may find yourself anticipating others’ reactions, walking on eggshells, questioning your judgment, overaccommodating, or wanting closeness while also feeling unsafe within it.

Systemic trauma

Experiences of racism, discrimination, displacement, migration, terrorism, or repeated harm within institutions can affect your sense of safety, belonging, and trust. You may feel pressure to remain vigilant, make yourself smaller, overperform, or question whether your reactions will be understood or believed.

Sexual trauma

Sexual trauma can include any sexual experience involving force, coercion, exploitation, violated boundaries, or an inability to freely consent. Its effects may appear as shame, disconnection from your body, difficulty with intimacy or boundaries, unwanted memories, pain during intimacy, or feeling unsafe even when you know the present is different.

Traumatic loss and overwhelm

Sudden loss, accidents, violence, medical experiences, and other overwhelming events can leave your mind and body responding as though the danger or loss is still unfolding. You may experience intrusive memories, avoidance, guilt, numbness, heightened alertness, or difficulty reconnecting with everyday life.

You don’t need to be certain that what you experienced was trauma (or find the right words to describe it) before reaching out. Tell us what still feels difficult today, and we’ll help you understand what kind of support may fit.

Help me find the right support

More information about trauma therapy

Trauma therapy can feel like a confusing and scary process to start, especially when you don’t know what you will be asked to share or whether you are ready. Although everyone’s circumstances and treatment needs are different, these answers reflect what our team commonly sees in practice.

  • Your therapist will begin by understanding what is affecting you now, what you hope will change, and what experiences or patterns may be influencing your responses. You should not be expected to provide a detailed account of everything that happened before you feel ready.

    Your therapist may also begin introducing strategies for grounding, regulation, self-understanding, or safety while learning about your history.

  • No. You remain in control of what you share, how much to share, and when you share it. Some trauma-processing approaches do not require you to describe every detail aloud. Your therapist will explain the process, ask for your consent, and adjust the pace with you.

  • You and your therapist will consider factors such as your current safety, available support, ability to remain present during difficult emotions, and capacity to recover after distress.

    If you are not ready to process, preparation and stabilization are not wasted time or a lesser form of therapy. They are meaningful parts of healing.

  • Difficult emotions or physical responses can arise during trauma therapy, but the goal is to keep you safe throughout, not to overwhelm or retraumatize you. Your therapist will monitor how you are responding and can slow down, pause, or return to stabilization whenever needed. This is also why spending time on the safety and stabilization phase of trauma therapy is so crucial.

  • There is no standard number of sessions. The timeline depends on your goals, current circumstances, the experiences being addressed, the amount of preparation needed, and how your mind and body respond to treatment. Some people come with substantial work already done for safety and stabilization, in which case trauma processing can take place in 10-15 sessions. For others, it may take months or even years.

    After getting to know you, your therapist can offer more individualized guidance about frequency, pacing, and what the next stage of therapy may involve.

  • Yes, trauma processing can be effectively done virtually. Your therapist will consider privacy, current stability, access to support, and whether you can participate safely and comfortably from your location. In some circumstances, additional preparation or in-person treatment may be recommended.

You don’t have to know exactly what treatment you’re looking for before starting.

Tell us what you’re experiencing, what you have already tried, and what you hope might feel different. We’ll help you find a safe and suitable place to begin.

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