Frequently Asked Questions

Standard counseling sessions for individuals and couples are scheduled for 75 minutes and 90 minutes for couple or family sessions. This is very different from a normal therapy session which is called a 50 minute hour. In our experience, a 50 minute session is unrealistic for trauma work and to find some level of resolution in a session. Counselors, however, will discuss with you how they will conduct sessions individually.

The time it takes to see changes will vary from one person to another. Trauma is very tricky to work with as we often are triggered by unpredictable circumstances. What is most important to us and to a clients recovery is that they feel safe when they are in a session. Typically, we see changes happen more rapidly when an individual is consistent with sessions and motivated towards change.

Yes. In fact recent research has actually demonstrated that coaching and counseling online may even be more effective than in person meetings as the client has a greater chance to feel safe in their own environment.  Though I prefer to be in the actual presence of the person I am working with, I have had excellent results working with individuals over the internet and have found very few differences.

Prescribe Medication
As therapists or counselors, we cannot prescribe medication or advise you on what medications to take. We can provide you with referrals to Doctors and Psychiatrists who would be happy to help you determine what medications would be right for you.

Make decisions for you
We know how challenging life can be at times and know how uncertainty can make us feel scared and incapable of making decisions. We are here to help you work through that and come to your own conclusions. Together we will walk the path toward self-discovery, clarity, and transformation. We believe you are capable of discovering your own truth.

Project any of my own beliefs onto your experience
You are the expert of your own life and have unique experiences, upbringings, cultural backgrounds, wants, needs, and feelings. We cannot tell you how to live or what to do, but we can give you guidance, feedback, and support on your journey.

We recommend weekly sessions when starting coaching or counseling. Together we determine the frequency after an initial four sessions.

Our fees are $160 per session; $180 for a couples session; however we use a sliding scale which means we may be able to negotiate a reduced fee. This is based upon income, country of origin and number of dependents in your household . Please do not hesitate to call if you need help. We try our best to accommodate everyone who would benefit from our services.

Trauma is a word that gets thrown around a lot lately.  It refers to a single or series of events that happened in the past that continue to affect us negatively for a long time afterwards. Trauma and traumatic experiences result from highly stressful events that shatter a person’s sense of safety, security and serenity. In many cases, trauma renders one helpless and vulnerable or hardened and volatile in a world perceived as dangerous. Traumatic experiences entail a threat to life or overall well-being, but any situation that leaves a person feeling overwhelmed and alone can be traumatic, even if it doesn’t involve physical harm. It’s not the objective facts that determine whether an event is traumatic, but one’s interpretation of the event. The more anxious, panicky or paralyzed a person feels, the more likely the persona has been traumatized.

Some of the major side effects or symptoms of a traumatic experience can be: Panic attacks, constant background anxiety, nightmares, or sense of numbness or spacing out.

Please have a look through the section on our site called Methodologies. All of the therapists associated with Seattle trauma counseling work dominantly as Somatic therapists. We believe it is the most effective way to treat trauma.

What is Somatic therapy? Lets have a look at the differences between normal talk therapy, aka, psychotherapy or counseling and Somatic therapy.

Psychotherapy or Counseling

Psychotherapy is a form of psychological treatment in which great emphasis is placed on providing a safe, non-judgmental space and relationship in which to explore issues pertaining to mental health and problems of living. The Psychotherapeutic relationship provides specific theories and techniques embedded into conditions of empathy, acceptance and mindfulness designed to facilitate the appropriate inner psychological conditions so that people can grow and develop in ways which may not have been possible earlier in their lives. Psychotherapy is a research-evaluated method of bringing change to our experience of life. It has various methods associated to it but these methods are dominantly about using talking and verbal reflections to increase awareness and decrease symptoms. While talk therapy can be very helpful with various types of psychological issues, most modern research on trauma suggests that talk therapy may actually make trauma symptoms worsen. The reason for this is that telling the story of trauma over and over again,, as in the case of exposure therapy for example, may tend to actually amplify the feelings associated with the stories of the past. i.e. every time I have to tell my therapist the story of the trauma, I have to relive the whole thing all over again. A lot of evidence shows that this can reinforce the very symptoms we are seeking relief from.

Somatic Psychotherapy

Although situated in the broad family of psychotherapeutic treatments, Somatic Psychotherapy is a unique discipline. Soma is a Greek word meaning “the living body” therefore Somatic Psychotherapy adds a significant dimension to verbal psychotherapy by including bodily experience as correlative, causative and caused by psychological experience. It is grounded in the belief that not only are thought, emotion and bodily experience inextricably linked (creating a bodymind), but also that change can be brought about in one domain of experience by mindfully accessing another.

The method of Mindfulness is intimately connected to the work of somatic psychotherapy. Mindfulness is an ancient psychological method that has recently been incorporated into modern therapeutic techniques. Mindfulness refers to a non-critical state of self-observation. It is a non-judgmental state of consciousness that allows a person to experience themselves in a new way.

Like other contemporary psychotherapies, emphasis is placed on the uniqueness of the individual, and the qualities present in the particular therapeutic relationship formed by each therapist-client dyad. The work of somatics is guided by several philosophies and more recently by research in Infant Development, Neurobiology, and Attachment theories. All of which converge in several areas, most notably in their agreement that:

• Mind and Body are not separate entities but mutually influencing aspects of the overall organism, and
• there is an innate capacity of the human bodymind to move towards healing and growth given the appropriate therapeutic environment.
• That interpersonal interaction in the form of respectful, safe and appropriate relationships positively and directly influence and mediate/regulate the bodymind.

Codependency can be defined as; relying on another person to manage or take care of our emotions. This pain in adulthood, that comes from being wounded in childhood leads to a high probability of relationship problems and addictive/compulsive behavior. It is a combination of immature thinking, feeling and behaving that generates an aversive relationship with the self (self-loathing), which the codependent individual acts out often through self-destructive or unduly self-sacrificial behavior.

We no longer accept insurance although we do offer a sliding fee scale for folks who need it. We also can offer a superbill which many insurance companies will reimburse.  We at Seattle trauma counseling see money as something that represents time and energy. You put in your time and energy at work to make money. When you come to see us you pay that time and energy to us and we give you back our time and energy towards what you want to change. Unfortunately, we have experienced so many difficulties working with insurance companies that we no longer accept insurance at this time. We accept out of pocket- cash, payment through Paypal, Square or Gopayment.

Each counselor at Seattle Trauma Counseling uses mindfulness practices within somatic therapy as well as guided visualization practices. Robert Espiau has been teaching meditation and mindfulness for nearly 30 years and spent 6 years living as a monastic. For this reason, he is able to offer a unique perspective and training that you will not find amongst most therapists in the United States. He can offer to teach you a specific ancient meditative technology called Jhana by the Buddha; also Samatha meditation or Samadhi training. This involves learning how to enter into 8 different deep states of absorption concentration(Samadhi) into qualities of your own consciousness. Though the explanation here will sound abstract, these states of consciousness have a profound effect on the nervous system and offer as a side effect deep states of serenity and equanimity that do not depend upon happy memories or physical experiences. In a normal yoga class student learn forms of concentration practice but do not learn how to enter into the stillness and silence of the mind known as samadhi in the east. We offer this unique training which is very effective for treating severe PTSD as well as compassion fatigue and combat trauma.

Life coaching is a partnership between client and coach. Together we look at your core values and begin exploring ways to create a life that fully expresses those values- whether at work or in your personal life. As you start developing clarity, we can translate your dreams into goals. With those goals in mind, we can: identify the individual steps to take and you can begin taking action to create the life you most want to live.

Coaching is a great way to bridge life changes. The loss of a loved one, a lay off, a divorce, moving to a new city, having a child or launching your kids into adulthood all offer opportunities to re-envision yourself and your life.

 We can help you with your goals whether it is starting a new business, changing careers, taking on a new challenge, or just changing the direction of your life. If you find yourself procrastinating, feeling stuck, scared, confused or unsure about what steps to take next, we can help.