Trauma & EMDR Therapist
Brave Life Counseling
You don’t have to carry this alone.
You are the person everyone else counts on — the one who holds everything together.
But inside you may feel exhausted, overwhelmed, or unsure how to trust yourself again after everything you’ve been through.
Therapy is a place to slow down, understand what’s really happening beneath the surface, and reconnect with your sense of clarity and agency.
Welcome to your Brave Life.
✓ EMDR for trauma reprocessing
✓ specializing in ptsd and cptsd
✓ Immediate openings in-person or telehealth
If this sounds like you…
You might be:
• navigating divorce or separation
• healing from relational trauma or betrayal
• exhausted from overgiving and overfunctioning
• feeling anxious, stuck, or disconnected from yourself
• wanting deeper healing than surface-level coping skills
Over time, many clients begin to experience:
• a deeper sense of self-trust
• the ability to listen to and understand the wisdom of their body
• freedom from constant overthinking and anxiety
• healthier boundaries in relationships
• greater clarity about what they want and need
• the capacity to care for themselves with compassion rather than criticism
Most importantly, many people begin to experience a sense of choice and agency in their lives that may have felt out of reach before.
Instead of feeling stuck in old survival patterns, they are able to move through the world with more grounding, confidence, and connection to themselves.
Most importantly, they begin to feel less alone inside their own lives.
If something here resonates with you, therapy may be the next step.
I’d be honored to support you. ~Abby
Areas of Expertise
Counseling is a way to get to know yourself better, to develop a relationship with yourself based in trust, empathy, and compassion.
My Approach
My work focuses on helping you understand the deeper patterns beneath your anxiety, relationship struggles, and emotional exhaustion.
Instead of trying to force change, we slow down and listen to what your nervous system and inner experience are trying to tell us.
Together we explore:
• the patterns that shaped how you learned to survive
• the impact of relational trauma and betrayal
• how your body holds important signals about what you need
• how to reconnect with your own voice and boundaries
This process often brings a powerful realization:
You were never broken.
You were adapting.
And now you get to choose something different.
EMDR Processing & Intensives
I work with individuals healing from complex & relational trauma, interpersonal trauma, sexual trauma, medical trauma, birth trauma, car accidents, and single-event experiences that overwhelmed the nervous system.
There are many ways our bodies hold onto trauma. Sometimes it can feel as though certain memories, images, or emotional states are frozen in time. Our minds and bodies develop coping strategies to help us survive what happened and keep us safe.
Over time, these adaptations can show up as symptoms such as:
• constantly scanning for threat
• people-pleasing or difficulty setting boundaries
• insomnia or disrupted sleep
• IBS or digestive issues
• chronic pain or tension in the body
• eating disorders
• substance use
• anxiety, panic, or emotional overwhelm
These responses are not signs that something is wrong with you. They are signs that your nervous system has been working hard to protect you.
Healing from trauma doesn’t mean erasing the past. It means creating a new relationship with your body, your story, and your future.
High Functioning
- Overwhelm
- Burnout
- Overfunctioning
- Under supported
- Insomnia
You look like you have it all together on the outside and inside you are struggling. You experience sleepless nights, endless negative thought loops, and feeling helpless and hopeless. You have read every book, listen to podcasts and nothing seems to be enough. This is where I come in.
In therapy, we work together to gently understand how trauma has shaped your patterns and experiences. From there, we begin the process of helping your nervous system release what it has been holding.
You deserve to feel seen. Call or text 309-242-9021 or email abby@bravelifecounseling.com to schedule your consultation.
Free consultation
✓ In person or telehealth