Traumatic Recovery

Many people experience traumatic events in their life. These events can negatively impact the way we view ourselves, others, relationships, and the world. As a result people may develop depression, anxiety, trouble establishing and maintaining healthy relationships, and/or other difficulties. We can help you overcome these difficulties. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) are both proven to be effective treatments for helping people learn to respond differently to their past traumatic events and find healthier, more satisfying ways of being in the world.

All of the clinicians at OCC are able to treat this type of traumatic injury. 

Sometimes, the injuries from trauma are more severe. It can potentially lead to flashbacks; intrusive memories; nightmares; an avoidance of people, places, or things that bring up memories of the trauma; memory loss; hypervigilance; and/or reckless behaviors. These types of reactions may be an indicator that the traumatic event(s) have led to PTSD. Currently Megan Nieto is training in the implementation of Exposure Therapy: the most effective method of treating PTSD.

Additionally, if the traumatic injuries are complex enough they may also include extreme difficulty with mood stability (e.g. ecstatic one minute and devastated the next), extreme relationship difficulties (e.g. I hate you, don’t leave me), and an extremely negative sense of oneself (e.g. always believe that you are worthless). This is potentially Complex PTSD. This injury creates a lot of pain in someone’s life and we wish we were able to help you heal from that suffering. Unfortunately, no one at OCC is currently trained in providing treatment for this disorder. We encourage clients who think they have this level of distress to seek treatment at the Portland DBT Institute.

If you think that you’ve experienced trauma, but are unsure which of these levels of injury fit you, then any of our therapists are happy to meet with you for 1-3 sessions and complete an assessment. They will then recommend the appropriate level of treatment for you (which may be with another therapist or another agency).