Road to Dawn Counseling
Evidence-based therapy for those who feel stuck, overwhelmed, or held back by trauma, lack of motivation, neurodivergence (ADHD & Autism), or borderline personality.
Road to Dawn Counseling
Evidence-based therapy for those who feel stuck, overwhelmed, or held back by trauma, lack of motivation, neurodivergence (ADHD & Autism), or borderline personality.
Trauma & PTSD
“You’re responding normally to an abnormal event.”
This is something a professor shared with me in graduate school while learning about trauma, and it’s a reminder I often return to with clients. Many trauma responses make sense when we understand what the nervous system had to do to survive overwhelming experiences.
Trauma can affect nearly every aspect of a person’s life. It may show up physically—through chronic tension, fatigue, digestive issues, or sleep problems. It can affect your emotional world, making it difficult to feel calm, connected, fulfilled, or safe even when life appears “good” on the outside. Trauma can also strain relationships, often leading to withdrawal, reactivity, difficulty trusting others, or feeling misunderstood.
When we experience trauma, our minds and bodies adapt in the best ways they can at the time. These coping and survival responses are learned early and automatically, especially when trauma occurs in childhood. Later in life, your nervous system may return to these same protective patterns when something feels threatening or reminds you—consciously or unconsciously—of past experiences. This isn’t a personal failure, but a conditioned survival response.
The good news is that trauma is well-researched and treatable. With the right support, it is possible to understand these patterns, gently work with the nervous system, and reduce the impact trauma has on your day-to-day life. Healing doesn’t mean forgetting what happened—it means no longer living as though the danger is still present.