Born in the Northeast, but now living in the South, I received my Master of Arts in Marriage & Family Therapy with a specialization in Systemic Trauma Therapy from National University in San Diego, CA in 2024. Prior to working in psychotherapy, I worked and/or interned in the fields of teaching/co-teaching, human rights fundraising, arts management, childcare & direct-support care, certified bodywork, & the Occupational Therapy (OT) field.
I have lived experience as a survivor who recovered from PTSD, as a human with ADHD, & as someone who has lived with chronic illness post COVID-19. My lived experience, & my own experience in therapy as both a client & trainee, is central to my ability to witness others in their trauma recovery.
Throughout my education & training, I continued to look for more answers to understand what "really works" for people. I have been fortunate enough to continue to receive fantastic mentoring in the field of trauma recovery from those who have been in the field for many decades, & continue to learn experiential practices to fit the needs of my clients.
Outside of the office, I belong to a bi-cultural marriage, & can be found engaging in creative hobbies, such as painting, crotchet, baking, writing, or dance, and enjoy connecting with others & the nature of WNC.
While working collaboratively, I integrate therapies to authentically practice in the best way that I see fit per each unique individual &/or relational system, which makes me an integrative trauma therapist. I encourage deep internal reflection & processing that challenges programming & conditioning, attachment ruptures & unmet needs, dysfunctional intimacy & family-of-origin trauma, & addresses dissociation within the context of self-reclaimation & the improvement of intimacy. I prefer to work from a "parts work" lens, incorporating body-awareness, gentle mindfulness, & self-compassion practices. My training has emphasized the treatment of complex trauma, developmental trauma, and dissociative responses. Therefore, my practice emphasizes learning to care for an individual's "inner-child/inner-children/young ones." I teach people how to learn to reclaim their voice & provide them with tools to practice reclaiming self-intimacy & intimacy with others outside of our sessions. In addressing the inner-child, I integrate play & expressive arts techniques, such as sand tray therapy, & the use of drawing, painting, & creative journaling in sessions to facilitate sensory safety & containment, as well as self-expression, & to help clients make contact with young parts of themselves.
I enjoy Ruth Lanius's description of integrative trauma therapy, which you can watch below:
I am trained in & primarily utilize interventions from the following therapy models: Anchored Relational Model (ARM), Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing (EMDR), Expressive Arts Therapy (EXAT), Relational Recovery Process (RRP), Somatic Experiencing (SE), Person-Centered Therapy (PCT), Emotionally-Focused Therapy (EFT), Integrative Sex & Couples Therapy (ISCT), The Gottman Method (GM) & Integrative Attachment Family Therapy (IAFT). Additionally, I enjoy incorporating skills-based therapies such as Acceptance & Commitment Therapy (ACT) & Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) for supplemental practices, as well as blending Internal Family Systems (IFS) into my sessions.
While utilizing EMDR in sessions, I spend a lot of time in the resourcing phase helping clients make contact with their parts, understand their own neurology, & do rescue missions for young parts. This is a necessary process for clients with complex & developmental trauma that unfortunately some therapists miss, which can lead to poor client experiences. In this way, the length of treatment can be longer than some people want for it to while they're originally looking for EMDR sessions with me. In my practice, resourcing work is necessary until I understand that the client's neurology has enough capacity for processing traumatic memories, & that this process is what may help them even further (Note: another important point for survivors to know is that processing traumatic memories isn't always necessary for their healing).
I am highly passionate about practicing the Relational Recovery Model (RRP), developed by Amanda Curtin, who I've had a privilege of being trained directly under, requiring me to work on my childhood trauma within a group of other therapists, doing the work together each week for up to 2 years. Speaking personally, this group work has helped me in my own healing process more than individual work, due to the ability to grieve & move forward with good-enough others. Amanda's work has deeply impacted me as both a professional & survivor, & you can find more about our approach below, as well as on my website: RRP & C-PTSD.
Patrick Teahan Interviewing Amanda Curtin: https://youtu.be/FlmuP64wJMk?si=0StLh0-KZFa766Nb
Some clients may request to work with me solely for Somatic Experiencing (SE), in which we tend to work less with words/narrative, & focus on the body & nervous system responses. Clients may also wish to incorporate other modalities with SE, such as sand tray therapy, or parts work modalities. You can learn more about SE below:
Peter Levine on SE & Titration: https://youtu.be/AFUZHz6_0XE?si=6YdEiCagoLbl6GOf
Master of Arts in Marriage & Family, Specialization in Systemic Trauma Therapy - National University, San Diego, CA
Bachelor of Science in Health Science, Specialization in Occupational Therapy, Minor of Writing - Stockton University, Galloway, NJ
Certified Yoga Teacher (CYT) 200 - Blissful Yoga
Trauma-Informed Yoga Instructor, 60 - My Vinyasa Practice
Reiki Practitioner Level 3 (Master) - Wellness Workers