Reclaim Your Identity By Healing Your Trauma
Healing Trauma: How Holistic Psychotherapy Can Help You Reclaim Safety, Stability, and Emotional Freedom
Trauma changes the brain—but healing does too.
At Holistic Psychotherapy & Wellness NY, we understand that trauma—whether it’s a single overwhelming event or a history of chronic, developmental adversity—can fundamentally alter your nervous system, sense of safety, and ability to trust yourself and others. But we also know that with the right therapeutic support, the brain and body have an extraordinary capacity to rewire, rebuild, and recover.
Trauma Rewires the Brain—But So Does Healing
When traumatic experiences go unprocessed, they can keep the nervous system stuck in survival mode. Over time, the brain creates protective loops that perpetuate hyperarousal, emotional numbing, flashbacks, and a persistent feeling that the world is unsafe. These patterns are reinforced through repeated rumination, re-telling, and avoidance, deepening the grip trauma has on daily life.
The good news? Neuroplasticity—the brain’s natural ability to form new neural connections—allows us to release old trauma loops and build pathways rooted in safety, connection, and regulation. Therapy can support this transformation by offering resourcing, co-regulation, and reparative experiences that tell the body and brain: it’s safe to heal now.
“It’s Not Safe to Be Well”: The Hidden Belief That Keeps Trauma Alive
Many trauma survivors come to therapy with a surprising inner conflict—they deeply want to heal, yet feel resistance to feeling “well” or “whole.” This resistance is often rooted in a subconscious belief: if I relax, I won’t be ready for danger. Healing may feel unsafe, even threatening.
This belief is a survival strategy. After all, if you’ve been harmed before, staying hyper-vigilant can feel protective. But this chronic stress response blocks access to joy, connection, and rest. At Holistic Psychotherapy & Wellness NY, we work gently to explore and reprocess these beliefs so that you can begin to experience wellness without fear.
What Does Trauma-Informed Healing Involve?
Each healing journey is unique. Whether you’re struggling with the effects of childhood trauma, sexual trauma, emotional abuse, medical trauma, or PTSD, our practice supports you in cultivating safety—internally and externally—before processing painful memories.
We offer therapy for trauma using modalities like:
EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing)
Somatic Experiencing & Nervous System Regulation
Parts Work & Internal Family Systems (IFS)
Attachment-Focused Psychotherapy
Mindfulness-Based Therapy & Breathwork
Psychoeducation around trauma and neurobiology
Therapy is not about reliving the trauma—it’s about gently releasing its hold on your nervous system, allowing you to move forward.
Holistic Steps Toward Healing From Trauma
In addition to trauma therapy, your healing will be supported by lifestyle practices that nourish both mind and body. These are often the first steps I recommend to clients in our work together:
Nutrition: Eat anti-inflammatory, whole foods that stabilize mood and blood sugar.
Sleep: Prioritize deep rest. Your brain heals during sleep.
Movement: Choose gentle, embodied forms of movement that feel safe and grounding.
Safe Environment: Create a space in your home where you feel calm, comforted, and in control.
Self-Regulation Tools: Learn breathwork, somatic tools, and guided meditation to soothe the nervous system.
Supportive Relationships: Begin to rebuild a circle of safe, emotionally available people.
Boundary Work: Remove yourself from people or environments that re-traumatize or invalidate you.
Sensory Grounding: Use scent, touch, visuals, and sound to create a sense of now-ness and safety.
Healing Rituals: Develop consistent rituals that affirm you are safe, capable, and worthy of rest.
Trauma Therapy in NYC: What Healing Might Look Like
Signs that trauma healing is underway include:
Reduced anxiety and hyper-vigilance
Fewer intrusive thoughts, flashbacks, or nightmares
Improved sleep and emotional regulation
Greater trust in self and others
Ability to tolerate a wider range of emotions
Feeling less “stuck” in past identities or survival roles
Greater presence and connection in relationships
Renewed capacity for joy, pleasure, and play
You may also feel more open to change, intimacy, and a vision for your future. This is the deeper goal of trauma therapy: not just symptom relief, but emotional freedom.
Common Trauma Symptoms We Treat
At Holistic Psychotherapy & Wellness NY, we support individuals struggling with a range of trauma-related symptoms, including:
Persistent fear, anxiety, and panic
Depression, hopelessness, or anhedonia
Emotional numbness or dissociation
Sleep disturbances and insomnia
Flashbacks and intrusive memories
Avoidance of people, places, or thoughts
Hypervigilance and exaggerated startle response
Trust issues and relational difficulties
Substance use, disordered eating, or self-harm
Chronic pain, body tension, or autoimmune symptoms
A Trauma-Informed Approach Rooted in Compassion, Expertise, and Integration
Healing trauma requires time, patience, and the right support. At our boutique psychotherapy practice in NYC, we offer a warm, attuned space for trauma survivors to feel deeply seen and supported. Our trauma-informed care integrates science, somatics, mindfulness, and relational depth to meet your unique needs.
Whether you’re a high-functioning professional navigating unresolved trauma, a survivor seeking relief from chronic symptoms, or someone who simply wants to feel more emotionally stable and alive, therapy can help you reconnect with the truth of who you are—beyond the trauma.
Ready to Begin Your Healing Journey?
If you're ready to start trauma therapy in NYC or want to learn more about how EMDR and somatic therapy can support your healing, we invite you to reach out. We work with adults of all backgrounds, including public figures, creatives, and high-level professionals, with full confidentiality and concierge care available.
You are not broken—you are healing.
About Holistic Psychotherapy & Wellness Manhattan
Kimberly Seelbrede, LCSW is a New York State licensed Psychotherapist, EMDR Practitioner and Couple Therapist with a private practice in New York City, Montana and virtually. As a wellness psychotherapist and holistic consultant, she has receive advanced, extensive training in Trauma Therapy, Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy, Internal Family Systems (IFS), Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing (EMDR), Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), Somatic Experiencing (SE), and Nutrition & Integrative Medicine For Mental Health. She is passionate about honoring the exquisite interplay of the mind-body connection. Kimberly Seelbrede specializes in anxiety & mood disorders, trauma and women’s mental health. She brings over 20 years of counseling, coaching, and healing experience to her holistic practice and transformational work.
In addition to online therapy for anxiety, depression, trauma and relationship struggles, Holistic Psychotherapy & Wellness offers a wide variety of online services to fit the needs of busy professionals. New Yorkers often lead fast-paced and complex lives, which makes work-life balance and managing career, family and social obligations a challenge. Psychotherapy and wellness practices provide the support to help clients cultivate resources, resilience and enhanced emotional health, as well as uncover conflicts and obstacles that may interfere with having the life they desire.