Inherited Trauma Healing

Inherited trauma is a concept that has gained recognition in the field of psychology in recent years, but it has been an acknowledged aspect of people's suffering for centuries among Indigenous and Aboriginal cultures. It refers to the transmission of trauma from one generation to the next, often unconsciously and through DNA. The impact of inherited trauma can manifest in various ways, from emotional distress to physical symptoms like chronic pain. Healing from inherited trauma requires a specialized approach that addresses not only the individual's personal experiences but also the traumas carried through their family lineage.

Whole Brain Psychotherapy is a private practice that offers a unique and effective approach to healing inherited trauma.

Some of us may not realize that the relational or attachment-based struggles we've experienced in infancy, childhood, or even adulthood can be described as trauma. However, when I consider that we're biologically primed for survival through human connection, it becomes clear to me that attachment wounding is, in fact, trauma. With this in mind, I have a particular interest in treating relational issues both individually and within the context of parent/child attachment or family dynamics.

In navigating the fallout of trauma and intergenerational trauma, I work with clients who experience (Complex) Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome, depression, anxiety, dissociation, and conversion disorders for long-term treatment. I also offer short-term treatment through "intensives" (extended sessions) to help reprocess large amounts of traumatic information in just a few days. After establishing safety and trust in the office, we work together to identify and reorganize attachment patterns, survival responses, or conditioned tendencies that no longer serve you. Together, we "train your brain," and over time, these new mental patterns begin to work like updated software, giving you a new blueprint to view your world.

Since human survival is deeply rooted in attachment-related safety and connection, individuals who experience disconnection may feel fragmented or disconnected from their sense of self and others. Whenever a client tells me they feel "stuck," I explore trauma, stress, and disconnection in their family history. Modern research in epigenetics, neuroscience, and the science of language has shown that trauma is passed down genetically, with gene expression being influenced by the physical and relational environment. I often find that inherited and historic trauma shows up in session as sudden emotional shifts or body sensations, sometimes presenting as chronic pain or a sense of being "stuck." When we stay curious about the "how and why" of chronic conditions, human behavior, and culture, we can address the multidimensional needs of clients dealing with disconnection and trauma linked to colonization, slavery, forced migration, land theft, food insecurity, state violence, institutional oppression, discrimination, and racism, sexism, ableism, classism, transphobia, and homophobia.

As a person with class, ability and race privilege, I help heal the maladaptive emotional, psychological, and physiological effects of white-bodied clients who have ancestral roots benefiting from colonization and oppression. By examining the cultural, spiritual, and economic systems a client comes from, we can look at how family trauma and survival strategies have impacted you or your family. This allows you to understand and shift away from habitual patterns that once felt "impossible" to change by adding "big picture" context, and ultimately, move towards resolution with less subjugation. No matter which side of power and privilege a client falls on, all of us have been impacted by these systems of value and power. Oppressive forces—past, present, and future—have continued to divide, disconnect, and disempower BIPOC generations while fostering fear, paranoia, isolation, perfectionism, antisocial behaviors, and a sense of urgency among groups that are designed to "benefit" from these power structures. This social and psychological adaptation is passed down generationally and can show up as aggression, depression, anxiety, troubled relationships, codependency, narcissism, addiction, abuse, chronic pain, and legal problems, among others. By examining these dimensions across a lifetime and lineage, we can better contextualize trauma, depersonalize it, and metabolize the grief and rage it has caused, as well as the protective patterns that develop in response to that pain.

I also want to acknowledge that, while I use research-based practices in my office, this research is relatively new—less than four decades old—while ancestral healing or "root work" has been understood and practiced by Indigenous and Aboriginal communities for centuries. The work we do together in sessions will be clinically linked to your goals, emergent, and informed by your unique personal systems. I welcome you to integrate your own personal and spiritual beliefs as a resource, as well as any source of insight that feels meaningful to you.