Jennifer spends dedicated time with each of her clients, learning about their personal experiences and co-creating trust and safety from which to work. When people are traumatized and their nervous systems are left frazzled and dysregulated, they sometimes dissociate, or automatically numb, to avoid the painful memories, emotions and sensations that are maladaptively stored in their bodies and that repeat without permission. Traumatized people also learn to avoid the intrusive ways trauma comes into their present awareness by thinking all the time, by "living" in their heads, for example, and losing touch with what is happening in their bodies. When people are out of touch with their bodies in this way and they are stuck in a fight, flight or freeze patterning, they frequently miss cues to relax, self-soothe, or slow down. This can, in part, lead to physical problems including tension, pain, exhaustion, stomach problems or migraines. Living with trauma can also begin to isolate people from friends and even family members: life becomes too overwhelming to enjoy happy moments with loved ones, and our Social Engagement System (SES), which helps us engage in the safety of our healthy relationships, begins to go offline.
Often, people underestimate their upsetting experiences and don't consider living through them as counting as "traumatic." This can happen, too, when the people around us do not acknowledge our experiences as having been overwhelming to us in the moment of experiencing them.
Jennifer Hume, LMHC, MCAP gently assists people in reconnecting with their somatic experiences, calming their nervous systems, and safely attending to their experiences of trauma in the present moment. She has practiced EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) since 2004 and is a certified EMDR therapist. EMDR is a very well-researched therapy that is effective for the treatment of trauma, as well as many other presenting problems. Please visit EMDR.com for more information about this life-changing therapy. Jennifer also uses a form of EMDR that has a more somatic focus to help people reconnect with their bodies more consciously. She is also a Level-2 practitioner of Brainspotting, which is another approach that developed from EMDR that many people find helpful in releasing trauma and distress. Learn more about Brainspotting at Brainspotting.com
EMDR and Brainspotting can be helpful in healing most any upsetting life event; don't be concerned about asking for this type of therapy, even if you do not feel you are "traumatized."