Online Therapy · CA & FL

You deserve to feel
free from what
has happened to you.

Trauma doesn't always look like what you'd expect. Sometimes it's the heaviness you can't explain, the relationships that keep falling apart, or the way your body reacts before your mind even knows why.

Healing is possible. And it starts at whatever pace feels safe for you.

Trauma-certified specialist
Your pace, always
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Trauma therapy
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Trauma can be hard to name — but its effects are unmistakable.

Many people who carry trauma don't identify with the word at first. They just know that something feels off in ways that are hard to explain — in their body, their relationships, their sense of safety in the world.

If any of what follows sounds familiar, you're not alone. And you don't have to understand it fully to begin working through it.

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"I feel tightness in my chest, a pit in my stomach, or tension that seems to come from nowhere."

"I find myself bracing for things to go wrong, even when everything is fine."

"I feel anxious that people I love might leave or abandon me at any moment."

"My emotions sometimes take over — I shut down, pull away, or react in ways I later regret."

"I struggle to trust people, even those who have given me no reason not to."

"I carry a sense of shame or worthlessness I've never been able to fully shake."

What is complex trauma — and could it be shaping your life?

Complex trauma develops through repeated exposure to experiences that feel emotionally or physically harmful — often in relationships and often early in life. It can include emotional neglect, abandonment, chronic instability, or relational patterns that taught you the world wasn't safe.

Because complex trauma is rooted in relationship, it most often shows up in relationships — in how we connect, how we communicate, and how securely we're able to trust ourselves and others.

It isn't weakness. It's a reasonable response to an unreasonable experience.

Complex & Developmental Trauma

Repeated or prolonged harmful experiences during formative years — often within the family system — that shape a person's sense of safety, identity, and trust.

Chronic Relational Trauma

Ongoing patterns of emotional harm within important relationships — including neglect, invalidation, manipulation, or abandonment — that accumulate over time.

Intergenerational Trauma

Trauma patterns, emotional responses, and survival adaptations passed down through families — often without anyone naming them as trauma at all.

Single-Incident & Acute Trauma

A specific event — loss, accident, assault, medical crisis — that overwhelmed the nervous system's capacity to process and move through.

Trauma doesn't stay in the past — it lives in the present.

Traumatic experiences get stored in the body and nervous system, not just in memory. This is why healing requires more than talking — it requires working with the whole person.

In Relationships

Difficulty trusting, fear of abandonment, patterns of pushing people away or clinging, feeling fundamentally misunderstood or unlovable.

In the Body

Chest tightness, chronic tension, headaches, stomach distress, hypervigilance, a nervous system that never fully comes to rest.

In Your Inner Life

Shame, guilt, worthlessness, a persistent sense of being fundamentally different or broken, difficulty feeling safe even in calm moments.

In Emotional Regulation

Emotions that arrive suddenly and intensely — or that go flat and numb. Shutting down, lashing out, or disappearing when things feel overwhelming.

In Connection

Isolation, difficulty letting people in, sabotaging closeness when it gets real, or a deep longing for connection alongside terror of it.

Across Time

The past feeling uncomfortably close — or strangely inaccessible. Difficulty being present because part of you is always braced for what happened before.

Thoughtful, paced, evidence-based trauma care.

I've spent years specifically studying and practicing trauma therapy — not as an add-on to general therapy, but as a focused clinical specialty. The modalities I use are chosen because they work with the whole person: mind, body, nervous system, and relational history.

This work is never rushed. We move at whatever pace allows you to feel safe, and I'll always follow your lead on how deep we go and when.

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I
Somatic-EMDR An integration of body-based awareness and evidence-based EMDR processing — particularly effective for complex and relational trauma.
II
Somatic Experiencing Working with how trauma lives in the body — releasing stored tension and restoring the nervous system's capacity for safety and rest.
III
Attachment-Based Therapy Understanding how early relational experiences shaped your templates for safety, connection, and trust — and gradually reshaping them.
IV
Nervous System Regulation Building your capacity to move through activation and distress without being overtaken — practical tools you can use in daily life.
V
Relational-Cultural & Psychodynamic Therapy Exploring the deeper patterns and relational dynamics that hold trauma in place — in a therapeutic relationship that is itself healing.

Trauma Certifications

Certified Clinical Trauma Professional Advanced certification in trauma-informed clinical practice

Somatic-Attachment Therapy Practitioner Specialized training in body-based attachment and relational trauma

Somatic-EMDR Practitioner Integrating somatic awareness with EMDR for complex trauma healing

What trauma therapy with Dr. York actually looks like.

Many people feel uncertain about what trauma therapy involves — or afraid it will mean being forced to relive painful experiences. Here's how we work.

1

Building Safety First

We never dive into the deep end. We begin by establishing safety, trust, and a solid foundation — internal and relational — before any trauma processing begins.

2

Understanding Your Patterns

Together we explore how your history shows up in your current life — the patterns, the responses, the places you feel stuck — with curiosity rather than judgment.

3

Healing at Your Pace

Processing trauma is careful, measured work. You are always in control of the pace. The goal is lasting freedom — not rushing toward an endpoint.

Life on the other side of trauma work.

Healing from trauma isn't the absence of memory — it's the restoration of choice, safety, and connection. Here's what becomes possible.

01

A body that finally feels like a safe place to live

02

Relationships that feel more trusting, stable, and genuinely close

03

Emotions that inform you rather than overwhelm or control you

04

Freedom from the shame and worthlessness that was never yours to carry

05

The ability to be present — without always bracing for what happened before

06

A felt sense of your own worth, resilience, and capacity to build the life you want

Dr. Anissa York
Dr. York's photo

Trauma is my specialty — not an add-on.

I've spent years seeking out advanced training specifically in trauma therapy — because I believe it deserves that level of focus. The certifications and modalities I hold aren't boxes I checked; they're a reflection of a genuine commitment to this work and to the people who carry it.

I work with a deep respect for how hard this is — and how much courage it takes to begin. You will never be pushed faster than you're ready to go. This is your process, and I'm here to support it.

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Healing is possible. It begins with one conversation.

Your free consultation is gentle, unhurried, and completely confidential. There is no pressure to proceed — only space to see if this feels right.

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Prefer to reach out first? connect@dranissayork.com  ·  619-333-3963