Everything you need to know about trauma therapy in Houston

We’ve all heard about trauma. And it’s difficult to define. I simply tell my clients that trauma is anything that you define as trauma.

It’s that simple. If it left a mark and it feels like it has you in a chokehold, then it is trauma. I’m not a fan of invalidating your experiences.

But trauma is unfortunately everywhere. Even long after the event or events are over, trauma is a horrible thing that leaves its mark. You try to shake it off, but it seems to have seeped into your bones and pores.

You lay awake thinking about that horrible thing that happened to you. You find that you’re no longer as friendly or as trusting of others as you used to be. The world now feels darker. Colder.

The good news is that even though trauma left you wounded, it’s possible for us to work together to begin to patch up the wounds. You might be left with some scars, but you don’t have to be permanently defeated.

Today I’m simply going to answer some questions you might have about trauma therapy in Houston. And I’ll let you decide if it’s for you.

Because at the end of the day, you know what’s best for you.

Is Trauma therapy Worth it?

Before you begin on your journey of healing, know that trauma therapy is not for the faint of heart. To heal your trauma, you might have to revisit some of the scary places in your mind. There will be tears, fear, anger, sadness, disdain, and all the other emotions in between, before you finally get to a place of healing, joy and peace.

If you are ready to begin to slowly peel off some of the protective layers that have kept you safe, then I’d say trauma therapy is well worth it for you. But if you are not yet ready to go there, then maybe it’s not the right time for you.

And that’s okay.

If you are thinking, “I’m ready to heal my trauma, but I’m not interested in giving my therapist a play by play of exactly what happened.” Then you have come to the right place. Because there are many different approaches to healing trauma.

With traditional talk therapy, you might have to talk about the exact details of what you experienced. But with a non traditional style like EMDR trauma therapy or Brainspotting trauma therapy, you do not have to go over the gory details of your trauma in order for therapy to be successful.

Click to watch my video “What exactly is brainspotting?

Click to watch my video “How does brainspotting work?

What is the difference between therapy and trauma therapy?

In my opinion, there really isn’t much of a difference. Therapy helps you work towards specific goals, while trauma therapy has its main goal as healing your trauma. Not every therapist is a fan of trauma therapy (because it does take a very specific set of skills to execute the work properly and there is also a risk of the therapist being traumatized too as they hear your stories).

So if you are going to do trauma therapy, ensure that your therapist is indeed a trauma therapist.

How do you know if your therapist is a trauma therapist? Just ask.

What makes a therapist a trauma therapist?

Training.

Let me give you a brief crash course in therapy education. When we get our masters degrees in social work, counseling, psychology or marriage and family therapy, we get an overview of different types of therapy. we are tauught about several different diagnoses and we get snippets on how to intervene. And we also get thousands of hours in face to face practice with real clients.

After we graduate, we can decide to pursue further training in whatever areas we feel will be beneficial to us and our clients.

For example, I have further training in Gottman method couples therapy, Dialectical Behavior therapy, Brainspotting trauma therapy, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia, amongst many others.

In the case of trauma therapists, we have decided to pursue additional trainings in areas that could help our clients heal from trauma. My preference for trauma therapy is brainspotting hands down.

Why do I love brainspotting for trauma?

I like it because it is much gentler than talk therapy. I worked with clients on their traumas for years using traditional Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, and I struggled with it. It was exhausting to both me and them. I also found that it just didn't suit my clients who were sick and tired of talking about the gory details of their trauma over and over again.

Talking over and over again about something that has haunted you for years just didn’t seem so helpful.

Another struggle I faced with trauma therapy is it didn’t seem to be a good match for clients of certain cultures. And it is very important to me that I am able to hold space for clients from some of the non dominant cultures.

In some cultures, it really isn’t acceptable to tell everyone and their mama your business. And talk therapy is just that- telling your business.

But with brainspotting trauma therapy, my clients can work on their trauma in silence if they want to. They don’t have to come to me for years and years, and it is still very effective. Brainspotting gets the job done in a much shorter amount of time than talk therapy.

Boom! It’s a win for me and a win for my clients.

My goal as a therapist is to see my clients feel healed and free.

Which therapy is best for past trauma?

I am biased. My preferred approach for trauma therapy is definitely brainspotting. My clients have gotten great results from it. And I don’t change a winning strategy.

Now you can pretty much get great results from other types of trauma therapy, but brainspotting tends to get my clients results pretty quickly. Trauma therapy isn’t easy for anyone, so why not rip the bandage off quickly so we can zoom right on over to the healed part of us?

When not to do trauma therapy

Now although I am a great fan of trauma therapy and trying to stop trauma from controlling you, but trauma therapy isn’t for everyone.

• If you do not feel you are ready to go looking for skeletons in your closet, then maybe trauma therapy isn’t for you.

• If you do not feel like you are ready to commit to regular therapy sessions, then trauma therapy isn’t your jam.

• If your therapist is not indeed a trauma therapist, then please find one.

• If it is difficult for you to trust the process, then trauma therapy will be harder. There will be tears and discomfort before we get to the healing part.

And there you have it- some simple nuggets to answer your questions about trauma therapy in Houston.

If you are ready for trauma to stop controlling your entire existence and you want to finally heal what was broken, click here to schedule your free consultation call for brainspotting trauma therapy in Houston.

About Me

My name is Ibinye Osibodu-Onyali. I’m a licensed marriage and family therapist in California and Texas. I help women who are struggling with trauma, anxiety and insomnia.

I also help couples learn how to speak each other’s language, date each other again and manage conflict in a non-painful way.

Many of my clients are:

Highly sensitive people

High achieving women

People with insomnia

Couples who want to regain their friendship and trust

If you’re ready to take the next steps, click here.

Trauma Therapist Houston: How Brainspotting Can Help You Heal

Before we dive in, here’s a link to a video and blog post on “What is brainspotting?

what is brainspotting and how does it actually work?

It’s pretty simple. When you are having a conversation with someone, you’ll notice that their eyes move all over the place. Sometimes their eyes look up and to the right, other times, it’s down and to the left, and still, other times they might appear to be looking far away in the distance.

But it really is all about your brain processing.

During brainspotting therapy, your therapist doesn’t do a lot of talking.

What to Expect from Your First Session with a Trauma Therapist in Houston

They utilize your eye gaze to help your brain gently bring up important memories. Your therapist will ask you to focus on a specific point- the point at which your brain naturally wants you to focus on, so that it can process appropriately.

You are gently told to bring up the event or experience that you want to process. One of the ways I do this is with a pointer. I help you find the right spot for you to focus on- brainspotting therapists know how to do this.

What to Expect from Your First Session with a Trauma Therapist in Houston

I slowly bring the pointer across the screen (watch this video for the explanation. Start at 0:57 to see how I use my pointer). When I notice that your face makes certain reflex movements, I’ll stop the pointer. Then I ask that you continue to gaze at the spot while bringing up some of the experiences that brought you into therapy.

Another tool that I use in brainspotting therapy is biolateral music. Biolateral music is simply music that bounces back and forth- from left ear to right ear- in an unpredictable pattern, which allows your brain to process.

You will have headphones on, while the music is on very low volume, so you can still hear me talking and you can still follow my guidance. This entire process rewires your brain.

I won’t be doing a whole bunch of talking, my job is just to set it up, hold the space for you, and allow you to gently bring up those experiences that brought you into therapy.

On your own, you’ll be able to come up with all sorts of answers that you didn't know were inside you. The idea is that you already have the resources within you. You just need the right environment to bring them up.

It is you processing an event, your trauma, or your experiences, while looking at a certain spot. Where you look affects how you feel- is the premise behind brainspotting.

Brainspotting is useful for:

• People who have experienced trauma.

• People with anxiety or fear.

• Athletes, performers and musicians who are stuck.

• Entrepreneurs who want to get rid of mental blocks that stop them from making decisions.

If you are ready to finally heal from past trauma, anxiety or difficult experiences, click here to schedule your free 15-minute consultation to find out if brainspotting is right for you. I am a Black therapist who provides online therapy for people who live in California and Texas.

About the Author

My name is Ibinye Osibodu-Onyali. I’m a licensed marriage and family therapist in California. I help women who are struggling with anxiety and insomnia. I also help couples learn how to speak each other’s language, date each other again and manage conflict in a non-painful way.

Many of my clients are:

Highly sensitive people

High achieving women

People with insomnia

Couples who want to regain their friendship and trust

If you’re ready to take the next steps, click here.

What exactly is Brainspotting Therapy?

So what exactly is brainspotting? Maybe you've heard of brainspotting before and you're curious about it, or maybe you have no clue what I'm talking about. Before we jump in, know that brainspotting is very different from EMDR.

Brainspotting is different from EMDR

In my opinion it is way better, but of course I'm biased because I am a brainspotting therapist.

The idea behind brainspotting therapy is very simple.

It is that when we go through trauma, stress, or difficult experiences, they can get locked into certain parts of the brain.

The experiences get locked into the reptilian or subcortical part of your brain where your emotions are processed.

This often happens to maybe protect your body from the difficult emotions. Because if you spent all of your time thinking about all the big, difficult things that have happened in your life, you’d be paralyzed by fear, anxiety or overwhelm. So then your brain locks those emotions into one place.

Perhaps your body might not be ready to process those emotions yet, so it just protects them in the reptilian brain. However this becomes a problem, when the memories begin to interfere in your life.

The effects of locking up your emotions

You find yourself avoiding emotions altogether, or having a hard time regulating your emotions. Or the memories of the difficult experience keep popping back up, and you have no idea what to do with them.

Through the process of brainspotting, your therapist will help you unlock some of those emotions, so that you can better process them and heal your hurt brain.

The tools of Brainspotting

Some of the tools that I use in brainspotting are a pointer and biolateral music to help you dig into the subcortical brain.

The benefits of brainspotting

Brainspotting therapy is just a simple tool to help you unlock the emotions, trauma and experiences that have been trapped in your brain, so that you can process then and free yourself from pain. You leave the sessions feeling like a load has been lifted off your shoulders, and the memories that have felt unbearably scary, get less and less scary.

Brainspotting can be helpful for:

• People who have experienced trauma.

• People with anxiety or fear.

• Athletes, performers and musicians who are stuck.

• Entrepreneurs who want to get rid of mental blocks that stop them from making important decisions.

Here is a link to anther blog post and video on how brainspotting works.

If you are ready to heal your brain and try brainspotting therapy, click here to schedule a free 15-minute consultation call. I provide brainspotting in Temecula, Murrieta area and brainspotting in Houston, TX. I see clients throughout Texas and California online.