Traumatic experiences can impact people for months or years afterwards, interfering with friendships, family relationships, work, and overall quality of life. Trauma-sensitive therapy helps trauma survivors address experiences that continue to cause anxiety, helplessness, numbness, hypervigilance, and other debilitating trauma responses. Therapists at Union Square Practice are deeply aware of the impacts of trauma and bring sensitivity, understanding, and deep compassion to our practice. We can’t erase your negative experiences or your memories of them, but we can help you find ways to move through them and prevent them from controlling you.
We offer trauma-informed therapy and related services at our NYC offices in Midtown Manhattan and meet with clients via telehealth across New York State. We provide a range of evidence-based treatments to help our clients cope with and heal from trauma:
Each treatment plan is customized to meet the client where they are. Find out more about our approach to trauma therapy and treatment options.
Trauma is an involuntary physiological stress response to a scary, harmful, or dangerous situation. Trauma can be acute, chronic, or a combination of the two. Acute trauma results from a single event (for instance, a serious car crash), while chronic trauma involves repeated exposure to traumatic circumstances, sometimes taking place over months or years (for instance, childhood abuse). In many cases acute trauma runs its course quickly, subsiding completely within hours, days, or weeks. In other cases, a single traumatic event or a case of chronic trauma can cause lasting issues, sometimes resulting in PTSD.
Whether an individual experiences ongoing trauma depends on a number of factors besides the apparent severity of the event or situation. These factors include individual personality, background (including past trauma), current context, resources, and social and emotional support. Sometimes this means situations we consciously believe to be more serious can affect us less than we expected, while circumstances we think of as insignificant can have a surprisingly large impact. Because trauma is so situational, it’s important not to discount your trauma responses simply because you think something “wasn’t that big of a deal” or that you “should be over it by now” because you’ve “lived through much worse and were fine.” Trauma therapy is effective precisely because it deals with a person’s actual experience of trauma, not what they think the impact “should be.”
Depending on the person, type of trauma, and larger context, survivors might experience any combination of these responses:
Trauma affects each person differently, with symptoms that range from subtle to very obvious. Because of this, symptoms might be noticeable to others, but often they are invisible. Trauma survivors themselves are not always aware that their strong feelings and reactions are related to trauma, especially if the traumatic event(s) took place at an early age.
These symptoms are distressing in and of themselves. They can also produce compounding negative consequences including social activity avoidance, intimate relationship difficulties, missed career opportunities, and serious physical health problems.
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a clinical diagnosis encompassing a set of persistent trauma responses that interfere with daily life. A person with PTSD meets minimum criteria in four trauma response categories including avoidant behaviors, compulsive re-experience (such as flashbacks or nightmares), heightened arousal/reactivity, and significant negative changes to mood/cognition.
Even if you don’t meet the criteria for PTSD, long-term trauma effects can significantly impact your quality of life. Trauma-informed therapy creates a safe space to approach persistent trauma responses from new angles and find practical ways forward to coping and healing.
Our therapists address trauma arising from all types of situations. Here are some causes of persistent trauma we encounter in our therapy practice:
Our clinicians collaborate to find the best combination of treatments for each client. Here are some of the services we offer that help trauma survivors:
Union Square Practice practitioners coordinate your therapy, medication management, and any additional treatment to provide you with seamless mental health care. We’re happy to answer your questions about the different treatments we offer and how we collaborate across specialties to ensure our clients receive the best in trauma-sensitive care.
Our therapists understand the complexities of trauma and appreciate how differently survivors experience and respond to traumatic events and situations. We know how trauma can show up in dramatic or subtle ways, and we approach each client without judgment or expectation. We believe that you are the expert in your own experience, and we are here to listen to you, help you draw connections between past and present, and find practical ways to reduce the impact of trauma on your life. Talking about painful events is easy for some people and very difficult for others, so we go at your pace and respect your timeline. We approach our practice with sincere interest in your well-being and prioritize earning your trust through genuine human connection
Your therapist will spend the first few sessions getting to know you and understanding your background, current situation, and hopes for the future. With this understanding they’ll begin to assess what therapies might work best for you. There’s no one-size-fits-all approach, so each therapy strategy is customized to the individual client.
Approaches our therapists find helpful for addressing trauma include Prolonged Exposure Therapy, Cognitive Processing Therapy, and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. Some of our therapists are trained in Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), a non-invasive psychotherapy technique which some trauma survivors find contributes significantly to their recovery.
Trauma survivors need to be where they are safe, heard, and understood. We understand that a positive personal connection is key to successful trauma therapy, so we match our clients and therapists with care. While all our therapists are trauma-informed, some will be a better fit for a given client based on their particular training, experience, and passion.
During the intake process, you’ll speak confidentially about your situation with one of our clinical coordinators. Based on your experiences, preferences, and concerns, they will suggest a therapist they think best fits your case. Our clinicians know each other and work collaboratively, so we’re happy to make adjustments and find you the therapist best suited to help you in the long run. You can also check out our practitioner bios to learn more about our therapists’ individual approaches and specialties.
Union Square Practice is a group of psychologists, psychiatrists and therapists who empower individuals to be the best versions of themselves using the latest science has to offer.
If past painful experiences are weighing you down in the present, or you’re dealing with recent or ongoing trauma, we are here to listen and help. We offer all our treatment services in person at our Midtown Manhattan offices, and psychotherapy and medication management are available by telehealth to clients throughout New York State. We look forward to meeting you, answering your questions, and finding out how we can support you to thrive.
Reach out to us using any of the contacts below or our general contact form.
