Trauma Therapy Florida: When Your Body Won't Let Go
You know that feeling when you're doing well on paper but inside it's a different story? You've built a successful life and keep up with demanding, often stressful work. You're smart, respected, capable. Yet your body stays tight, your shoulders ache, and you either snap at small things or shut down completely.
Maybe you lie awake at 2 AM replaying conversations, or notice your stomach knot before meetings. You get through the day, but then crash afterward, sometimes snapping over something small or shutting down without fully knowing why. Even when life looks good, old experiences can linger in the body, leaving you braced or on edge. The tension doesn't ease, sleep feels off, and it can seem like you're carrying more than the situation calls for.
Maybe you've already worked through your story in therapy and thought the hard parts were behind you. Or maybe you've tried the usual tools like talking it out, journaling, or reframing your thoughts, but they don't quite touch the depth of what you're carrying. Either way, it's frustrating to still feel the impact in your body, your emotions, and your reactions.
If this resonates, you're not alone. You might wonder if you've been pushing for too long, or if old experiences are showing up in ways you didn't expect. The anxiety, overwhelm, and burnout can start to feel like your new normal, but it doesn't have to stay that way.
I'm Amy Hagerstrom, a licensed trauma therapist offering specialized trauma therapy Florida residents can access online. I work with high-functioning individuals who feel exhausted despite their success, using approaches that address how trauma affects both your mind and body. My focus is helping you reconnect with buried parts of yourself so you can feel more alive, fulfilled, and at ease.
When Success Feels Exhausting
From the outside, you've built a solid career and life with plenty of responsibilities handled. But inside, you feel drained. Your body holds tension that won't let up, and small triggers can set off reactions that feel bigger than the moment. The stress relief practices give a little break, but the deeper strain is still there.
This isn't only about dramatic trauma stories from movies. Sometimes trauma comes from repeated stressful events that overwhelm your ability to cope. Other times it's the absence of something essential, like safety, care, or protection during childhood. And yes, sometimes it's a single event in adulthood that happened too fast or too intensely for your body and mind to process.
These experiences can leave lasting imprints in your nervous system, shaping how you respond to stress long after the moment has passed. That’s why trauma therapy is important. It helps you work through these imprints gently, so they don’t keep running the show.
You might find yourself having reactions that feel bigger than the moment calls for. Snapping at someone you love, then immediately regretting it. Shutting down when you need to be present. Getting thrown off for hours by something small that wouldn't have bothered you before. The shame around these responses can be the hardest part.
But here's what I want you to understand: these reactions make complete sense given what your nervous system has been managing. You're not broken. Your body is trying to protect you based on what it learned was necessary. The problem is, those same protective responses that once helped you survive might now be keeping you stuck.
Why Your Mind Can't Think Its Way Out
If you're exhausted from trying to think your way out of overwhelm, you're not alone. Many successful people find themselves stuck in this cycle, where their minds understand the strategies that should help, but their bodies remain tense, reactive, or shut down. For some, this points to unresolved trauma, experiences that the body is still carrying, even if the mind has tried to move on.
Your logical mind may know you're safe, but your body still reacts with a racing heart and tense shoulders. This happens because trauma affects both mind and body in ways that go deeper than thoughts. When something overwhelming happened, whether it was a specific traumatic event or a series of stressful experiences that were too much to handle, those experiences became stored in your nervous system as physical sensations and automatic responses.
This is where trauma therapy that works with your body becomes essential. Traditional talk therapy offers tremendous value for gaining insight, but when anxiety and trauma symptoms live in your body, talking alone often isn't enough to create lasting change. Your nervous system needs to experience safety, not just think about it.
Trauma-informed therapy recognizes that your body holds wisdom that your mind can't access through analysis alone. Those physical symptoms including the tight chest, knotted stomach, clenched jaw, aren't just stress. They're your body communicating about experiences that didn't get fully processed at the time.
Understanding How Trauma Lives in Your Body
When your nervous system faces something overwhelming, it kicks into survival responses: fight, flight, freeze, or shutdown. These are intelligent, automatic reactions designed to keep you alive. But when these responses don't get to complete their natural cycle, that survival energy can stay stuck in your brain and body.
Sometimes your nervous system stays revved up, anxiety, hypervigilance, emotions that feel too big for the situation. Other times it drops into shutdown, which can feel like exhaustion, emotional numbness, or feeling disconnected from yourself and others. You might swing between both states, never quite finding that sweet spot of feeling calm yet alert.
Complex trauma, often from childhood experiences, can be especially tricky because it happens during crucial developmental years. Maybe you learned to scan for mood changes in adults, or to make yourself small when things got tense. These intelligent adaptations helped you navigate difficult situations, but they can create lasting patterns that show up in your adult relationships and daily stress responses.
The thing about childhood trauma is that it doesn't always look like what people expect. It might have been emotional neglect, witnessing conflict, or simply not having space for your full range of feelings. These experiences can shape your nervous system's default settings, affecting everything from self-esteem to your ability to feel safe in relationships.
My Approach: Somatic Therapy for Real Change
I specialize in somatic therapy, which works directly with how your body holds traumatic experiences and stress. This isn't about lying on a couch analyzing your childhood for years, though your history is welcome if you want to share it. Instead, we work with what's happening in your body right now.
Somatic Experiencing is my primary approach to trauma therapy. It's gentle, body-oriented work that helps release trapped stress and supports emotional regulation through present-moment awareness. We pay attention to your internal sensations, that flutter in your chest, the heaviness in your shoulders, the way your breathing changes when something feels off.
This trauma informed approach recognizes that you already have an innate capacity for healing. My job isn't to fix you or tell you what's wrong. It's to create the conditions where your nervous system can do what it naturally wants to do: complete those stuck responses and find its way back to balance.
We work in small, manageable pieces, what we call titration. This prevents your nervous system from getting overwhelmed and helps build your capacity to stay present with whatever comes up. We also use pendulation, which means moving intentionally between activation and calm. This helps your nervous system learn it doesn't have to get stuck in one state, making it easier to release what's been held.
This work is also deeply relational. I stay attuned to both your nervous system and your emotions. I'm noticing subtle shifts in your posture, tone, or energy, while also hearing your words and what they mean to you. Feeling heard and cared for is an important part of helping your body and mind settle enough to do the deeper work.
Working with Your Whole System
I also offer specialized tools that can support your nervous system in different ways:
Safe and Sound Protocol (SSP) uses specially filtered music to gently engage your nervous system's pathways for safety. The music is edited so its frequencies are similar to the human voice, especially the tones a caregiver might use to comfort a child. Many people find that SSP helps them feel more settled in their own skin and less reactive to everyday stressors.
Rest and Restore Protocol supports your body in finding deep rest and repair, especially when burnout or chronic exhaustion are part of your experience. The rhythms in the music work with your body's natural patterns, helping your system slow down and restore a healthier pace.
These approaches work together as integrative mental health care, honoring the connection between your mind, body, emotions, and overall well-being. As your nervous system becomes more regulated, you naturally build capacity to process emotions that once felt overwhelming.
What This Work Actually Looks Like
I know it can be hard to imagine what somatic therapy actually involves, especially if you're used to traditional talk therapy. The truth is, the work is gentle and supportive, focused on what feels manageable for you.
We might start by simply noticing what's happening in your body as you sit in your chair. Is there tension somewhere? A sense of heaviness or lightness? We're not trying to fix or change anything initially, just building your capacity to notice and stay present with your internal experience.
Sometimes memories or emotions come up during this work, and that's completely normal. If that happens, we can talk about it or we can stay with the body sensations, whatever feels right for you in that moment. The goal isn't to force anything, but to create space for whatever needs to emerge.
You might discover that you hold tension in places you weren't aware of, or that certain emotions have particular signatures in your body. This kind of body awareness becomes the foundation for everything else we do together.
What I love about this work is how it honors your pace. Some days you might be able to work with more intensity, while other days require a gentler approach. This isn't inconsistency, it's wisdom. Your body knows what it needs, and effective trauma therapy follows that lead.
The Reality of Healing
I want to be honest with you about what trauma healing actually looks like, because it’s different from how people often imagine it. It's not a straight line from point A to point B. It's more like a spiral, where you revisit themes but from different places of capacity and understanding.
You might notice changes right away, sleeping a little better, feeling less startled by sudden sounds, having more patience with small frustrations. But the deeper shifts often take time. Trauma work helps your nervous system let go of old survival patterns that have been in place for years, sometimes even decades.
The goal isn't to erase anxiety, overwhelm, or big reactions altogether. This work helps lower the charge so they happen less often, and when they do, they don't take over in the same way. You may notice more space to pause, breathe, and choose how you want to respond. That's huge.
The constant inner tension can begin to ease. Sleep may feel more restorative, and you may have more energy. As your nervous system comes out of survival mode, you feel more grounded, less reactive, and more able to be present in moments that used to feel unsafe.
This work also supports your relationships, since reactivity and shutdown often show up most with the people closest to you. When you're not operating from constant stress or protection, it becomes easier to be present with those you care about. You may notice more patience, the ability to listen without immediately defending or fixing, and a sense of genuine connection instead of just going through the motions.
What to Expect When We Work Together
I work with clients throughout Florida and Illinois through secure online sessions. This approach to trauma therapy can be especially helpful for busy professionals who are doing well outwardly but feeling overwhelmed underneath.
We start with a complimentary 10-minute consultation that you can schedule through my website. This gives us a chance to connect, for you to get a sense of my approach, and for both of us to see if it feels like a good fit. There's no pressure, trust your gut about what feels right for your healing process.
If you decide to move forward, you'll complete intake paperwork online and receive session links automatically. Our first session focuses on establishing rapport and giving you a taste of what somatic therapy feels like. We begin by building your capacity for regulation and safety, not by diving into difficult history unless you feel it would be helpful.
I recommend weekly sessions for consistency that allows deeper change. This regular contact provides the supportive environment your nervous system needs to try new patterns. Between sessions, I might suggest simple practices like grounding techniques or noticing sensations that feel supportive. These are meant to be enjoyable rather than another item on your to-do list.
I want to be clear that I focus specifically on somatic therapy and nervous system work rather than providing traditional talk therapy. There's absolutely space for your thoughts and emotions, but this happens within the context of paying attention to what your body is communicating and what it needs.
Taking the First Step
If you've been feeling reactive, shutting down, or unsettled in ways that make daily life harder, trauma therapy that includes the body can help. By working with your nervous system, we address the survival patterns that keep you bracing or disconnected, so you can feel more grounded and present in your relationships, your work, and your life.
You don't have to accept feeling reactive or exhausted as your normal. Healing is possible when we work with your body's natural capacity to recover. This work helps ease trauma symptoms and reconnect you with the parts of yourself that stress and overwhelm have buried.
The persistent tension, emotional challenges, or feelings of being stuck aren't character flaws. They're intelligent adaptations your system developed to keep you safe. While these responses once protected you, they may now be keeping you from living the meaningful life you deserve.
Ready to explore whether this approach feels right for you? Reach out through my website to schedule your complimentary consultation. Your nervous system has been working so hard to protect you, it's time to help it remember how to feel safe and at peace.
You deserve to feel at ease in your own body, to respond to life's challenges from groundedness rather than reactivity, and to reconnect with the vitality that stress and trauma may have buried. Trauma healing is absolutely possible, and you don't have to do it alone.
I offer specialized online trauma therapy to adults throughout Florida, including Fort Lauderdale, Boca Raton, Delray Beach, and West Palm Beach, as well as Chicago, Illinois. I don't accept insurance, but provide monthly superbills for clients who wish to seek reimbursement from their insurance.