Trauma Therapy
When You Understand Your Trauma but Your Body Still Reacts
Online trauma therapy for adults in Florida and Illinois that includes both mind and body.
Book a 10-Minute Consultation
When the Past Still Feels Present
Even when a traumatic experience is over, your body may continue responding as though the danger is still present. You might notice chronic tension, feeling constantly on alert, emotional numbness, shutting down, or reactions that feel bigger than the situation.
These responses often make sense in light of what you’ve lived through. Understanding why they developed can be important, but insight doesn’t always change what happens automatically.
Somatic Experiencing (SE) works with these patterns as they arise in the present, helping you build greater capacity, felt safety, and flexibility in how you respond.
Meet Amy Hagerstrom, LCSW, SEP
I’m a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and Somatic Experiencing Practitioner specializing in trauma therapy for adults.
My work is grounded in Somatic Experiencing, with advanced training in developmental and complex trauma. I may also incorporate the Safe and Sound Protocol and Rest and Restore Protocol when appropriate.
My own experience with developmental trauma also informs how I understand this work. I could explain many of my patterns, but understanding them didn’t necessarily change how I felt or responded. Including the body helped me feel safer in my body and in my life, lessen long-held shame, and relate to myself differently. That experience is part of what drew me to Somatic Experiencing.
I believe therapy works best when it includes both mind and body. Together, we build on the strengths and insight you already have while developing greater flexibility, resilience, and capacity for whatever life brings.
What It’s Like to Work Together
Sessions begin with whatever feels most important that day. You might come in wanting to make sense of a recent trigger, an interaction that stayed with you, or a pattern you’ve noticed in yourself.
Our work often moves between talking through your thoughts and emotions and slowing down to notice what’s happening in your body. We might notice tension, a shift in your breathing, an impulse to move, or another physical response that comes up as we talk.
At times, we may bring in grounding, gentle movement, pushing against a wall, squeezing your fists, or finding more physical support. The somatic work is woven into the conversation and emotional processing, based on what is happening in the moment.
My training in developmental and complex trauma, infant and early childhood mental health, and Somatic Experiencing informs this work. And therapy isn’t heavy all the time. There’s room for curiosity, relief, laughter, and discovering things about yourself that may not have had much room before.
How I Approach Trauma Therapy
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Somatic Experiencing: The foundation of my work, helping us work with the body and protective responses that can persist after trauma.
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Developmental and complex trauma: My background helps me understand how early experiences can continue to influence relationships, self-perception, and responses to stress.
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When appropriate, I may also integrate the Safe and Sound Protocol or Rest and Restore Protocol, two listening therapies that can complement our somatic work.
Trauma, PTSD, and Complex Trauma
Many people come to therapy unsure how to make sense of what they’ve been through. Some traumatic experiences are clearly overwhelming, such as abuse, violence, serious accidents, or medical trauma. Others develop gradually through repeated experiences such as emotional neglect, chronic criticism or shame, unpredictable caregiving, growing up walking on eggshells, or relationships where safety, comfort, or protection were inconsistent.
These kinds of repeated relational experiences are often described as developmental trauma or complex trauma (C-PTSD), where protective patterns develop in response to chronic stress or a lack of safety.
For some people, trauma follows a single overwhelming event. Others develop post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) following one or more traumatic experiences, with symptoms that can continue long after the danger has passed.
Regardless of how trauma began, many of its effects can feel similar. You may notice strong reactions, shutting down, ongoing tension or exhaustion, physical symptoms that seem connected to your past, difficulty trusting yourself or others, or relying on strategies that once helped but no longer feel sustainable.
What Begins to Shift as Trauma Patterns Soften
As you work through the effects of trauma, changes often begin showing up in everyday life rather than as one dramatic breakthrough.
You may notice that experiences that once triggered a strong reaction don’t affect you in quite the same way. You may recover more quickly when something brings up fear, anger, shame, or the urge to shut down. Your body may not brace as quickly, and reminders of what you’ve been through may begin to feel more connected to the past rather than something your body needs to respond to in the present.
You may also find that you have more room for difficult emotions without becoming completely overwhelmed or disconnected from yourself. Instead of being pulled so quickly into familiar protective responses, there can be more space to notice what you’re feeling and choose how you want to respond.
As trauma patterns begin to loosen, changes can extend into your relationships and sense of self. You may trust yourself more, set boundaries differently, feel more connected to other people, or find yourself participating in parts of life that once felt difficult to access.
How I Approach Trauma Therapy
Watch this short introduction to learn more about how I approach trauma therapy and why I include the body in our work.
Online Somatic Trauma Therapy in Florida and Illinois
Whether you’re in Fort Lauderdale, Delray Beach, Boca Raton, West Palm Beach, or elsewhere in Florida, we can do this work online. I support adults navigating the effects of trauma, helping them reconnect with their body, their relationships, and their sense of self.
Sessions take place virtually, allowing us to include both conversation and somatic work while you remain in the comfort and familiarity of your own space.
I am also licensed in Illinois and work with clients throughout the state, including Chicago.
Trauma Therapy FAQs
What is trauma, and how does it affect the body?
Trauma involves how we experience and respond to overwhelming events, including what happens in the body and nervous system. Those responses can continue to affect us long after the experiences have passed.
When experiences feel overwhelming, unsupported, or too much to process at the time, your nervous system may continue responding as though the threat is still present. This may show up as tension, fatigue, emotional reactivity, difficulty relaxing, or a sense that your body never fully settles.
Many people I work with understand their story intellectually, yet still feel it in their body. Trauma therapy that includes the nervous system helps reconnect what you know with how you actually feel and respond in daily life.
What’s the difference between trauma, PTSD, and complex trauma?
Trauma is a broad word that describes experiences that overwhelm a person’s capacity to cope.
PTSD can develop after a traumatic event or series of events and may involve intrusive memories, avoidance, and ongoing feelings of threat. Complex trauma usually refers to repeated or prolonged traumatic experiences, often involving relationships where safety and support were inconsistent or unpredictable.
In practice, these experiences can overlap, and the distinctions are not always clear. In our work, we pay attention to how these experiences live in your body, your relationships, and your sense of self today.
Can somatic therapy help, regardless of when my trauma occurred?
Yes. Trauma therapy can be helpful whether an experience happened recently or many years ago. Some people seek therapy soon after a traumatic experience, while others begin years later when old patterns start showing up more strongly in relationships, health, or emotional life.
How long does trauma therapy take?
There isn’t a single timeline for trauma work. Some people begin noticing shifts early on, while deeper patterns often unfold more gradually as we work to build greater capacity.
Consistency matters more than speed. Weekly sessions are usually the most supportive rhythm, especially in the beginning, because they help your system feel grounded enough to explore what is emerging without becoming overwhelmed.
Many people come to this work after years of insight or personal growth that didn’t fully reach the level of the body. We focus on creating steady, meaningful change that supports how you live, relate, and move through the world.
Are sessions online or in-person?
I offer online therapy exclusively to adults throughout Florida and Illinois, including West Palm Beach, Boca Raton, Delray Beach, and Fort Lauderdale.
Somatic Experiencing works well online, allowing us to work with your thoughts, emotions, and physical responses much as we would in person.
What is the cost of sessions?
Individual 55-minute sessions are $200.
The Safe and Sound Protocol (SSP) and Rest and Restore Protocol (RRP) may be incorporated into our work when appropriate, for an additional fee. Details are listed on both pages. We can talk about whether either protocol is a good fit during your consultation or at any point in our work together.
A Different Way Forward
If you’re looking for trauma therapy that includes both mind and body and this approach resonates with you, I invite you to reach out.
Book a 10-Minute Consultation
