Therapy for trauma, relationship difficulties, emotional instability, chronic shame, and feeling stuck.
Online and In-Person in San Diego.
For people who have done the work, want relief, and are looking for an informed and experienced partner in therapy.
Insight is only one part of healing, especially when only one part of you has insight, while others continue to feel uneasy.
You’ve Done the Work. So Why Does It Still Feel This Hard?
You understand your trauma. You’ve read the books. You know the language. And yet your body still reacts before your mind can catch up.
You may even understand your relationship patterns—why you become anxious when someone pulls away, why you shut down when someone gets too close, or why the same conflicts seem to repeat. Knowing where these patterns come from doesn't necessarily make them stop.
Insight matters, but understanding why you react the way you do doesn’t always change the reaction. Therapy can help you work with the different parts of your experience—not just the part that understands—so that what you know and what you feel can begin to come together.
Therapy for trauma, interpersonal difficulties, emotional instability, detachment, and chronic shame involves three things:
Understanding what drives your reactions
Recognizing the different parts or states you move between
Learning to notice what your body is telling you before you become overwhelmed or shut down
That’s where our work begins. It’s a delicate process to build all three, and you need a trusting, safe, and down-to-earth relationship with an experienced therapist.
Consider a free 20-minute conversation to talk about what’s bringing you in and see whether working together feels like a good fit. No commitment.
Trauma Therapy, Delivered with Gentleness and Clarity
Online in California, New York, Massachusetts, Michigan, and Florida, and in-person in San Diego.
Complex Trauma & CPTSD
When the past is understood intellectually but still shows up as shame, hypervigilance, emotional flooding, numbness, or disconnection.
Parts Work / IFS
When different parts of you seem to want completely different things—or your inner critic, protector, or frightened parts seem to take over.
Attachment & Relationship Difficulties
When closeness feels both deeply wanted and strangely threatening, or the same painful relationship patterns keep repeating.
When you’ve been functioning under pressure for so long that rest doesn’t feel restorative—and you’re left exhausted, irritable, detached, or unable to keep pushing the way you used to.
In-Person Therapy in San Diego
In-person trauma therapy supports trauma healing through a calm, relational space where your nervous system can slow down, settle, and feel supported. Currently available in San Diego, CA.
Online Therapy
Trauma therapy online makes trauma healing accessible wherever you are, offering consistent, regulated support to help your body and mind feel steadier over time.
A Therapist Who Understands Trauma — and Knows How to “Go Slow to Go Fast”
Hi, I'm Richard. I'm a licensed psychotherapist with over 20 years of experience working with adults struggling with complex trauma, difficult relationship patterns, chronic shame, and conflicting parts of themselves.
“I’ve tried a lot of other types of therapy that haven’t helped…”
I hear that a lot when people contact me for therapy. There are a lot of theories out there about what makes therapy successful, but the one common factor backed up by peer-reviewed studies is the therapy relationship. If you have a good relationship with your therapist, the therapy is more likely to work. I start there.
I build trust, safety, a sense of being real, and steady. I focus on calm, patient, curious, deep listening. I also stay clear about your goals, keep us on track with them without pushing. In trauma therapy, you have to “go slow to go fast.”
You Don’t Have to Heal by Pushing Yourself
Living with complex trauma can affect much more than how you feel when you're alone. It can shape how you experience closeness, conflict, rejection, trust, and even what you expect from the people you love.
You may find yourself wanting connection and fearing it at the same time—reaching for reassurance, pulling away, shutting down, becoming overwhelmed, or repeating relationship patterns you understand but can't seem to change.
Healing is about knowing why you do what you do, and having the skills to care for yourself and stop the internal conflict so that you can respond to life with steadiness instead of always bracing for impact.