Heidi Elias (she/her)

When you befriend yourself and are able to rely on yourself, your life suddenly works. Self-destructive behaviors more easily drop away because you no longer need them. You treat yourself with kindness. You become self-protective. Being in alignment with your greater good, you stop waiting for someone else to make you happy. With your new found self-respect, you go after and get what you want. Life is good.

Many people who I have worked with did not realize that they were mistreated while growing up, because in many families, bad behavior by adults was normalized and excused. As a result some individuals are living with unprocessed trauma and are not aware of it. They have an underlying sense of something being wrong, that they cannot put their finger on. That is where I come in. In a gentle, self-affirming manner, I will guide you to tell your story, and support you along the way.

Some people who experience anxiety can trace its roots back to childhood. Complex trauma, the result of ongoing abuse or neglect by caretakers, leaves lasting effects on children who grew up in environments where they felt obligated and uncomfortable for the benefit of adults. Because expressing anger at abusers was forbidden, children turned the anger inward, leading to self-hatred and self-loathing, fueling anxiety. This and other necessary coping methods tend to become problems in adulthood.

I consider myself a feminist and resist the limits placed on women and girls in our society, and beyond. The individuals that seek out my services all have liberal views, and believe in justice for everyone. As a feminist Psychotherapist, I raise up every individual that I work with, regardless of their identity, beliefs, orientation, etc. I bring a feminist perspective to my life and work, which honors struggle and overcoming barriers, whether self-inflicted or imposed by others.

While working towards understanding and processing root causes of your trauma responses, I will offer to you Empowerment Tools which will assist you in managing your symptoms in the short term, while we identify and process longer-term root causes of your most challenging symptoms. These techniques have been developed over a lifetime of my own growth journey, as well as acquired in professional settings. They are meant to offer immediate relief, and to serve you beyond our time working together.

Somatic Therapy helps to address trauma through a physical corrective experience. During sessions, we focus not just on discussing what happened but how your body feels in the present moment. You might notice tension in your body, experience a feeling of being stuck, or feel overwhelmed. By gently guiding you through these sensations, Somatic Therapy helps your body release trauma that wasn’t processed at the time it originally occurred. It is meant to restore balance and resilience.