Veterans
I help veterans - past and present - to learn to live every day instead of just surviving so they can startle less, sleep better, drink less, be nagged at less by their partner, and function better in all aspects of their life so they can enjoy their daily lives without fear, being constantly on guard, or feeling like a failure.
Get past your past and book with me today.
Does this sound like you?
It’s 3am and you can’t get back to sleep because of another nightmare.
You’re drenched in sweat, heart racing. All you can hear is the sound of your heartbeat pounding in your ears.
You can’t get that image out of your head or stop blaming yourself for what happened.
The past just keeps pressing in on your life, and you’re sick of it!
You are overly jumpy and on guard all the time.
You can’t go out to dinner without facing the door or making sure you have another way out.
You often have bad dreams or nightmares about something from your past.
You get angry for seemingly no reason. Your spouse is fed up and your kids are scared to even talk to you.
Or maybe…
You try really hard not to think about something bad that has happened to you or someone you know.
When a friend asks you what’s going on with you, you do anything to deflect and tell them you’re fine.
You drink alcohol just to feel something…or to numb the pain.
If any of this sounds all too familiar, you may be suffering from PTSD.
Specifically, the symptoms of PTSD can include:
Experiencing, witnessing, or learning about a traumatic event (of a close family member or friend) to include actual or threatened death, serious injury, or sexual violence.
Intrusive symptoms such as distressing dreams related to the traumatic event, distressing memories that reoccur, experiencing flashbacks or dissociation, mental or physical reactions to things resembling the traumatic event.
Avoidance of memories, thoughts, or feelings related to the traumatic event and/or avoidance of people, places, or things that remind you of the past.
Or…
Mood changes and cognitive issues like not being able to remember important parts of what happened, negative beliefs about yourself, negative emotions such as fear, guilt, horror, or shame. Having a hard time feeling positive feelings.
Lack of interest in activities or things you used to like doing.
Feeling detached or unable to maintain relationships.
Self-destructive behavior, being on guard all the time, concentration problems, sleep problems, angry outbursts that are often unprovoked.
*But you should also know that you don’t have to be “diagnose” able to be suffering enough to get some help.*
Maybe you don’t think it’s bad enough to need to see someone.
But your partner or spouse is telling you you drink too much (even thought the guys drink more than you do).
But your job is telling you if you’re late again, you’re fired.
But your kids are too scared of you to want to talk to you, let alone have a relationship with you.
But your friends are tired of covering for you.
But you can’t leave the house without thinking something bad is going to happen.
But you can’t stop blaming yourself for what happened.
You don’t know how to fix it, but you do know you can’t keep living like this.
I’m here to tell you that it doesn’t have to be like this.
You can mend relationships that have taken damage.
You can get through the night without waking in fear.
You can forgive yourself for the things that happened, even if down deep you know it wasn’t really your fault.
It doesn’t make you weak to reach out for help.
Not only can we fix what’s wrong, but we can set you up to live better than you realize is possible.
People who go through therapy with me often share things like…
“Laura really understands the military perspective. She also understands how past experiences effect us now and teaches us how to improve our lives.”
“I really didn’t think anything was going to change. But after going through therapy with Laura and doing EMDR with her, I can live my life again.”
“My relationships were suffering, my career was in jeopardy, and I just didn’t think there was any way things could get better. But now, I’ve stopped letting the past haunt me.”
Reach out to a fellow veteran for help and book a consult with me today.
You might be a little hesitant…
…so let me share more about what it’s like to work with me.
Straight forward. I’m a therapist who will tell you like it is. While I am tactful, I’m often blunt and am not normally going to sugar coat what I have to say.
I’m not delicate. I can handle whatever you throw my way. I promise the things you’ve been through aren’t going to scare me away.
Judgment free. My office is a judgment free zone where you can talk to me about anything. I’ll help you get through the seemingly impossible stuff without judgment about possible mistakes you’ve made in the past.
In our work together we’ll dig deep to find that inner badass you were before all of this happened.
Once we determine the root cause of your struggles, we can explore ways to improve your quality of life, apply strategies that may reduce your negative symptoms, and determine what the best course of action is for you to stop feeling like you’re stuck living in the past.
Specifically you’ll notice improvement in…
Sleep
Relationships
Job performance
Concentration
Ability to cope
You’ve made it this far on the page…
So I know you are motivated to feel better and live better.
Maybe for yourself, and that’s awesome.
But if you aren’t there yet, it’s okay to start even if it’s just for your partner, kids, or to save your job.
Remember that your future self will be thanking your current self for saving them from years of sleepless nights…
If you don’t do something about this now, it’s not only NOT going to get better, it’s probably going to get worse.
It’s going to continue to impact your sleep, your relationships, friendships, and even your job performance.
So, if you’re ready to get jump out of that metaphorical airplane, in the care of a former loadmaster, gear up and let’s do this thing.
“3. 2. 1. Green light. Go.”
Those images seem to pop into your head out of nowhere, how can you possibly get them to stop?
Maybe you forget things all the time.
Maybe you’ve even forgotten some of the important parts of what happened.
It’s hard for you to want to start therapy because you try to avoid even thinking about what happened, so how are you supposed to talk about it?
I get it…
You might be thinking:
“I try to avoid even thinking about what happened, how am I supposed to talk about it?
"I’ve tried therapy in the past and it didn’t work. Why will it be any different this time?”
There’s a difference between thinking about what happened, and processing what happened with a therapist. I’ll be right there to support you.
The good news is, you aren’t going to have to talk about it right away. We’re not just going to jump into those horrible parts immediately.
If after awhile you’re still not ready, we can see if you’re a good fit for EMDR. In EMDR, we don’t do much talking. It can be a way to heal from old wounds without having to relive every detail of what happened.
All therapy is not created equal. And as such, neither are therapists. This is why I believe in starting with a free consultation where we can get to know each other and see if we’re a good fit.
I’m confident in my abilities as a therapist and want you to be too. But if for some reason it’s not working, I will help you find someone who is a better fit for you.
Even if we try EMDR, it might be a little different from therapist to therapist. While EMDR is very standardized, there are some techniques and abilities that vary between therapists.
You can do this.
It can be different this time.
But it’s impacting your life.
You can’t keep living like this.
And neither can your family and friends
Are you finally ready to admit you need some help?
Here’s what happens next!
Click that little button that says “Book your free consult.”
Yes, that little grayish button right there.
On the scheduled day and time, we’ll video chat for about 20 minutes to see if we’re a good fit for each other. I’ll ask you some questions to learn more about what you’re going through and you can ask me any questions you might have.
If we’re a good fit, we’ll set up your initial consultation, which is usually about 90 minutes, where we’ll determine the primary issues you want to work on in therapy, set up goals, a treatment plan tailored to your needs, and set up recurring therapy sessions.
Still not sure?
I understand that confronting the past may sound terrifying.
But don’t worry, you won’t have to go through all of this without swearing or utilizing that dark humor we call a coping skill.
There are myths out there about what therapy looks like for trauma like…
I’ll have to talk about the trauma over and over
That’s called exposure therapy. There’s a reason that therapist don’t really do that anymore with trauma…it doesn’t work well. So while we will more than likely have to talk some about what happened, we don’t necessarily have to go into a lot of detail.
It will take years of therapy before I will start to feel better.
That’s just not true. In my entire time as a therapist, I can’t think of one client who took that long to start feeling better in some way.
If I’m honest, I’ll overwhelm my therapist.
That may be true for some therapists, but not me. I have had extensive training to prepare me for hearing worse beyond worse things. Still not convinced? If it’s too much (it won’t be), I’ll work with supervisors, peers, and my own therapist to make sure I’m ok.
My therapist will report everything to the VA.
Since I don’t deal with insurance, I don’t report anything anywhere unless you ask me to, and with written permission. The exception to this is if it pertains to something that is required to report, by law, such as suspected abuse or neglect of a child or vulnerable adult as well as suicidal/homicidal intent to act.
But in reality, you and I decide together what therapy looks like…
We may even do this fancy thing called EMDR. Check out this link HERE to learn more.
Why we might connect
My name is Laura, and I’m a former Loadmaster turned therapist. When I was medically retired from the Air Force, I needed a new career. Something that felt familiar, yet different. In the military, I was always the person people would go to for help - whether that was for job training or their personal well being.
Being a Loadmaster, I was constantly away from home, but constantly interacting with amazing service members from every branch of service and every walk of life. While I may not have walked in your shoes specifically, I have a good idea about what military life is like and can understand a lot of jargon and acronyms.
Bonus - I may be an Airman, but I cuss like a Sailor so no need to keep the swearing to a minimum.