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Trauma

At Reframe Therapy, we provide trauma therapy for adults, teens, and children using evidence-based, trauma-focused approaches that support deep, lasting healing by addressing how trauma is stored and processed in the nervous system. Our therapists use specialized trauma-focused approaches including ART (Accelerated Resolution Therapy), EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing), and Sandtray Therapy. 

Trauma Therapy for Adults, Teens, and Children

  

Trauma can continue to shape the nervous system long after an event has ended. Many individuals come to therapy feeling stuck, reactive, disconnected, or emotionally exhausted—often understanding why they feel this way, yet struggling to create lasting change. Trauma therapy focuses not on “fixing” you, but on helping the brain and body process experiences that were overwhelming or unsafe at a neurological and sensory level.​

How Trauma Impacts the Brain and Body

  

When an experience overwhelms the nervous system, the brain shifts into survival mode. Regions responsible for threat detection and emotional memory become highly activated, while areas involved in reasoning, language, and integration are less accessible. As a result, trauma may be stored as fragmented sensory experiences—images, emotions, and body sensations—rather than fully integrated memories.


This can lead to patterns such as:

  • Hypervigilance, anxiety, or emotional reactivity

  • Avoidance, emotional numbing, or dissociation

  • Intrusive memories, sensations, or emotional flashbacks

  • Negative beliefs about safety, trust, or self-worth

  • Perfectionism, people-pleasing, or codependent behaviors developed as survival strategies

  • Physical symptoms such as chronic tension or fatigue

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These responses are adaptive survival strategies. Trauma therapy helps the nervous system reorganize so these patterns are no longer needed.

Feeling “Stuck” After Trauma

  

When traumatic memories remain unprocessed, the nervous system may continue responding as if the threat is ongoing—even when an individual knows intellectually that they are safe.


Clients often describe:

  • Knowing they are safe but not feeling safe (emotionally, physically, or relationally)

  • Repeating relationship patterns tied to people-pleasing or codependency

  • Strong emotional or bodily reactions without clear triggers

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Effective trauma therapy helps reprocess these experiences so they can be stored as past events rather than ongoing threats.
 

Why EMDR, ART, or Sandtray Therapy?

    

Traditional talk therapy can increase insight and coping skills, but trauma often requires approaches that engage the brain’s sensory, emotional, and memory-processing systems. Research shows that trauma-focused therapies using bilateral stimulation, imagery, and nonverbal processing are especially effective for trauma recovery and nervous system regulation.


At Reframe Therapy, our clinicians are trained in specialized trauma therapy modalities including EMDR, ART, and Sandtray Therapy. These evidence-based approaches help process trauma at the neurological and sensory level, supporting meaningful, long-term healing.
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Forest Sunrise Path

Healing From Trauma Is Possible

    

Trauma therapy is not about reliving the past—it is about restoring safety, flexibility, and choice in the present. With skilled support and evidence-based trauma treatment, the nervous system can learn that the threat has passed and that new ways of relating to yourself and others are possible.


At Reframe Therapy, we provide compassionate and clinically grounded trauma therapy for adults, teens, and children in Provo, Utah. We also offer trauma therapy across the state of Utah via secure telehealth. Reach out, we’d love to help!​

Sources:

American Psychiatric Association. (2022). DSM-5-TR: Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.


Shapiro, F. (2018). Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) Therapy: Basic Principles, Protocols, and Procedures.


Van der Kolk, B. (2014). The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma.


Ogden, P., Minton, K., & Pain, C. (2006). Trauma and the Body: A Sensorimotor Approach to Psychotherapy.


Kip, K. E., et al. (2013). Brief treatment of symptoms of PTSD by accelerated resolution therapy. Military Medicine.


Homeyer, L. E., & Sweeney, D. S. (2017). Sandtray Therapy: A Practical Manual.

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