Trauma & PTSD Therapy Online
Trauma doesn't stay in the past. It lives in your body, your reactions, and your relationships until you have the right support to process it. I offer specialized trauma and PTSD treatment for adults and teens, for people who know something happened and know they haven't fully moved on from it, even after trying.
Who You'll Work With
Hi, I'm Corinne.
I'm a licensed clinical psychologist (PsyD) with extensive experience supporting trauma survivors and marginalized communities. You'll work directly with me at every step. I run every session and sign every evaluation myself. More about me →
- PsyD, Licensed Psychologist
- Online in 45+ states
- In person in Denver & Santa Ana
Trauma shows up in more ways than people realize
Not everyone who has been through something traumatic walks around thinking "I have PTSD." Trauma has a way of disguising itself as anxiety, hypervigilance, emotional numbness, difficulty trusting people, or just a persistent sense that something is off. If you find yourself managing symptoms rather than feeling better, staying busy and keeping one step ahead of your own emotions, that's worth paying attention to.
Trauma doesn't always come from a single dramatic event. Childhood neglect, emotionally unsafe relationships, ongoing stress, and accumulated losses can have the same impact on the nervous system as an acute traumatic event. Common signs include:
- Flashbacks and intrusive memories that surface unexpectedly.
- Hypervigilance, or feeling constantly on alert even when you're safe.
- Avoiding people, places, or situations that remind you of what happened.
- Emotional numbing, or difficulty experiencing joy or closeness.
- Nightmares, insomnia, or disrupted sleep.
- Irritability and reactivity that feel out of proportion, or a short fuse that wasn't always there.
- Negative self-beliefs like "I'm damaged," "it was my fault," or "I can't trust anyone."
- Difficulty with trust and intimacy in relationships.
The kinds of trauma I treat
Whether your experience was a single event or a long pattern, whether it happened last year or decades ago, trauma is treatable. I work with:
PTSD
From accidents, assault, combat, disasters, or other acute traumatic events.
Childhood Trauma
Neglect, abuse, unstable or unsafe home environments, early losses.
Relational & Attachment Trauma
Betrayal, emotional abuse, coercive control, or repeated experiences of not being safe with people.
Complex PTSD (C-PTSD)
Trauma that accumulated over time, often interpersonal, resulting in deeper disruptions to self and identity.
Medical Trauma
Difficult diagnoses, procedures, ICU experiences, or traumatic childbirth.
Grief & Traumatic Loss
Sudden or traumatic bereavement, or grief that remains stuck.
Secondary & Vicarious Trauma
Burnout and trauma responses in caregivers, first responders, and helping professionals.
Community & Collective Trauma
The lasting impact of systemic violence, displacement, discrimination, or community loss.
EMDR, somatic work, and parts-informed therapy
Effective trauma treatment helps your nervous system process and integrate what it wasn't able to at the time, instead of talking around what happened indefinitely.
EMDR
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing is one of the most researched and effective treatments available for trauma and PTSD, and it's a primary modality I use. It doesn't require you to describe what happened in painful detail. It uses bilateral stimulation to help the brain finish processing experiences that got "frozen" in the nervous system. Read more on the EMDR Therapy page.
Somatic Awareness
Working with the body's role in trauma and the physical responses that keep you stuck.
Parts-Informed Work
Understanding the different internal responses to trauma and helping them work together rather than against each other.
What changes when trauma is processed
Trauma treatment isn't about erasing what happened. It's about changing the relationship you have with it, so it becomes something that happened to you, not something still happening.
- Relief from flashbacks, intrusive memories, and nightmares.
- A nervous system that isn't constantly braced for something bad.
- Freedom from shame-based beliefs like "I'm broken" or "it was my fault."
- The ability to be present without being pulled back into the past.
- Healthier relationships, with more trust and less reactivity.
- A clearer, more stable sense of who you are outside of what happened to you.
Four phases, from stabilization to integration
Initial Evaluation (90 Minutes)
A thorough intake to understand your history, how trauma is showing up in your life right now, and what you most want to change.
Stabilization & Foundation (4 to 6 Sessions)
Before moving into trauma processing, we build a solid foundation: emotional regulation skills, grounding techniques, and a working relationship where you feel safe. This phase is what makes the deeper work possible.
Trauma Processing (6 to 12 Sessions)
Using EMDR and other evidence-based approaches, we work through the specific memories, beliefs, and body-based responses keeping you stuck. You stay in control of the pace.
Integration & Next Steps
We consolidate the gains you've made, address any remaining targets, and prepare you for life without the weight you came in carrying. Some clients feel complete at this stage; others continue with maintenance or deeper work.
“Trauma treatment isn't about erasing what happened. It's about changing the relationship you have with it, so it becomes something that happened to you, not something still happening.”
— Dr. Corinne Votaw-Freer, PsyD
Session fees & insurance
Individual sessions are $225, available to clients in 45+ states through my PSYPACT license.
For a full breakdown of rates and accepted insurance carriers by state, see Rates & Insurance.
Questions people ask before starting
Do I need a formal PTSD diagnosis to start trauma therapy?
No. Many clients come in knowing something difficult happened without knowing whether it "counts" as trauma or meets criteria for PTSD. That's what the initial evaluation is for. You don't need a diagnosis in hand to start.
Will I have to describe what happened in detail?
You won't have to in the way people often fear. EMDR and the other approaches used here are structured so you don't have to narrate every detail for the treatment to work.
How long does trauma therapy typically take?
It varies with the complexity of what you've experienced. Single-incident trauma often resolves faster than trauma that accumulated over years. We'll build a realistic plan together after the initial evaluation.
