Trauma-informed therapy in Seattle

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For women and girls who carry a lot and feel far from who they are.

Therapy that doesn’t just talk about change, it helps you live it.

Somewhere along the way, you lost track of the woman you are - whether from burnout, perfectionism, or the weight of expectation and your nervous system is in overdrive to keep you safe. Our goal isn't to create a "new" you. It's to come back to yourself and to relate to yourself differently.

“Tear off your mask, your face is glorious!”
— Rumi

IT’S TIME TO GO BEYOND SURVIVING

Hi, I’m Nafessa.

A trauma-informed somatic therapist for women in Seattle, in person and online.

I (she/her) help women navigate anxiety, perfectionism, depression, burnout, self-doubt, adult-diagnosed ADHD, high sensitivity (HSP), and the lasting weight of early trauma. Many of the women I work with have spent years shaping themselves according to what family, culture, society, or career expected, and they're ready to reconnect with who they actually are.

I do this work because I've lived it.

LEARN MORE ABOUT ME

Areas of Focus

  • You can be capable, high-functioning, and doing all the things, while the emotions still live inside your body. Using EMDR, IFS, and nervous-system work, we help your brain and body finish processing what got stuck, so the past stops running the present.

  • Learn real tools to utilize in the hard moments.  Together we explore the deeper patterns underneath, and alleviate the pressure you feel so your system learns it doesn't have to brace all the time.

  • We rebuild self-trust, make sense of growing up between cultures, and set down weight that was never yours to carry.

  • The patterns in how we connect were learned early, and they follow us. Using attachment theory and parts work, we make sense of where your patterns came from and practice new ways of connecting, so your relationships get to be places you’re in, not places you manage.

  • You feel everything all the way - a song, a movie, someone else's pain - while everyone around you seems fine. It's beautiful and it's heavy. Together we find the strength in these feelings and how to work with - not against - them.

  • Your brain isn't broken, it's built differently. Together we stop fighting the way you're wired and learn to focus your energy toward living instead of masking.

My Approach

Lasting change comes from slowing down enough to recognize the patterns that have been protecting you, meeting them with compassion, and reaching what the thinking mind alone can't resolve. I hold space for you to explore every part of yourself without judgment, and so you can laugh, breathe, and just be yourself.

I am a somatic therapist with specialized training and therapeutic influences in (but not limited to):

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) in training, Internal Family Systems (IFS - Informed), Somatic and Nervous System work, Attachment Theory, Mindfulness, Emotional Intelligence, Neuroscience, and Trauma Informed Talk Therapy.

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READY TO START YOUR JOURNEY?

You don’t have to carry it alone.

Send me a note and we'll start with a free 15-minute call.  

LET'S CHAT!

  • “We must return and claim our past in order to move toward our future. It is in understanding who we were that will free us to embrace who we now are.”

    ~ Joy DeGruy, PhD, (The meaning of the word Sankofa.)

  • “Being cut off from our own natural self-compassion is one of the greatest impairments we can suffer. Along with our ability to feel our own pain go our best hopes for healing, dignity and love”.

    ~ Gabor Matè

  • "May your choices reflect your hopes, not your fears."

    ~ Nelson Mandela

  • "Commit to loving yourself completely. It’s the most radical thing you will do in your lifetime."

    ~ Andrea Gibson

  • "Healing comes in waves. And maybe today the wave hits the rocks. And that's ok, that's ok darling. You are still healing. You are still healing."

    Ijeoma Umebinyuo