About Me
Lauri Brunello, MA LPCC LADC
Hi, I'm Lauri and I help woman and young adults struggling with anxiety, depression and painful past experiences feel heard, seen and supported so they can claim the life they've always wanted.
My approach goes beyond traditional talk therapy by using approaches that also engage the body, mind, and nervous system. I have over fifteen year
Hi, I'm Lauri and I help woman and young adults struggling with anxiety, depression and painful past experiences feel heard, seen and supported so they can claim the life they've always wanted.
My approach goes beyond traditional talk therapy by using approaches that also engage the body, mind, and nervous system. I have over fifteen years of mental health experience in multiple settings. I use EMDR, Adaptive Internal and Relational (AIR) Network Model and Internal Family Systems to treat anxiety, depression, trauma, substance use and eating disorders.
I work in a respectful and collaborative fashion to help you begin to develop self-awareness and empower you for lasting change. I believe everyone deserves to experience self love and feel confident in their ability to effect change in their life. This might not be easy to imagine but it is possible with support, guidance, compassion and understanding. Together we will work towards your individual goals and help you achieve the inner peace and happiness you have been looking for.
My clients come to me not only looking for immediate relief but also seeking long-term change. They are tired of playing whack-a-mole with their symptoms and are ready to take a look at what is underneath their daily struggles and discomfort in order to achieve lasting change. I would love to help you connect to the person you were always meant to be.
Services
WHAT IS TRAUMA?
Have you experienced something that has changed how you see yourself and the world? Does it feel like a painful experience has left you feeling broken and disconnected from yourself and the people around you. Do you feel lonely, unworthy or unlovable and it’s hard to recall a time when you didn’t feel this way? Trauma comes in all shapes and sizes. Sometimes it can be a Big T event and sometimes it can be those little t events that accumulate over time. I like to call those little t events “paper cuts.” And sooner or later, if not tended to, those paper cuts turn into giant wounds.
We often tend to minimize or invalidate our difficult experiences. We hear ourselves say things like, “it wasn’t that bad or other people had it much worse than I did.” And to be completely honest you had to do this, in order to get on with your life, to survive. But when we cannot acknowledge our pain or trauma because it does not meet some imaginary threshold we get in our own way of healing.
In trauma therapy, I will help you develop practical skills to better manage your everyday life….paying close attention to those moments you find yourself unexpectedly triggered. I will also help you explore and process the deeper wounds these experiences have left behind. You will grow new insight into your painful past experiences and start to challenge the negative beliefs or stories that you have come to believe about yourself, others and the world.
By processing these experiences and developing new insight and understanding of what happened to you and its impact, we will help you change your negative thought patterns and reactions so you can finally experience the relief and peace you deserve.
EMDR THERAPY
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is an evidenced-based therapy that has been widely researched. It has been proven to be highly effective in addressing PTSD & trauma. EMDR is a brain & body approach that helps the brain move through stuck places, thoughts, memories & body sensations. It is crucial to feel trauma in order to release and heal from it….this is different than just talking about it or reliving it!
EMDR allows you to reprocess difficult or traumatic memories while addressing the underlying negative beliefs a person has come to believe about themselves or the world due to painful past experiences. With EMDR your brain is able to tap into its natural ability to heal so it can process information differently and more effectively.
What is Internal Family Systems / parts work?
Internal Family Systems (IFS) is a type of talk therapy that helps a person engage with themself on a deeper and more nuanced level. IFS believes that a person does not just have one mind but that each of us are born with many parts as well as a Self that operates from a place of Self energy. When a person is in Self they experience Self energy....calm, clarity, confidence, courage, connection to Self and others, compassion, curiosity and creativity. And when we are in Self we are able to navigate relationships, conflict, stress, painful experiences and emotion from a place of Self energy.
But as we go through life and experience painful events or trauma our parts become protective and adopt extreme roles such as constant worry, perfectionism, people pleasing, eating disorders or substance use as a way to keep us safe from further emotional overwhelm or pain. And as these protective parts become more extreme our Self and Self energy become more hidden and inaccessible.
IFS believes there are no bad parts and Self is not lost by trauma, parts are not the result of trauma and Self through Self energy can heal your deep emotional wounds. Through IFS / Parts therapy you will develop awareness of what it feels like to be in Self and how to begin to develop internal relationships with your parts from Self. As you develop trusting internal relationships between Self and your protective parts they will begin to trust you to heal the emotional wounds that have been exiled since the time of the painful experience or trauma. As these emotional wounds become healed your protective parts will learn that the Self can lead from a place of Self energy and your protective parts will begin to give up their extreme roles.