Therapy after Sexual Assault in Phoenix, Arizona
In your words, at your pace.
Whether it happened last year or twenty years ago, whether you reported it or told no one, whether you were believed or met with questions that made it worse — what happened to you matters, and healing is possible. You will not have to retell the details to work with me, and you will never be pushed faster than your nervous system can go. In this room, you are in charge of the pace, the depth, and the words we use.
In-person in Phoenix, AZ · Telehealth across Arizona · Private pay
You might recognize some of this
Your body reacting, to a place, a smell, a kind of touch, before your mind knows why. Replaying it, prosecuting yourself with questions that were never yours to answer: why didn't I fight, why did I freeze, why did I go. Going numb when you want to be present. Staying on alert when you want to rest. Intimacy that feels complicated in ways you can't always explain to a partner. Trusting other people less — and sometimes trusting yourself least of all.
None of that is weakness, and none of it means you're broken. Freezing is a nervous‑system response, not a choice. What you're carrying are injuries and injuries can be treated.
And then there's what happened after…
For many survivors, the assault wasn't the only injury. There was also what came next: the person who asked what you were wearing. The friends who stayed “neutral.” The family that didn't want to make it a thing. The report that went nowhere, or the community — sometimes a faith community that protected the person who hurt you. If those left wounds of their own, ones the people around you never seemed to count, you're not imagining that. Betrayal by the people who were supposed to stand with you is its own injury, and it gets treated here with the same seriousness as the assault itself.
How Healing Works Here
Healing isn't about “getting over it” or forcing yourself to tell the story until it stops hurting. It's three things, in order: naming what actually happened — at whatever level of detail you choose, including the parts others minimized — so it stops living in the fog of self‑blame; grieving what was taken, including safety, trust, and the version of you from before; and repairing your relationship with your own body, your own judgment, and intimacy on your terms.
I use EMDR, a research‑supported trauma therapy that does not require you to narrate the details of what happened along with Emotionally Focused Therapy and somatic awareness, and, for those who want it, spiritually integrated care. All of it at a pace your nervous system can actually tolerate.
FAQs
Do I have to talk about the details?No. EMDR can process traumatic memory without a detailed retelling, and you decide what gets said out loud, and when. Many clients are surprised by how much healing happens without ever narrating the event.
It happened a long time ago. Is it too late for therapy to help?No. Trauma doesn't expire, and neither does the capacity to heal. Old wounds respond to this work — sometimes especially well, because you're no longer in survival mode.
I'm not sure what happened “counts” as assault.That uncertainty is one of the most common things survivors carry, especially when there was a relationship, alcohol, a freeze response, or no “fighting back.” You don't need a verdict to deserve support. We figure out the naming together, at your pace.
When you're ready, I'm here.
You don't have to have the words yet. A free 15‑minute call is a low‑pressure place to start — you can say as much or as little as you want.