Trauma Therapy in Newmarket & York Region, Healing Is Possible
Something happened. Maybe it was a single overwhelming event. Maybe it was years of experience that slowly shaped the way you see yourself and the world. Maybe you cannot even name exactly what it was, you just know that something inside you has never quite settled since.
You are not broken. You are not “too sensitive” or “stuck in the past.” You are a person whose nervous system learned to protect you, and now that protection is getting in the way of your life.
As a Registered Psychotherapist (Qualifying) in Newmarket, I offer trauma therapy and PTSD treatment for adults and teens, using somatic nervous system work, trauma-focused CBT, ACT, and mindfulness-based approaches. No waitlist. Sessions are available virtually across Ontario.
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What Trauma Actually Does to You
Trauma is not defined by the event itself. It is defined by what happens inside your nervous system when the event cannot be fully processed. When an experience overwhelms your brain’s capacity to integrate it, that experience does not get filed away as a memory, it stays active. It stays live. And your nervous system continues responding to it as though it is still happening, even when you are years away from it and logically know you are safe.
That is why trauma does not feel like something in the past. It feels like something in the present, in your body, in your reactions, in the way certain sounds, smells, conversations, or silences can pull you back without warning.
If any of that sounds familiar, you’re in the right place.
“I know I’m safe but my body doesn’t believe it.”
“I can’t stop replaying it.”
“I’ve stopped going certain places just to avoid the feeling.”
“I don’t know who I am anymore.”
If any of that sounds familiar, you are not imagining it. These are not character flaws. They are the predictable, understandable responses of a nervous system doing exactly what it was designed to do, and needing support to learn that the threat is over.
Common signs that unprocessed trauma may be affecting you:
- Hypervigilance, a constant low-level alertness, scanning for danger even when you are safe, being easily startled
- Intrusive memories, flashbacks, nightmares, or sudden emotional floods that feel like they belong to another time
- Emotional numbing or disconnection, a flatness, a sense of watching your life from a distance, difficulty feeling joy or closeness
- Avoidance, making your world smaller to stay away from people, places, conversations, or feelings that might trigger a response
- Body responses, unexplained tension, chest tightness, digestive problems, chronic pain, or physical reactivity to stress that has no clear medical cause
- Relationship difficulties, difficulty trusting others, fear of intimacy, repeating patterns you cannot seem to change no matter how much insight you have
- A persistent sense of shame, a deep, often wordless belief that something is fundamentally wrong with you
Types of Trauma I Work With
Trauma is not one thing. The way it shows up, and the most effective path through it, depends significantly on what kind of trauma you experienced and when. Here is what I work with in my Newmarket practice.
Childhood Trauma and Developmental Trauma
Experiences of abuse, neglect, instability, loss, or emotional unavailability during childhood do not simply disappear when childhood ends. Developmental trauma shapes the nervous system, the attachment system, and the core beliefs you carry about yourself and other people, often in ways that only become visible in adult relationships, parenting, or moments of intense stress. This is one of the most common presentations I work with, and one of the most significant, because its roots run deep and its effects touch everything.
Complex PTSD (C-PTSD)
Complex PTSD develops in response to prolonged or repeated trauma, particularly trauma that occurred in situations where escape was difficult or impossible, such as childhood abuse, domestic violence, or prolonged medical trauma. C-PTSD involves not only the intrusive memories and hypervigilance of single-incident PTSD, but also profound disruptions to identity, emotional regulation, and the capacity for relationships. It is frequently misdiagnosed or missed entirely, and it requires a treatment approach that moves at a different pace than standard PTSD treatment.
Single-Incident PTSD
A specific traumatic event, an accident, assault, sudden loss, medical emergency, or natural disaster, that continues to intrude on daily life through flashbacks, avoidance, hyperarousal, and emotional reactivity. Single-incident PTSD often has a clearer onset point than complex trauma, which means the treatment timeline is frequently shorter, but the distress in the meantime is no less real or disruptive.
Relational and Attachment Trauma
Trauma that occurred within relationships, betrayal, abandonment, emotional abuse, coercive control, or the chronic experience of not feeling seen, safe, or valued by the people who were supposed to care for you. Relational trauma often does not feel like “real” trauma because there may be no single defining event, just a long pattern of experiences that left you with beliefs about yourself and others that now shape every close relationship you have.
This type of trauma responds particularly well to the relational dimension of therapy itself. The experience of a consistent, safe, boundaried therapeutic relationship is not just the container for the work, it is part of the healing.
If trauma is also showing up in your experience of anxiety day to day, anxiety therapy in Newmarket may be a useful place to read more about how the two connect and how I approach them together.
How I Work With Trauma
Trauma therapy in my practice is paced, structured, and built around your nervous system’s capacity at each stage of the process. No trauma therapy should move faster than your system can tolerate, and my approach is designed to establish safety and stability before any deeper processing work begins.
Somatic Awareness and Nervous System Regulation
Trauma lives in the body. The tightened chest, the shallow breath, the startle response, the way your shoulders come up before you even register the stress, these are not just psychological symptoms. They are physiological ones. Somatic work addresses them directly, building the capacity to recognise and regulate nervous system activation and to develop a felt sense of safety in the body that cognitive approaches alone cannot create.
For many clients with complex or developmental trauma, somatic work is the foundation that everything else is built on. The nervous system needs to learn safety before the mind can do its deeper work.
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
Avoidance of memories, feelings, people, places, sensations, provides short-term relief and long-term maintenance of the trauma response. ACT builds the psychological flexibility to move toward a valued life even in the presence of difficult internal experiences, reducing the grip that trauma avoidance has on daily choices and behaviour.
Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (TF-CBT)
TF-CBT addresses the thought patterns and core beliefs that develop in response to trauma, such as “I am not safe, I cannot trust anyone, I am responsible for what happened, there is something fundamentally wrong with me”, and the avoidance behaviours that develop to manage the pain of carrying those beliefs. It is particularly effective when the cognitive impact of trauma is prominent, and I frequently combine it with somatic and CBT work for a more complete approach.
Mindfulness-Based Therapy
Mindfulness approaches support trauma recovery by building the capacity to observe internal experiences, thoughts, sensations, and emotions without being overwhelmed by them. For trauma clients, this is taught carefully and gradually, with close attention to your window of tolerance, so that mindfulness becomes a tool for regulation rather than a doorway into overwhelm.
Most clients begin to notice a real shift within 8 to 12 sessions. I check in on your progress regularly, and I adjust the approach as your needs change.
What to Expect When We Work Together
Trauma therapy is not about digging everything up as quickly as possible. The most effective approach follows three phases, and I don’t move to the next one until your system is ready.
Trauma Therapy with Maria | Self-Help Only | GP Referral to Waitlisted Service | |
Phased, paced trauma treatment | ✓ | ✗ | Varies |
| Somatic nervous system work | ✓ | ✗ | Rarely |
No waitlist | ✓ | N/A | Often 6–12 months |
In-person & virtual Ontario-wide | ✓ | N/A | N/A |
Evening appointments available | ✓ | N/A | Rarely |
Extended benefits coverage | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
Does Trauma Therapy Actually Work?
Yes, and the evidence behind trauma treatment is among the strongest in the entire field of psychotherapy. Trauma-focused CBT has decades of randomized controlled trial support. Somatic approaches have a growing and compelling evidence base for the physiological dimensions of trauma recovery.
What the research also consistently shows is that the therapeutic relationship is a significant factor in trauma recovery, perhaps more so than in any other area of therapy. The experience of being consistently heard, believed, and not overwhelmed by what you bring is itself part of how the nervous system learns that safety is possible. That is something I take seriously in every session.
Most people who reach out for trauma therapy have been carrying what they carry for a very long time. If that is you, the fact that you are here reading this matters. It is the beginning of something.
If you have spent years believing this is just how you are wired, I would like to show you otherwise.
You've been managing this long enough.
Let's actually change it.
No waitlist. Most clients start within the same week as their consultation call.
- Sessions from $120
- Extended benefits accepted
- In-person & virtual
- Day & evening hours
Frequently Asked Questions
Everything you need to know before booking your first session.
Do I have to talk about what happened in detail to heal from trauma?
No, and this is one of the most common fears people bring to their first session. Effective trauma therapy, particularly CBT and somatic approaches, does not require you to narrate your trauma in detail. In many cases, detailed verbal recounting can be retraumatizing rather than healing. The work happens at the level of the nervous system, not the story.
How much does trauma therapy cost in Newmarket?
My sessions are $120 per 50-minute appointment. Many extended health benefit plans in Ontario cover sessions with a Registered Psychotherapist. I provide a receipt after every session that you can submit directly to your insurer. Check your plan under “Registered Psychotherapist (RP)” or “Psychotherapy.”
How long does trauma therapy take?
This depends significantly on the type and duration of the trauma. Single-incident PTSD with a clear onset often resolves meaningfully within 12 to 20 sessions. Complex PTSD and developmental trauma typically require a longer process, often six months to a year or more of consistent work. I discuss realistic timelines at the assessment stage and review progress regularly throughout.
Is there a waitlist?
No. I have no waitlist ,1and for trauma clients, not waiting matters. The space between deciding to seek help and actually beginning can be one of the most difficult periods. You can book a free 15-minute consultation and typically begin your first full session within the same week.
Do you offer virtual trauma therapy in Ontario?
Yes. I offer secure virtual sessions to clients anywhere in Ontario. Research supports the effectiveness of virtual delivery for trauma therapy including EMDR, and many clients find the familiarity and privacy of their own environment genuinely supportive for this work.
What is the difference between PTSD and C-PTSD?
PTSD typically develops in response to a specific traumatic event or short series of events, and its symptoms centre on intrusion, avoidance, and hyperarousal. Complex PTSD develops in response to prolonged or repeated trauma, particularly in childhood or in situations involving captivity or coercive control, and includes additional symptoms affecting identity, emotional regulation, and the capacity for relationship. Both are treatable. C-PTSD typically requires a longer, more carefully paced approach.
If trauma is connected to the postpartum period, a difficult birth, a previous pregnancy loss, or a history of trauma that new parenthood has activated. You might also find it useful to read about postpartum therapy in Newmarket and how I approach that specific intersection.