C-PTSD Therapy in Downtown Austin, TX
Tired of repeating the same patterns in your relationships? Feeling stuck, even when you know what you "should" do? Troubled by mood swings, or a low simmer of anger that doesn't seem to have one clear cause? Distracted by an endless list of tasks and commitments? Or simply too shut down to feel much of anything?
If several of these sound familiar, you're not broken, and you're not alone — these are common signs of Complex PTSD (C-PTSD), waiting to be transformed into your greatest resources.
What Is C-PTSD?
Complex trauma is different from the single-incident shock trauma most people associate with PTSD. Instead of one clear event, C-PTSD tends to develop from trauma that repeats over time — often early in life — in ways that become woven into daily life rather than standing apart from it. It's frequently relational: patterns of neglect, unpredictability, or disconnection that shaped how you learned to survive, sometimes long before you had the words for what was happening.
The strategies that helped you cope back then — staying small, staying busy, staying guarded, staying agreeable — often stop serving you as an adult. They can show up now as the exact relationship patterns, mood swings, or sense of disconnection you're wanting to change.
How NARM® Therapy Helps.
NARM® — the NeuroAffective Relational Model — was developed specifically to address complex trauma at its root, rather than only managing symptoms. Unlike approaches that focus primarily on retelling the past, NARM® works in the present moment: noticing how old patterns show up right now, in this relationship, this week, this session — and gently building the capacity to respond differently.
Healing happens through relationship. In our work together, you can expect curiosity instead of judgment, structure instead of chaos, and honest reflection instead of easy reassurance. Every adaptive strategy you developed to survive is met with respect, not pathologizing — because it worked, once. The goal isn't to erase your history. It's to help you reconnect with a sense of vitality, choice, and agency that complex trauma can quietly take away.
Working with C-PTSD is most effective as a sustained process, not a quick fix — real nervous-system change takes consistency. Many clients find that weekly sessions provide the stability needed for lasting shifts in how they relate to themselves and others.
About Your Therapist
Laurie Berson, LCSW, is a NARM® Master Therapist who has spent over seven years in advanced mentorship with the Complex Trauma Training Center, alongside ongoing supervision and training. She works with adults ready to move beyond survival strategies and into a fuller, more connected life — not by re-living the past, but by building a different relationship with it.
In-Person Sessions Near Downtown Austin
Heart Minding Therapy is located in Austin's West End neighborhood, just north of downtown — convenient for clients working or living in Central Austin, Clarksville, Old West Austin, and the surrounding downtown corridor.
Virtual sessions are also available for clients throughout Texas, for those who prefer or need telehealth.
