Kim Johancen

Over the past several years I have developed a passion for working with families through divorce, working with individual family members to help heal unresolved grief and loss issues such as problems with adjustment, anxiety, anger, and depression. I also work with parents to heal attachment wounds with their children, and offer reintegration therapy when appropriate.

I have worked with individuals who exhibit signs and symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) throughout my career. Many of the individuals I work with are either adolescents or adults who have experienced childhood trauma such as sexual abuse. I also work with adults who have experienced sexual trauma, partner violence, along with adults who have experienced relational abandonment through separation or divorce. I have also worked with many survivors of suicide loss.

Sexual trauma attempts to diminish the person. It communicates to the victim that their feelings and experience does not count based on what was done to them and many victims are blamed for what happened either by their perpetrator or by others who do not understand. I work to help victims acknowledge their experience as valid and one that counts because this is the opposite of what trauma has done. Speaking about our experience with caring others is the first courageous step toward healing.

As an EMDR Certified Therapist, I utilize EMDR with my clients to not only reprocess and integrate unresolved trauma but to also amplify inherent resources that are uncovered in the process. I also work with clients who want to clear out any residual grief and loss across the lifespan by utilizing specific protocols geared toward both explicit and implicit memory integration.

As a DBT therapist I assist my clients in how to establish emotional balance and mindfulness, integrate affective coping strategies, enforce appropriate boundaries with others, and replace ineffective behaviors with healthy ones.

As a therapist primarily trained in CBT my clients can expect a variety of cognitive techniques including thought stopping techniques, thought replacement strategies that lead to new behaviors, and specific interventions that reshape both perspective and behavior.

Self-injury, like many addictive behaviors, can take complete control of the person if left untreated. It can impact self-esteem, relationships, day to day functioning, and lead to more serious or life threatening behaviors as people habituate and need more of the drug. There are various functions that self-injury can serve for people based on level of overwhelm, and uncovering the "why" someone is engaged in these behaviors is one of the crucial steps needed to live fully and harm-free.

A breakthrough therapy that incorporates both Somatic Experience (SE) and Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), Brainspotting therapy helps unlock trauma stuck in the subconscious and leads to effective processing of traumatic memories, feelings, and body sensations.