Childhood & Developmental Trauma Therapist in Michigan

You may not think of yourself as someone with trauma. Maybe nothing dramatic happened. No single traumatic event. For the longest time, everything seemed normal to you. But somewhere along the way, you realized that in the home you grew up in, in the relationships that were supposed to feel safe, something was off. Or something happened that shouldn’t have.

And now, as an adult, you find yourself struggling in ways that don’t make sense or have become a barrier to living the life you want to live. You work hard, you care deeply, but you feel chronically anxious, emotionally exhausted, or disconnected from the people you love most. You shut down when conflict arises. You over-explain, over-apologize, or over-achieve trying to earn the safety that should have been given freely to you as a child. It often feels like the pain and ache in your core is never going to go away, no matter what you do.

This is childhood trauma. This is developmental trauma. And it doesn’t always look the way people expect it to.

Childhood trauma isn’t only about big obvious hard events, what some call "Big T" events. It includes anything that overwhelmed your young nervous system before you had the resources to cope, especially when it happened repeatedly, and especially when the people who caused it were the same people you depended on for love, a roof over your head, the clothes on your back, and the food in your belly.

Childhood trauma can include emotional neglect — growing up in a home where your feelings were overlooked, minimized, or denied. It can include physical, emotional, or sexual abuse, as well as having a parent who struggled with untreated addiction, mental illness, or an inability to be emotionally present. It includes growing up walking on eggshells, never knowing what version of a parent you would have today or from moment to moment, or being made responsible for managing an adult’s emotions or needs. It also includes repeated experiences of shame, criticism, or feeling like you were either “too much” or “not enough.”

These experiences shape the nervous system. They shape how you connect to others, how you manage your emotions, and how safe you feel in your own skin.

Many adults who come to childhood and developmental trauma therapy in Michigan aren’t sure they “qualify.” They minimize their past or are simply disconnected from their past. They compare their experience to others who “had it worse.” But the nervous system doesn’t measure suffering in comparison. Everyone's system is different. What was safe enough for you may not have felt safe enough for me.

You may recognize yourself in some of these experiences:

• Difficulty trusting others, even people who have given you no reason to doubt them

• A harsh inner critic that never seems to quiet down

• Feeling numb, disconnected, or like you’re watching your own life from a distance

• Struggles with anxiety, depression, or emotional dysregulation that don’t respond to insight alone

• Patterns of pushing people away or clinging out of fear of abandonment

• Physical symptoms with no clear medical cause — chronic tension, fatigue, digestive issues, or difficulty sleeping

• Feeling like something is fundamentally wrong with you, even when your life looks fine from the outside

• Hypervigilance — always scanning for what might go wrong, even in safe situations

• Difficulty identifying or expressing your own needs and emotions

• A persistent sense of shame that feels like it lives in your bones rather than your thoughts

If any of this feels true about you, you are not alone — and you are not broken. These are ways you adjusted to survive. They made sense once. And with the right support and guidance, they can change.

Talk therapy alone often isn’t enough for childhood or developmental trauma — because this kind of trauma isn’t stored only in memories and thoughts. It’s stored in the body, in the tension you hold in your shoulders, the burning feeling in your chest, or the upset stomach that comes out of nowhere.

Complex trauma and C-PTSD in particular require a nervous system-level approach, one that works with the body directly rather than trying to think or talk your way to healing.

As a Somatic Experiencing® Practitioner and developmental trauma therapist serving Michigan, I work at the level of the nervous system where early trauma resides.

Rather than asking you to relive painful memories before your body is ready, we start by building your capacity to feel safe in the present moment. We work gently with body sensations, movements your body wants to make, and the defense responses that have been running in the background of your life for years. Over time, your nervous system learns that the past is over and that you have resources now that you didn’t have then.

This approach is slow, respectful, and deeply effective for childhood trauma, developmental trauma, and complex trauma recovery. It meets you exactly where you are.

We begin by getting to know your nervous system: not your diagnosis, not your symptom list, but you. We’ll explore what calm, peaceful, or safe feels like in your body, what your system’s unique stress responses are, and what conditions help you feel most supported and present.

From there, we work at whatever pace your system can tolerate and sustain. Healing from childhood trauma, developmental trauma, and complex trauma is not a sprint. It unfolds in layers, often non-linearly. It will have periods of real breakthroughs and periods of what feels like watching paint dry, but so much is happening in your nervous system. I’ll be alongside you through it all.

For clients whose C-PTSD symptoms include significant nervous system dysregulation, we may also incorporate the Safe and Sound Protocol or Rest and Restore Protocol, which are gentle, evidence-informed listening programs that support regulation at a physiological level before deeper trauma processing begins.

Sessions are 55 minutes. I am based in Detroit, Michigan, and offer sessions virtually to adults throughout Michigan.

The wounds of childhood trauma and developmental trauma do not have to define the rest of your life. With the right support, your nervous system can learn new patterns. Your body can become a place that feels safe and peaceful to live in. The grip of complex trauma and C-PTSD can loosen, not through willpower, but through genuine, embodied healing.

That is what this work is for, and it is absolutely possible for you.

If you’re ready to take the first step or just want to learn more about whether this approach is right for you, I’d love to hear from you.

📍 Based in Detroit, MI | Virtual therapy available throughout Michigan

📞 (248) 731-2107

✉️ ninakeeler@ninakeeler.com