Childhood & Developmental Trauma Therapist in Michigan

What Happened to You as a Child Is Still Impacting Your Life Today

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

And now, as an adult, you find yourself struggling in ways that don’t quite make sense. 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.

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

What Is Childhood Trauma?

Childhood trauma isn’t only about dramatic or obvious 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 safety, survival and love.

Childhood trauma can include emotional neglect — growing up in a home where your feelings were ignored, 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 overall emotional unavailability. It includes growing up walking on eggshells, never knowing what version of a parent you’d come home to, or being parentified — made responsible for managing an adult’s emotions or needs. It also includes chronic experiences of shame, criticism, or feeling like you were “too much” or “not enough.”

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

The Clinical Term: Developmental Trauma

Developmental trauma is the clinical term for the cumulative impact of adverse childhood experiences on a developing nervous system — particularly when they occur within attachment relationships. Unlike a single-incident trauma, developmental trauma shapes the brain and body over time, often in ways that aren’t fully recognized until adulthood.

If you’ve been told you have Complex PTSD (C-PTSD), attachment wounds, or an anxious, avoidant, or disorganized attachment style — developmental trauma is very often at the root. C-PTSD in particular is a pattern that emerges when trauma is chronic and relational rather than a single event. It can look like persistent shame, emotional dysregulation, difficulty trusting others, and a deep sense that something is fundamentally wrong with or broken in you.

Whether you identify with the term childhood trauma, developmental trauma, complex trauma, or C-PTSD — what matters most is that your nervous system has been carrying more than it should have to, for longer than it should have had to. And that can change starting today.

How Childhood & Developmental Trauma Shows Up in Adult Life

Many adults who come to childhood and developmental trauma therapy in Michigan aren’t sure they “qualify.” They minimize their past. They compare their experience to others who “had it worse.” But the nervous system doesn’t measure suffering in comparison — it measures whether it felt safe.

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.

A Somatic Approach to Healing Childhood & Developmental Trauma

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. In the way your chest tightens when someone raises their voice. In the freeze response that takes over when you need to speak up for yourself.

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 lives.

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, movement impulses, and the survival 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.

What Childhood & Developmental Trauma Therapy Looks Like With Me

We begin by getting to know your nervous system — not your diagnosis, not your symptom list, but you. We’ll explore what regulation feels like in your body, what your system’s unique stress responses are, and what conditions help you feel most resourced 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 nonlinearly — with periods of real breakthrough and periods of what feels like watching paint dry, but so much is happening in your nervous system. I’ll be alongside you through all of it.

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 — 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.

Investment in Your Healing

My fee is $200 per 55-minute session. I maintain a small, intentional caseload so every client receives genuine presence and personalized care — not a cookie-cutter approach to complex trauma treatment.

I do not bill insurance directly, but I provide a superbill for out-of-network reimbursement. One reduced-fee slot is held for clients experiencing financial hardship — please ask about availability.

You Survived Your Childhood. Now Let’s Help You Thrive.

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 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.

📍 Detroit, MI | Virtual therapy available throughout Michigan

📞 (248) 731-2107

✉️ ninakeeler@ninakeeler.com

Get in touch

Connect with me to schedule a FREE 15-20 minute consult to see if we are a good fit.

FAQs

How long are sessions?

Sessions typically last 55 minutes, but 75 minutes and 90 minutes sessions are available upon request and for an additional fee.

How to schedule an appointment?

Complete the contact form above and I will reach out to you with additional questions and instructions.

Do you offer telehealth therapy in Michigan?

Somatic Experiencing® (SE) is a body-based approach to healing trauma that helps restore the nervous system’s natural rhythm of regulation. Developed by Dr. Peter Levine, SE focuses on noticing and releasing the physical tension, sensations, and survival responses that can remain in the body long after a stressful or traumatic event. Instead of revisiting painful memories in detail, SE works gently with the body’s natural impulses for safety, completion, and connection. Through this process, clients often experience greater calm, presence, and resilience—allowing the body and mind to realign in support of authentic healing and wholeness.

What is Somatic Experiencing®?

Yes. All services are available via secure telehealth, allowing Michigan residents to access specialized developmental and betrayal trauma therapy regardless of location.

Do you take insurance?

I am a private pay practice. I do not bill insurance directly, but I provide superbills that you can submit to your insurance company for possible out-of-network reimbursement. Many clients with PPO plans receive partial reimbursement this way.