Devin Bard (she/her)

I am trained in Lifespan Integration, a trauma treatment that helps individuals integrate past experiences that are still impacting them today. These past experiences may include more conventional definitions of trauma (violence, a sudden loss, sexual assault / abuse) as well as more subtle examples like growing up in a chaotic home or experiencing chronic bullying or put-downs. I help my clients heal their trauma without reliving it, empowering them to experience the freedom of the present.

This specialty is near and dear to my heart. In an increasingly overstimulating and frightening world, more and more people are suffering from anxious thoughts, feelings, and sensations. I use a mind-body approach in treating anxiety, integrating mindfulness, IFS, and emotion-focused therapies to help clients manage self-defeating and self-judgmental thoughts, reduce or eliminate panic, and ultimately soothe their nervous system.

As a psychodynamic therapist, I believe much of our behaviors, emotions, and thoughts emerge from unconscious parts of ourselves. These are aspects of our being we're unaware of and disconnected from, that may be governing our interactions with others and informing our sense of self. My role through this specialty is to help clients know themselves better by reflecting curiously on the meaning of their experiences, which includes the experiences that unfold in the therapeutic relationship.

This research-supported, mind-body approach to trauma (both acute and developmental) works quickly without re-traumatizing clients in the process. "More than 30 positive controlled outcome studies have been done on EMDR therapy. Some of the studies show that 84%-90% of single-trauma victims no longer have post-traumatic stress disorder after only three 90-minute sessions." https://www.emdr.com/what-is-emdr/

When addressing PTSD, C-PTSD, and developmental trauma, I use EMDR and Internal Family Systems. These mind-body techniques help the client access the calming and organizing parts of the brain to relegate the trauma event(s) to the past where they belong. Trauma is the past disrupting the present, and these therapeutic tools bring the client's entire nervous system back into the present so they can relate to what used to trigger them with clarity and peace.

I've worked extensively with depressed clients, and find the process of helping them access their core emotions and take empowering action in their lives very rewarding. Depression can be so painful, confusing, and debilitating. Whether the depression is short-term, cyclical, or chronic, we can get to its root and access your aliveness.

This revolutionary therapeutic approach is all about you mapping your thoughts, feelings, habits and behaviors (particularly those you're struggling with) as if those were "parts" of you - characters or aspects of self that have good intention, and yet may be unconsciously sabotaging your best efforts to feel better and get what you want in life. Change doesn't happen because we work hard at it - it happens when we finally know how to offer ourselves compassion, boundaries, and love.