Connected Conversations
Drawing from her own experience as a queer and neurodivergent trauma survivor, Laura brings a nuanced understanding to her clients’ lived realities. She believes in the transformative potential of therapy and practices a style that is straightforward, intuitive, empathetic, open-minded, and warm — “My work has been to find a balance between being with clients in their emotions and staying grounded in my own body,” Laura affirms.
For Laura, healing is more about empowerment than mere symptom reduction — “I think that many therapists fail to emphasize this aspect when working with people who have significant mental health symptoms, such as outbursts of anger or panic attacks,” she says. To that end, Laura leverages therapies such as Parts Work and EMDR to direct her clients further on their healing journeys.
Parts Work addresses the conflicts between different parts of the self. It helps clients understand their inner conflicts with compassion rather than shame, which is crucial for populations that have often been marginalized or misunderstood.
Immigrants and LGBTQ+ clients often carry the burden of conflicting inner experiences — for example, pride in identity alongside fear of rejection, or gratitude for opportunity alongside grief for loss and displacement. Parts work helps clients see these conflicts as protective parts rather than flaws. This reduces shame and allows clients to say:
“A part of me wants to belong, and another part is afraid to be seen.”
Or,
“A part of me holds my culture, and another part is trying to survive here.” By validating all parts, clients feel seen rather than corrected.
For clients who have experienced trauma and come with hypervigilance, or fear of authority, or harm from pathologizing approaches, Parts Work allows trauma to be addressed indirectly and safely, by first building relationships with protective parts before approaching wounded ones. For LGBTQ+ clients, it helps
Parts Work can help clients for whom belonging has been conditional by creating a secure base within the psyche where clients learn to access themselves which holds h calm, compassion, and clarity so they can finally fall back on themselves for reassurance and care.
Laura also uses Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), which is an evidence-based, trauma-focused psychotherapy originally developed to help people process single instances of major trauma Today, EMDR is widely used for PTSD, complex trauma, anxiety, depression, and identity-related stress, and.
Laura often finds her clients replaying trauma memories as if they are happening in the present. EMDR helps confine these memories to the past, so clients can remember without reliving. Since trauma also has a somatic component and is stored in the body, Laura uses EMDR to address body-based responses such as tightness, nausea, shaking, or numbness, which are commonly found in trauma survivors. Moreover, EMDR helps change the deeply negative beliefs which are produced by trauma (such as “I am powerless”) to more adaptive ones (like “I have choices”) helping clients find their emotional bearings.
For immigrant and LGBTQ+ communities, EMDR can address multiple layers of trauma across time, processing pre and post migration trauma, acculturative stress, at the same time, honoring diversity and inclusivity by considering the backgrounds of clients who come from cultures where open discussions about trauma remain taboo.
For LGBTQ+ clients, EMDR addresses identity-based trauma by processing trauma arising from invalidation, bullying, conversion efforts, religious harm, and violence without making identity the problem. It replaces internalized shame with gradual self-acceptance.
EMDR is especially helpful for marginalized clients as it frames distress as a response to lived experiences rather than regarding it as a personal failure. It allows clients to retain control over pacing and content, supports nervous system regulation, helping clients find meaningful relief in fewer sessions than traditional talk therapy.
For autistic adults with anxiety, Laura combines integrative, affirming approaches rather than a one-size-fits-all model, ensuring her therapy remains predictable and collaborative, respects sensory needs, emphasizes regulation instead of conformity, and validates lived experience.
If you’re feeling stuck in repeating patterns of behaviour that you know are not working, or lacking purpose in life, choosing instead to just keep going through the motions without living life in the true sense of the term, it’s time you consider therapy.
For those seeking anxiety therapy in Upper East New York City, Laura is accessible by phone call or appointment.
