Ashleigh Virginie Johnston-Barton

It’s not all in your head. When an experience overwhelms your nervous system, your mind remembers too little and your body too much. We are capable of extraordinary things in times of stress. People have survived, defying what is possible, lifting cars to save a child, escape or fight danger. These responses are intended to be temporary as they utilize a tremendous number of resources or create states that do not serve us in daily life. We do not need or want to constantly fight or escape. Stress responses can become stuck, frozen in our body; often outside of our awareness and show up as relational, physical or emotional symptoms.

When sustained and suppressed in our nervous system we can feel numb, fragmented, broken or unfulfilled, i.e. trauma. It can be uncomfortable to integrate or complete our nervous system response to intense experiences causing many to feel unable to relax or safe, relational or health issues, anxiety, depression, CPTSD, gastrointestinal, chronic pain etc. LMFT SEP EMDR