Complex Trauma & cPTSD Therapy in Newmarket, Ontario

Maybe you’ve got a diagnosis. Maybe you just recognize yourself in the word “cPTSD” and have never said it out loud to anyone. Either way — if something happened that was too much, too fast, or too long, and it’s still living in you somewhere, this is where we start.

Complex trauma isn’t one bad thing that happened once

It usually builds slowly, from things that repeated — often in relationships, often starting young — until your whole nervous system rearranged itself around staying safe. That’s not damage. That’s a very smart system doing exactly what it was built to do. It’s just still doing it now, long after it needed to.

Here’s the part that helps: your nervous system decides whether it’s safe to be present before you’ve had a single conscious thought about it. That’s the polyvagal system at work — the part of you scanning the room before you’ve even sat down. We work with that directly. We’re not here to make you relive the past for the sake of it. We’re here to update what your body learned, so it can finally finish what it never got to finish the first time.

What the work actually looks like

Talking, yes — but your body’s in the room too, not waiting outside while your brain does all the work. Some DBT skills where they’re useful. And a pace that’s set by what you can actually take in that day, not a script.

You do not need a diagnosis to walk in the door. cPTSD isn’t officially in the DSM yet, though it is in the ICD-11 and it’s absolutely how a lot of people describe their own experience. If you read the description above and thought “oh — that’s me,” that’s more than enough to start with.

What this covers

Developmental trauma, dissociation, the kind of anxiety that never quite switches off, LGBTQ+-affirming care, and trauma tied to long-term disability or a workplace injury.

This is psychotherapy, not a magic wand — but it’s an approach that genuinely helps a lot of people feel less at war with their own nervous system over time.

Related

If your body’s been showing up with physical symptoms too — pain, fatigue, that whole situation — have a look at Pain Reprocessing Therapy & Physical Symptoms. If you’re neurodivergent and trauma got tangled up with years of masking, see Therapy for Neurodivergent Adults. And if therapy hasn’t landed for you before, this may be why: Why CBT Didn’t Work For You.

Schedule a free 20-minute consultation →

No pressure, no commitment, no diagnosis required.

Common questions

What’s the difference between PTSD and complex PTSD (cPTSD)?

PTSD is usually tied to one event. cPTSD tends to build from things that happened repeatedly, often relationally, often starting young — and it shapes more than flashbacks. It shapes how you see yourself and how you show up in relationships.

Do I need an official cPTSD diagnosis to do this work?

No. It’s not technically its own diagnosis in the DSM yet, though it is in the ICD-11 and it’s very much how people describe their own experience anyway. If the description fits how you feel, that’s enough to start.

What does “somatic” trauma therapy actually mean in practice?

It means your body’s treated as a source of real information, not just a container your mind happens to live in. Alongside talking, we pay attention to tension, breath, what your nervous system’s doing — because trauma tends to live in the body just as much as in memory.

Will I have to talk about the details of what happened?

Only as much as is actually useful, and always at your pace. A lot of this work is more about what your nervous system learned and how to update it now, rather than replaying the worst parts in detail.

Is this covered by insurance?

Usually, yes — under most Extended Health Benefit plans (not OHIP), and direct billing is available to most major carriers.