SKIP THE WAITLIST! Accepting new clients for EMDR Intensives NOW.

EMDR & TRAUMA THERAPY for Adults in Cape Coral & Online across Florida 

I work with adults who’ve always been "the strong one", the fixer, the overthinker, the one holding it all together while quietly falling apart.  But let’s be real: just surviving isn’t cutting it anymore. It’s time to break those old, exhausting patterns and finally build a life that feels like yours!

You’re tired of asking yourself if things will ever actually feel different.

Tired of replaying the same patterns in your relationships and wondering if it’s your fault.

Sick of feeling emotionally fried, anxious, or on edge even when nothing’s technically “wrong.”

 

Exhausted by the constant overthinking the spirals, the second-guessing, the self-doubt.

Done pretending you’re fine while quietly falling apart inside.

 

Fed up with therapy that just scratches the surface but never actually moves the needle.

Burnt out, disconnected, stuck in survival mode… and it’s getting harder to hide.

You want something different.

You want to feel grounded and safe in your own body.

Clarity instead of chaos in your head, your heart, and your relationships.

 

You want to stop just coping and start healing the root of what’s been running your life.

With therapy that’s real, that honors your fire and your fears, not just your symptoms.

 

You want deep, lasting change, not more tools you never use.

 

 

That's where I come in... with therapy that is untamed and hit's different!

Hi, I'm Jessica!

and if you’re ready to heal for real, you’re in the right place. 

I work with adults who are tired AF of being "the strong one"

You’ve done the work, read the books, journaling, maybe even years of therapy but the same BS patterns are keeping you stuck. That’s not failure. That’s survival. And it means you need something deeper.

 

I know opening up to a stranger sounds about as fun as a root canal. And you don’t need another therapist who just nods and asks how that makes you feel. You need someone who’s been through it and won’t flinch when sh*t gets messy.

 

I don’t just rely on textbooks or clinical training.  I’ve sat in that client seat, exposed and unsure, trying to find words for pain I barely understood. It felt like being naked with my clothes on. Vulnerable AF and uncomfortable as hell. But that work changed everything.

 

So if your story includes a minefield of trauma, emotional neglect, addiction, and/or chaotic family dynamics, let me be very clear, you are not broken. You’re surviving.

 

And surviving is f*cking exhausting.

 

If you’re ready to get to the root, and you're looking for a Florida-raised, New England-born trauma therapist who’s direct yet compassionate AF, and totally unbothered by your "hot mess express"... I'm so here for it!

Therapy doesn't have to suck!

And it definitely shouldn’t feel like one more thing to manage.

Trauma isn't just in your head, it’s in your body.

Here’s how Trauma Shows Up in Your Everyday Life:

  • Chronic tension and unexplained exhaustion
     

  • Gut issues or physical discomfort with no medical cause
     
  • Emotional numbness or zoning out
     
  • Constant urge to “escape” even when nothing’s wrong
     
  • Pushing through everything without asking for help because it feels safer to do it all yourself
  • Relationships that feel like walking on eggshells
     
  • Trouble sleeping even when you’re exhausted
     
  • Feeling "on edge" or jumpy for no obvious reason
     
  • Over-apologizing or shrinking yourself to avoid conflict
     
  • Struggling to make decisions because you're afraid of getting it wrong

You’re Done Pretending "You’re Fine".

 

You’re over all of it!  The spinning in circles. The constant overthinking. The emotional exhaustion.  You don’t need more surface-level talk therapy. You need trauma healing that actually works. 

The Real-Life Sh*t I Help Over-Achieving Adults Heal

Relationship Wounds

& Trauma:

 

If you find yourself dating the same person with a different face or stuck in a loop of WTF relationship moments, you’re not alone. You’ve been downplaying your trauma because someone else had it worse. But your story matters.

Low Self-Esteem &

Imposter Syndrome: 

 

You’ve been overachieving since childhood because productivity felt like the only way to prove your worth. Now you’re burnt out and still questioning whether you’re good enough.

Complex PTSD &

Attachment Trauma:

 

Your childhood was a mess. You became the parent too early and never got to be a kid. Now, you micromanage everything to avoid chaos. You’re not controlling. You’re scared. And that makes sense.

What Is Trauma-Informed Therapy and Why It Matters

Trauma-informed therapy means I don’t treat you like you’re broken, dramatic, or not trying hard enough. Your reactions, like shutting down, overthinking, people-pleasing, or staying too busy to feel, aren’t flaws or personality traits.

 

They’re survival skills your nervous system created to keep you safe.

 

This kind of therapy meets you where you are, works with your nervous system (not against it), and creates the emotional safety you need to finally release all that shit you’ve been carrying for way too long.

Break Free From What’s Keeping You Stuck

EMDR Therapy for Women

EMDR Therapy

Helps you reprocess trauma at the root, so you stop reacting from survival mode and finally feel grounded again.

Attachment healing in Florida

Parts Work & Attachment Healing

Helps you connect with your inner child, stop people-pleasing, and build real self-trust from the inside out.

Setting boundaries effectively in Cape Coral Florida

Emotional Survival Skills (CBT + DBT)

Gives you the tools to manage big emotions, set boundaries without guilt, and break the spiral before it takes over.

Nervous System regulation therapy in Cape Coral Florida

Nervous System Reset & Repair

Helps your body come down from burnout so you can feel calm, safe, and regulated without having to earn rest.

The Goal Isn’t Just  Survival. It’s Freedom!

Freedom to stop white-knuckling your way through the week.
Freedom to stop second-guessing your worth.
Freedom to feel grounded, clear, and in the driver seat of your own life.

 

That’s what this work is really about, helping you live life on your own damn terms.

 Clients often tell me they feel more seen, more challenged, and more supported than they ever have in past therapy. and that I "just get it" when it comes to how life and trauma can really jack up out mental health.  This isn’t slow-motion, polite healing, this is where they stopped circling their pain and started moving through it.

 

I am beyond honored to walk that path with them and honored you are here now.

Ready to Dive In?

I’m grateful you’re even considering letting me walk with you through this wild AF healing work.

 

Right now, I’m ONLY accepting new clients for EMDR Therapy Intensives. deep, focused sessions for faster breakthroughs and real movement.

 

If an intensive isn’t the right fit, I get it. Check out Psychology Today, Headway, Alma, and Grow Therapy for other amazing providers. You can also browse My Therapists Peeps in SWFL  (please make note that I can’t reach out or vouch for specific approaches).

 

Wherever you start, just know: You deserve support. You deserve healing.  You deserve to feel like you again.

Join my E-mail Club

free therapy tools

The Email You Actually Wanna Open!

Therapy truths. Trauma healing. No fluff. No shame. Just real, raw feral AF insights to help you stop gaslighting yourself, quit overgiving, and get out of your own damn way.

Your nervous system will thank you.

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Check out the Untamed Blog

 

Isn’t CBT Just Gaslighting Myself

Into “Thinking” I Feel Better, When I Really Don’t?!

 

 

 

 

 

Ah, good ol' CBT. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. The golden child of the therapy world that everyone and their mama seems to be shouting about lately.

 

But let’s be real if you've ever caught yourself thinking, “Isn’t CBT just gaslighting myself into ‘thinking’ I feel better, when I really don’t?” you’re definitely not alone. 

 

 

 

The Who, Where, and How CBT Was Created

 

CBT didn’t just pop up out of nowhere, like that ex sliding into your DMs. It was crafted in the 1960s by Aaron Beck, a psychiatrist who originally started off in psychoanalysis. He was diving into how folks with depression thought and realized; hold the phone these people had some seriously fucked negative thought patterns going on. Instead of just talking about their trauma endlessly without purpose or relief, Beck decided to switch gears to focus on the here and now, specifically on how our thoughts affect our feelings and behaviors.

 

CBT therapy is less “let’s unpack your childhood” and more “let’s challenge that thought that you’re a total failure because you missed ONE deadline.”

 

Beck and his colleague Albert Ellis, who was on a similar wave with Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy, basically handed us a toolkit to call BS on our own unhelpful asshole thoughts.  

 

 

 

Isn’t CBT Just Gaslighting Myself?

 

 

Alright, let’s address this big ass elephant in the therapy room:

"Isn’t CBT just gaslighting?" On the surface, it kinda sounds like it, right? You’re sitting there in a therapist’s office or Zoom screen, and they’re like, “Let’s reframe that thought!” Meanwhile, your brain’s screaming, “Reframe my ass!  This shit sucks and my feelings are real damn it!”

 

 

So, where does the line get drawn between “helpful reframe” and “gaslighting yourself into pretending you're okay"?

 

Here’s where I keep it real AF: CBT can absolutely feel like gaslighting or that your therapist is dismissing your feelings when it’s used to gloss over real pain, grief, or trauma. No one needs a toxic positivity fucking parade when they’re knee-deep in life’s bullshit. It’s not about slapping a smiley face on your problems or pretending you’re fine when your brain feels like it's on fire.

 

And if that’s how it’s being used, that’s not CBT that’s just bad therapy. Period!!

 

 

 

The Real Deal & How CBT Can Actually Help

 

 

Let’s not throw the CBT baby out with the bathwater, just yet. When done right, CBT isn’t about denying your feelings.  It’s about recognizing when your thoughts are pulling you into that dark pit and giving you the tools to flip a U-turn.

 

You feel like crap because you lost a job? Totally fucking valid! Pass the emotional support dumperster fire. But when used properly CBT doesn't dismiss that, it simply asks: “Are you really ‘worthless,’ though or is that just the shame spiral talking mad shit?” 

 

Here’s the beauty of CBT, it doesn’t tell you what to think or feel; it invites you to check the receipts on your thoughts and reflect on what mental filter is paying the bill. 

 

Mental filters are those sneaky little automatic thought patterns that slide under the radar and mess with your perception of things.

 

 

 

 

Here are a few of the uninvited party crashers that kill the vibe.

 

Ever catch yourself "zooming in on the negative"? This when your brain latches onto only the negative, totally ignoring any good that occured.

 

Or maybe you’re guilty of “catastrophizing”.  Have you jumped straight to worst-case scenario faster than a squirrel on caffeine?. This is VERY common for my anxiety ridden baddies.

 

There there's the  “all-or-nothing thinking".  This is SOB is a VERY common one. It is where everything is either a win or lose, good or bad, no in between allowed.  When someone’s caught in the all-or-nothing thinking trap from hell, they’re basically running on a vocabulary of extremes and the stubborness of a bull.

 

You’ll often hear words like “always,” “never,” “everyone,” “no one,” “perfect,” “failure,” “everything,” and “nothing.”  This mental filter does not do nuances, it’s all about those harsh, absolute statements that leave no room for the messy, imperfect reality where most of us are just doing our best to fucking survive.

 

Mental filters are like dirty sunglasses; they distort your view of reality like a MF.

 

 

CBT is the little glass cleaner that gets to the nitty-gritty of those automatic thoughts, the knee-jerk “I suck, nothing’s ever gonna change, why even try” thoughts and it challenges them with evidence to expand your perspective that sometimes says, “Yeah, things are rough AF and suck ass. And that is totally okay to feel like absolute horseshit, but let’s make sure you’re not telling yourself it’s because you’re completely unlovable, because that’s horseshit.”

 

 

 

CBT isn’t the one-size-fits-all savior of therapy land,

and it’s okay to not vibe with it.

 

If you’re sitting in session feeling like you’re just mentally arm-wrestling the fuck out of yourself into feeling “okay,” that’s a flashing red flag, and it’s worth voicing to your therapist that this shit ain't cutting it. Therapy should be about finding what works for you and genuinely helps, not just accepting what you can get.

 

CBT works when it’s a tool, not a bandaid to ignore the wound. I use CBT to help my clients navigate the chaos of their thoughts, not dismiss the pain.  And yeah, it’s gonna take some intnetional effort but it sure the fuck isn't a “think happy thoughts” blanket solution. If you’re willing to get messy with your thoughts, challenge the fuck ass narratives that aren’t serving you, and face the discomfort of change, CBT can be a great partner to the therapy process.

 

So, is CBT just gaslighting yourself into “thinking” you’re better? Only if it’s done wrong. When it’s done right, it’s a way to cut through the noise, see things clearly, and maybe...just maybe...start to feel a little less weighed down by the crap your brain throws at you like you're in a never ending game of dogde ball.

 

When used effectively CBT gives you the mental space and capacity to dig into the deeper shit for reprocessing because you aren't consumed by unhelpful and untruthful thoughts. CBT is like learning to swim, we don't jump in the deep end no floaties all raw dog syle, first we learn to wade in the shallow end. 

 

Your feelings are valid AF, and your journey doesn’t have to fit anyone else’s narrative. CBT included. FInd what works for you and don't fucking give up!