My name is Lora and I am a trauma specialist who helps to train other therapists to treat highly traumatized people.

My Education and Experience

I have my doctorate in Clinical Psychology and a Masters degree in Philosophy. My early career experience was working in Community Mental Health with children, adolescents, and adults who were experiencing severe mental illness that interfered with their ability to function.

From 2009 to 2023, I was a full-time clinician a clinician at the Samaritan Counseling Center in Barrington, IL. During this time, I developed my primary specialty of helping people recover from Complex PTSD and Dissociative Disorders. As part of this specialization, I completed a two-year training program in Dissociative Disorders with the International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation (ISST-D) in 2012 and have been active as a leader and a member of a local chapter of the ISST-D.

Along with co-running Hope & Healing Psychotherapy, I offer consultation for therapists who are working with clients with Dissociative Disorders. Periodically, I offer trainings on Dissociative Disorders, Narcissistic Personality Disorder, and Borderline Personality Disorder. I am also in the process of creating a series of YouTube videos on these topics.

While my heart is always open, my time is not. So sadly, I do not see a time in the near future where I will be able to take any new clients.

 How I Help My Clients

I believe that each human being comes into this world worthy of being loved, nurtured, respected, and welcomed into a family and into the larger community. If this always happened, I wouldn’t have a job. When I’m sitting across from you, I do my best to show up emotionally and to communicate respect, kindness, and welcome to each part of you. When you are raised by people who are traumatized themselves and (intentionally or not) pass that trauma onto you, most of your energy gets put into self-protection and survival. Sometimes this may lead you to act in ways you don’t fully understand and may not like. At other times, you put so much energy into trying to convincing the rest of us that you are good enough or worthy of love, leaving you little energy to discover who you are and what you truly value underneath what feels like a façade.  I assume that everything you do, think, and feel is for a reason, whether or not you know what it is, and together we can put the puzzle pieces together to make sense of why you are stuck and how you can move forward to be your truest, most authentic self.

Most of the time, people who have experienced trauma would like to feel peace and enjoy life, but it seems like threats are around every corner. After all, if the bottom could fall out at any time, what is the point of laughing, singing, creating, meditating, dreaming, or soaking in the sun? Sometimes traumatized people feel the most alone when they are with other people who are enjoying life. It turns out there are physiological reasons you feel like an alien in those situations. It has to do with your vagus nerve. Since January of 2022, I’ve been treating many of my clients with the Safe and Sound Protocol (SSP). It’s the most effective intervention I’ve done in all of my years as a therapist. It helps the parts of you that want to be able to soak in the good things in your life and not oscillate continuously between states of numbness, depression, emptiness, rage, terror, panic, and hypervigilance.

For more of my thoughts on trauma and treatment, feel free to check out the YouTube channel for Hope & Healing Psychotherapy as well as blog.

More About Me Personally

I grew up in Minneapolis, Minnesota, but I have lived primarily in the Chicago suburbs since coming here for college in the 1990s. My wife and I share a home with our two beloved pups. I enjoy escaping into novels, savoring dark chocolate, gardening, jigsaw puzzles, connecting with friends, and soaking in nature whether it’s the tulips in my front yard, a nearby forest preserve, the shores of Lake Michigan, or one of the National Parks.