HOW TRAUMA THERAPY HELPS YOU HEAL
How Trauma Therapy Helps You Heal
Trauma therapy follows a structured, evidence-based process designed to restore emotional stability and nervous system balance. While timelines vary, most clients with single-incident trauma complete active treatment within about 3–6 months; more layered histories can take longer.
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Safety and Stabilization (first weeks to 2 months): treatment begins with a comprehensive assessment, safety planning, and grounding and emotional regulation skills. This phase builds coping capacity and often brings early relief.
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Trauma Processing (EMDR): when clinically appropriate, EMDR or other trauma-focused methods are introduced. Distressing memories are reprocessed so they no longer feel like present threats, reducing emotional intensity, avoidance, and distress.
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Cognitive and Nervous System Regulation: therapy addresses trauma-related beliefs such as self-blame while using techniques that calm hyperarousal and restore balance.
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Integration and Growth: as symptoms decrease, clients rebuild trust, strengthen boundaries, and regain a sense of safety and control.
Outcomes of Trauma Therapy
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Fewer flashbacks, nightmares, and intrusive memories
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Less hypervigilance and anxiety
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Improved sleep and emotional regulation
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Return to previously avoided places and activities
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Stronger relationships, daily functioning, and resilience
Treatment length varies based on the type of trauma, symptom severity, and individual readiness.
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EVIDENCE-BASED TRAUMA TREATMENT
Our Trauma-Informed Approach to Healing
As a Licensed Mental Health Counselor (LMHC) trained in EMDR, I provide specialized, evidence-based trauma treatment for adolescents and young adults ages 13–25. This focused expertise ensures trauma care that is clinically sound and developmentally appropriate.
Evidence-Based Trauma Approaches
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EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing): one of the most researched treatments for PTSD, recommended by the World Health Organization, that helps reprocess traumatic memories and reduce their emotional intensity, without needing to describe every detail aloud.
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Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT): addresses trauma-related thoughts, emotions, and behaviors such as self-blame and avoidance.
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Somatic and Nervous System Regulation Techniques: reduce hyperarousal and help your body feel safe again.
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IFS-Informed Work: helps you understand the protective "parts" that developed after trauma, such as the part that stays on guard or shuts down.
For trauma rooted in early relationships or long-term harm, attachment-focused work is described on the Complex Trauma page.
Trauma-Informed Care
Therapy proceeds at your pace, prioritizing safety, stabilization, and minimizing re-traumatization. You remain in control of the process, and confidentiality is strictly maintained. Learn more about our trauma-informed, integrative approach.
BEGIN TRAUMA THERAPY
Getting Started with Trauma Therapy
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Step 1: Free Consultation (15 minutes). A brief, confidential call to discuss your needs and see if trauma therapy is the right fit.
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Step 2: Comprehensive Assessment (50 minutes). Trauma history, symptom evaluation, safety planning, and initial skill-building. A personalized treatment plan is created.
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Step 3: Ongoing Therapy (50 minutes, usually weekly). Sessions for stabilization, skill-building, and trauma processing at your pace.
Practice Details
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Location: Unwilted Counseling LLC, 3514 Stellhorn Rd., Fort Wayne, IN 46815
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Phone: (260) 255-6432
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Hours: Mon–Thu 9:00 AM – 6:00 PM | Fri 3:00 PM – 6:00 PM | Sat 9:00 AM – 3:00 PM
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Scheduling: Afternoons, evenings, Saturdays, and virtual sessions statewide
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Confidentiality: Full privacy for adults; trauma-sensitive parental communication for adolescents
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Service area: Fort Wayne, Allen County, New Haven, Huntertown, Leo-Cedarville, and virtual therapy across Indiana and Ohio
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TRAUMA THERAPY FOR DIFFERENT AGES
Age-Appropriate Trauma Therapy
Adolescents (13–17): therapy respects growing autonomy and matches teen development. Sessions support school and peer challenges and identity, alongside trauma work. Parents are involved through the initial consultation, occasional updates, and optional sessions, balanced with confidentiality.
Young Adults (18–25): therapy is fully autonomous and confidential. Trauma work is woven together with identity, career, relationships, and independence. Flexible scheduling and virtual options accommodate college and work commitments.
Meet Your Therapist:
Destina Rekeweg, LMHC
Destina is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor with a Master's in Clinical Mental Health Counseling and more than three years of experience working exclusively with teens and young adults. She is trained in EMDR and Internal Family Systems (IFS), with a clinical focus on trauma and PTSD.
Her approach takes your experience seriously and keeps your pace in your hands. The goal is not to relive what happened, but to reach a place where it no longer controls how you feel day to day. Because Unwilted Counseling is a solo practice, you work with the same therapist from your first session to your last.
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IN-PERSON & VIRTUAL TRAUMA THERAPY
In-Person and Virtual Trauma Therapy in Fort Wayne
In-Person Trauma Therapy in Fort Wayne
A private, structured office at 3514 Stellhorn Rd., Fort Wayne, IN 46815, well suited to EMDR and deeper trauma processing. Serving Fort Wayne, Allen County, New Haven, Huntertown, and Leo-Cedarville.
Virtual EMDR Therapy in Indiana and Ohio
Secure, HIPAA-compliant virtual therapy is available to clients located in Indiana and, through the Counseling Compact, Ohio. Research supports virtual EMDR as an effective alternative to in-person sessions for many clients.
Many clients combine both formats depending on the phase of treatment.
INDIVIDUAL THERAPY FOR DIFFERENT AGES
Age-Appropriate Individual Counseling
Adolescents (13-17): Therapy respects growing autonomy and matches teen development. Sessions support identity exploration, school and peer challenges, and local teen experiences. Parents are involved through initial consultation, occasional updates, and optional sessions balanced with confidentiality.
Young Adults (18-25): Therapy is fully autonomous and confidential. Focus is on identity, career, relationships, independence, and life purpose. Flexible scheduling and virtual options accommodate college and work commitments.
Fees and Payment
Unwilted Counseling is a private-pay practice and does not bill insurance. You may be able to use out-of-network benefits for possible reimbursement.
Service | Duration | Fee |
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Initial intake assessment | 50 min | $160 |
Ongoing session | 50 min | $135 |
Intensive session | 75 min | $202.50 |
Intensive session | 100 min | $270 |
Intensive session | 150 min | $405 |
Good Faith Estimate: Clients paying privately have the right to receive a Good Faith Estimate explaining expected costs of care. You may request this prior to scheduling. See our full fees and policies page.
Trauma Therapy & PTSD Counseling for Teens & Young Adults in Fort Wayne, IN
Healing from trauma without reliving it alone
If you're dealing with flashbacks, emotional numbness, anxiety, nightmares, panic, or feeling constantly "on edge," your nervous system may still be responding as if the trauma is happening now.
At Unwilted Counseling, LLC, specialized trauma therapy is provided for teens and young adults ages 13–25 using EMDR and other evidence-based approaches that help you feel safe in your body again, not just understand your trauma, but actually heal from it. Sessions are available in person in Fort Wayne or virtually across Indiana and Ohio. This is part of our broader Teens & Young Adults Counseling services.
If the harm you experienced was repeated, long-lasting, or began in childhood, our Complex Trauma & Childhood Abuse Therapy page may describe your experience more closely.
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UNDERSTANDING TRAUMA & PTSD
Understanding Trauma & PTSD in Teens and Young Adults
Recognizing Trauma Symptoms
Trauma occurs when an overwhelming experience keeps the nervous system in a prolonged state of alert. You may experience flashbacks, nightmares, hypervigilance, avoidance of reminders, emotional numbness, or persistent guilt and shame. Trauma can also affect concentration, relationships, sleep, and physical health.
When these symptoms last more than a month and interfere with daily life, they may meet criteria for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). PTSD is common, understandable, and treatable.
Types of Trauma We Treat
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Accidents, injuries, and medical trauma
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Physical or sexual assault
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Community, school, or dating violence
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Witnessing violence or a frightening event
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Sudden loss or traumatic grief (when grief is tied to a broader life change, see (Life Transition Counseling)
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Natural disasters, fires, or other one-time crises
If the harm was repeated or prolonged, such as childhood abuse, neglect, or growing up in an unsafe home, see Complex Trauma & Childhood Abuse Therapy, which uses a longer, phase-based approach designed for that kind of history.
If anxiety or panic is the primary symptom, Anxiety Counseling may also be relevant alongside trauma-focused care.
TRAUMA THERAPY QUESTIONS
Frequently Asked Questions
About Trauma Treatment
No. While some discussion of what occurred helps with assessment and treatment planning, detailed recounting isn't necessary for healing. EMDR and other trauma therapies can be effective without extensive verbal processing. You share only what feels comfortable.
That's common. Memory gaps are a normal response to overwhelming experiences. Therapy focuses on how trauma affects you now, so you don't need a complete memory to heal, and memories are never pushed or forced.
Yes. EMDR is one of the most researched treatments for PTSD and is recommended by the World Health Organization for children, adolescents, and adults. Many clients notice a reduction in the intensity of distressing memories within a number of sessions.
Trauma therapy is specifically designed to help the nervous system process overwhelming experiences. It focuses on safety and stabilization first, then uses targeted methods like EMDR to reduce the emotional charge of memories, rather than only talking about current stressors.
The goal is the opposite. Stabilization skills come first, and processing happens gradually and only when you're ready. You stay in control of the pace, and sessions end with grounding so you leave feeling steady.
Trauma isn't measured by how an event looks to others, but by how it affected you. If something still shows up in your body, sleep, relationships, or reactions, it deserves support.
Many clients notice early relief during the stabilization phase. For single-incident trauma, active treatment often takes about 3–6 months; repeated or childhood trauma usually takes longer. Progress is reviewed regularly.
Many people reach a point where the trauma no longer drives their daily life: memories lose their intensity, triggers fade, and they feel safe again. Healing doesn't mean forgetting; it means the past stops running the present.
Unwilted Counseling is private pay. The initial assessment (50 min) is $160 and ongoing 50-minute sessions are $135. Insurance is not billed directly, but you may be able to use out-of-network benefits.
Yes. Secure virtual EMDR therapy is available to clients located anywhere in Indiana and, through the Counseling Compact, in Ohio.
Good Faith Estimate: Clients paying privately have the right to receive a Good Faith Estimate explaining expected costs of care. You may request this prior to scheduling.
Start Trauma Therapy in Fort Wayne!
You don't have to keep carrying this alone. A free, confidential 15-minute consultation is a chance to share what's going on, ask questions, and see if trauma therapy is the right fit. The comprehensive assessment that follows includes trauma history, symptom evaluation, safety planning, and a personalized treatment plan. Call or text (260) 255-6432.
