As indicated here, one of my specialties is working with those who have experienced trauma. I have trained extensively about not only how to treat trauma, but also understanding the diverse, complicated components of it. One component I want to focus on today is a message I do not see often enough, and that is about what specifically qualifies as trauma.

First, let me give you a brief history of post-traumatic stress disorder, PTSD, as it has increased our awareness of the effects trauma can have. PTSD was first identified and diagnosed among Vietnam War veterans back in 1980. It is still considered relatively new in the psychological realm, even though that has been almost 40 years ago. Since PTSD was conceptualized initially among war veterans, I believe the idea of what qualifies as trauma has been heavily influenced by that association. It is important to note that there is no doubt how traumatic war combat experiences are, and I cannot even begin to imagine what that is like. I am not trying to minimize the traumatic experiences of veterans, and/or other victims of sexual or physical assault.

What I do want to do here is raise awareness that, for lack of a better word, events considered more minor than your stereotypical trauma-related incidences can also cause trauma-related symptoms in people, and can even result in someone having PTSD. Comparing how severe one harrowing event is with another does not alter how each individual person experiences their particular trauma. No matter what caused a person to have PTSD or other trauma-related disorders or symptoms, they could need just as much help as someone who has experienced a more “typical” traumatic event. In EMDR therapy, we distinguish these events as little ts and Big Ts. What are commonly identified as traumatic-like incidences such as war, rape, natural disasters, etc. are Big Ts. Whereas little ts can be verbal bullying, a family member shaming a child, belittling them everyday, etc. I like to describe little ts as the microaggressions of trauma.

The bottom line is that trauma is trauma no matter what the specific event is: It boils down to how the person experienced it. (Among other things, but that’s material for another entry another day!)

Welcome to my Reflections page.

Let me start by introducing myself to you on a professional level, (note this differentiation for My Personal Introduction): My name is Ginger Klee, and I am a Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist (Lic.# 101430) and Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor (Lic.#7538). I have my Bachelors of Science in Psychology and a Masters of Science in Counseling. I currently have my own private practice seeing clients and I teach Psychology as an adjunct professor at a Los Angeles County community college. I work from a feminist orientation utilizing the Adaptive Information Processing (AIP) model through EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing) therapy while integrating Narrative and Family System theories.

Now, if you are relatively new to the idea of therapy/counseling, or you never took the time to look into the various types of theoretical orientations that clinicians practice from, that last sentence, in particular, may have made your eyes gloss over. I had seen four different therapists before I started my academic path, and I had no idea what any of those theories were or what they meant until I started studying them. So, if you have no idea what any of those theories are, that’s okay! If you’re interested in learning about anything I threw in that last sentence of the previous paragraph, you’ll be able to do just that by reading some of my reflections and from my “How I work” page.

How can that be helpful?

As I stated, before my college days, I never took the time to learn about what my therapists were doing and from what orientation they were working from. Did I get some help? Yes. Were they all helpful? No.

Were they bad therapists? Not necessarily. But, had I known before choosing to see them what framework and what perspective they would be coming from, I may have chosen someone else to bare my soul to. The therapist or two that I had that weren’t helpful for me may not have been because they weren’t good at their job, but that we simply weren’t compatible. It’s one thing to look at what the clinician claims are their specialties (teens, adults, trauma, depression, eating disorders, etc.), and it’s a whole other thing to look at how they say they will treat those issues—their theoretical orientation.

Let me put it this way, are you going to order a dish to eat simply by looking at the ingredients, or do you also want to know how those ingredients that you like to eat are going to be prepared?

So, that’s why part of my website features what framework I come from. My Personal Introduction entry discusses the more personal side of therapy, including a more personal introduction of me, and other topics I plan to dive into.

Welcome to my page and I hope you take away something from it.