Trauma Therapist · EMDR · Somatic Work · Los Angeles
You've carried this on your own long enough. You're allowed to change.
I work with high-achievers, overwhelmed parents, and creative souls who are ready to stop managing their pain — and start healing the root of it. Through EMDR and somatic therapy, we go where talk therapy alone can't reach.
EMDR ·Somatic Therapy ·Attachment Repair ·Mindfulness ·Trauma-Informed Care ·Recovery-Informed Practice ·Intergenerational Healing ·Nervous System Regulation ·EMDR ·Somatic Therapy ·Attachment Repair ·Mindfulness ·Trauma-Informed Care ·Recovery-Informed Practice ·Intergenerational Healing ·Nervous System Regulation ·
Three kinds of people find their way here.
01
High-Achievers
You've built a life that looks extraordinary from the outside. But privately, you're exhausted in a way that rest doesn't fix. This isn't burnout. This is trauma hiding behind competence.
You want to parent differently than you were parented — but sometimes old voices come out of your mouth. You're navigating an overwhelming world while trying to heal what you inherited.
As a former Broadway performer, I know this world from the inside. The stuckness you're feeling isn't a creative block. It's a signal worth listening to — and one I understand deeply.
"Trauma is not what happened to you. It's what happened inside you as a result."
— Dr. Gabor Maté, The Myth of Normal (2022)
About Katherine
I came to this work through the body first.
Before becoming a therapist, I was a performing artist and educator — working on Broadway and internationally. I white-knuckled through the highs and lows, learning how to continuously show up, to access something true under pressure, and to build an identity entirely around my craft.
I also learned what it costs when that identity starts to crack. That experience didn't just shape who I am — it shapes how I work. I understand the particular texture of high-achiever anxiety, the way creatives feel everything deeply and struggle to show it, and what it's like to perform wellness long before you've experienced it.
I also come to this work with nearly a decade of immersion in recovery communities — the 12-step world, its language, its philosophy, and its particular kind of radical honesty. I understand what it means to do a searching and fearless inventory. To make amends. To live one day at a time not as a platitude, but as a genuine practice. That framework lives alongside the clinical work — and for clients in recovery, or those whose lives have been touched by addiction and compulsive behavior, it means you don't have to translate yourself for me.
Through EMDR and somatic work, we go beneath the performance — to where the real healing lives.
MA, MFTEMDR TrainedBroadway PerformerRecovery CommunitySomatic PractitionerLos Angeles, CA
Modalities
EMDRSomatic TherapyMindfulnessAttachment RepairRecovery-Informed PracticeIntergenerational TraumaNervous System Regulation
Ready to begin?
Something in you already knows it's time.
A free 15-minute consultation is the only first step. No commitment. Just a conversation to see if we're a good fit.
Telehealth available to California residents only.
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I'll get back to you within one business day.
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Katherine Tokarz Dyson, AMFT #147216
Employed and Supervised by Stephanie Book Koehler, LMFT #30659
Cutting Edge Counseling · 3657 Stoner Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90066
Who I Work With
Three kinds of people. One thing in common.
They've all learned to function beautifully in spite of what they're carrying. And somewhere underneath the competence, the caregiving, or the creativity — something is asking for more. That's exactly who I work with.
01Specialty
High-Achievers
Executives · Lawyers · Physicians · Academics · High Achievers
You built a life that looks extraordinary from the outside. So why does it feel like you're barely surviving it?
You've done everything right. The career. The relationships. The reputation you've carefully built. From the outside, your life looks like evidence that you've got it together. But privately, you're running on empty — held together by willpower, hypervigilance, and a quiet dread that one day, everyone will see what you already suspect: that something underneath has been broken for a long time.
This isn't burnout. This is trauma — the kind that hides behind competence.
You Might Recognize Yourself In This
Constant low-level anxietyDifficulty slowing downEmotional numbness at homeOverachieving as copingTrouble receiving careDeep fear of failureDisconnected from your bodyStruggling to ask for helpIn recovery & ready to go deeper
How We Work Together
Many high-functioning people carry significant trauma — childhood experiences, early instability, impossible expectations — that never got the attention it needed because you were too busy surviving, then succeeding. EMDR and somatic therapy offer a path that doesn't require you to talk your way through every memory. We work with your nervous system directly, at a pace that respects how much you already carry.
I also work with clients in recovery — from substances, from disordered eating, from compulsive patterns of all kinds. I'm fluent in the language of the 12 steps, and I understand that recovery is not the end of the work — it's often where the deeper work begins. You don't have to explain the program to me. We can start where you actually are.
This is a space where your accomplishments don't define what you're allowed to feel — and where we take seriously the idea that capability and suffering are not mutually exclusive.
You've spent years performing wellness. This is what healing actually looks like. →
02Specialty
Parents Breaking the Cycle
Parents · Caregivers · Those Doing Intergenerational Work
You're trying to be a different kind of parent. But sometimes you hear your mother's voice coming out of your mouth.
Parenthood has a way of pulling up everything you thought you'd left behind. The pressure to do it all perfectly. The rage that surprises you. The moments you go cold when your child needs you most. You're navigating an overwhelming world while trying to give your children the attunement, safety, and presence that maybe you never fully received yourself.
What you're carrying isn't weakness. It's inherited — and it can be healed.
You Might Recognize Yourself In This
Explosive or shutdown reactionsGuilt on overdriveHigh standards, low self-marginTriggered by your child's emotionsChronic overwhelmParenthood surfacing old woundsFeeling disconnectedGrieving the childhood you deserved
How We Work Together
Intergenerational trauma doesn't pass down through stories — it passes down through the nervous system. You absorbed these patterns before you had words for them, which is why insight alone rarely changes behavior in the moments that matter most.
Through EMDR and somatic work, we go to the root. We metabolize what your body has been holding so you can show up as the parent you actually want to be. This work is for you — and quietly, it's also one of the most profound gifts you can give your children.
The cycle stops somewhere. It can stop with you. →
Something in you knows it's time for a change. Something else is terrified to find out what that means.
You've always felt things deeply. That depth is your gift — it's what makes your work resonate, your ideas come alive, your empathy extraordinary. But feeling deeply can also mean carrying more than most people realize. Old wounds. Identity questions. A persistent sense that you were made for something you haven't found yet — or something you've been too afraid to claim.
The stuckness you're feeling isn't a creative block. It's a signal worth listening to.
You Might Recognize Yourself In This
Creative paralysisFear of being truly seenImposter syndromeA life that no longer fitsGrief around unlived pathsSensitivity as burdenLonging for more meaningIdentity in transition
How We Work Together
As a former Broadway performer, I know this world from the inside — the identity built entirely around your craft, the pressure to perform even your healing, the grief of a path that shifts. Somatic therapy and EMDR are especially powerful for creative people because they work through the body and the deeper mind, not just conversation.
This is the kind of inner work that can free up what's been locked away: your voice, your direction, your next chapter. You don't have to have it figured out to begin. You just have to be willing to listen inward.
What's waiting on the other side of this stuck place might surprise you. →
Ready to find out which one is you?
A 15-minute consultation is a conversation — nothing more. Let's see if we're a good fit.
Every modality I use is chosen because it reaches where talking alone cannot. Trauma doesn't just live in memories — it lives in the body, the nervous system, and the relational patterns laid down before we had words. Here's what each approach is, how it works, and what it might look like between us.
01EMDR
Eye Movement Desensitization & Reprocessing
Evidence-Based · Trauma-Focused · Body-Informed
EMDR is one of the most well-researched trauma therapies available — endorsed by the World Health Organization and the American Psychological Association. But it's not just for combat veterans or acute trauma. It's powerful for anyone whose past is quietly running the present.
How It Works
Traumatic memories are stored differently in the brain than ordinary memories — vivid, charged, easily activated. EMDR uses bilateral stimulation (typically eye movements or gentle tapping) while you briefly focus on a distressing memory. This mimics what happens naturally during REM sleep and helps the brain reprocess the memory so it loses its emotional charge. You still remember what happened — it just no longer feels like it's happening now.
What It Feels Like
Sessions are structured but not rigid. Many clients describe it as "watching the memory from a distance" — the intensity softens, and the story that felt so defining begins to loosen its grip. Most people are surprised by how quickly they notice shifts.
The word "somatic" comes from the Greek word for body — and somatic therapy is grounded in a simple but profound truth: the body keeps the score. Trauma lives in the way you hold your shoulders, the tightness in your chest before a difficult conversation, the freeze response that takes over even when you know you're safe.
How It Works
Rather than only exploring what you think and feel, somatic work brings attention to where and how you feel it in your body. We slow down to notice what happens physically when a difficult topic comes up — a held breath, a clenched jaw, an urge to shrink. By bringing gentle awareness to these patterns, and allowing the body to move through what it's been holding, we release trauma at the level where it actually lives.
What It Feels Like
Sessions might include guided body awareness, breathwork, tracking physical responses in real-time. Many clients describe this as the first time they've felt truly at home in their body. Others find it strange at first — especially those who've learned to live entirely from the neck up. That's completely normal, and we go slowly.
Insight without embodiment is incomplete. When the body finally gets to finish what it started, healing becomes something you feel — not just something you understand.
03Attachment Repair
Healing Relational Wounds
Relational · Developmental · Intergenerational
Attachment theory shows us that the quality of our earliest relationships shapes how we relate to ourselves, others, and the world for the rest of our lives. When early attachment was inconsistent or unsafe — even in subtle ways — it leaves a blueprint that shapes everything from how we parent to how we love.
How It Works
Attachment repair happens through the therapeutic relationship itself — a consistent, attuned connection that can offer something the original relationship didn't. We explore where patterns came from, how they show up now, and what it would feel like to relate differently. We work with early experiences not to blame, but to understand the survival strategies you developed — and whether they still serve you.
What It Feels Like
Much of this work happens relationally — in the space between us in sessions. You might notice feelings about our relationship itself: trust, irritation, fear. These aren't problems — they're information, and incredibly valuable data for the work. Many clients describe a gradual softening: a growing sense that connection is possible, and that they are worthy of it.
Especially Helpful For
Relationship patternsFear of abandonmentPeople-pleasingParenting challengesIntergenerational traumaDysregulation
Attachment wounds happened in relationship. They heal in relationship too — including the one we build here, in this room.
04Mindfulness
Present-Moment Awareness
Contemplative · Evidence-Based · Integrative
Mindfulness is not about clearing your mind or achieving perfect calm. It's about learning to be with your experience without being hijacked by it. For people carrying trauma, this is genuinely revolutionary. Trauma pulls us into the past or catapults us toward the future. Mindfulness gently, repeatedly brings us back to now — where safety, choice, and healing actually live.
How It Works
In sessions, mindfulness practices are woven throughout rather than treated as a separate exercise. This might look like noticing your breath when something activates you, tracking body sensations without immediately acting on them, or developing the ability to observe your own thoughts with some distance. Over time, this builds "window of tolerance" — the capacity to stay present with difficult material without overwhelming your nervous system.
What It Feels Like
For some, mindfulness feels immediately calming. For others — especially those with significant trauma — it can initially bring up discomfort, as slowing down allows more to surface. We work at your pace, and we always have an anchor: the breath, the feet on the floor, the present moment as a place of return.
Mindfulness doesn't make difficult things disappear. It gives you enough space from them to choose how you want to respond — and that changes everything.
The Integrated Approach
These four tools work together like a complete language.
Mindfulness
Creates the present-moment awareness needed to do the deeper work safely
Somatic Work
Brings attention to where trauma lives in the body and begins to move it
EMDR
Processes and refiles the memories that have been keeping the nervous system stuck
Attachment Repair
Rewires the relational blueprint so new patterns of connection become possible
Healing doesn't only happen in the therapy room. These are books, podcasts, and apps I genuinely recommend — curated for the kinds of people I work with.
You don't have to be in crisis to reach out for support.
These lines are free, confidential, and available around the clock. If something feels urgent, please use them — that's exactly what they're there for.
🆘
988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline
Call or text · 24/7, free, confidential
988
💬
Crisis Text Line
Text HOME to reach a counselor
741741
🎖
Veterans Crisis Line
Call 988 then press 1 · or text 838255
988 → 1
🏳️🌈
Trevor Project (LGBTQ+ Youth)
Call, text, or chat · 24/7
1-866-488-7386
Books
Reading that changed how I think about healing
Books I return to — for myself, for clients, and for the work we do together.
Trauma Foundation
The Body Keeps the Score
Bessel van der Kolk, MD
The seminal text on how trauma lives in the body — and what it actually takes to heal it. Often the book that makes clients say "so that's what's been happening."
Somatic Healing
Waking the Tiger
Peter A. Levine, PhD
A foundational guide to somatic experiencing — how trauma gets locked in the body and how the body can be the path out. Practical, compassionate, and eye-opening.
Attachment
Attached
Amir Levine & Rachel Heller
A clear, readable introduction to attachment theory and how your style shapes your relationships. Particularly helpful if you're exploring patterns with partners or family.
Intergenerational Trauma
It Didn't Start With You
Mark Wolynn
A revelatory look at how family trauma echoes across generations — often in symptoms we never connected to our family history. Essential for intergenerational work.
High-Functioning Trauma
What Happened to You?
Bruce D. Perry & Oprah Winfrey
Reframes the conversation from "what's wrong with you?" to "what happened to you?" — a compassionate, accessible exploration of childhood experience and its lifelong effects.
Complex PTSD
Complex PTSD: From Surviving to Thriving
Pete Walker
One of the most practical, compassionate guides to complex trauma. Walker writes as both a therapist and survivor. Particularly valuable for adult children of difficult families.
Nervous System
Anchored
Deb Dana
A wonderfully accessible guide to polyvagal theory — how your nervous system works, why it does what it does, and how to gently befriend it. Packed with practical exercises.
Creatives & Identity
What My Mother and I Don't Talk About
Michele Filgate (ed.)
A stunning anthology of essays by writers exploring the silences in their mother relationships. For creatives who process through story — and anyone circling around what they can't quite say.
Memoir
The Glass Castle
Jeannette Walls
A visceral, unflinching memoir about growing up in chaos and dysfunction — and the remarkable resilience that can emerge from it. A testament to the human capacity for change.
Memoir
Committed
Elizabeth Gilbert
A candid memoir about one woman's reluctant journey into her second marriage — and a rich exploration of the cultural and societal expectations that shape how we love and commit.
Memoir
Travels
Michael Crichton
A memoir that blends adventure, self-discovery, and purpose — exploring both the world around us and the world within. A quiet invitation to look inward through the lens of outward exploration.
Love & Relationships
All About Love: New Visions
bell hooks
A bold, tender challenge to the cultural myths we've inherited about love — redefining it not as a feeling, but as a verb and a practice. Transformative for anyone rethinking how they give and receive love.
Podcasts
Voices worth listening to between sessions
Especially good for the commute, the walk, or when you want to keep the thread going.
These won't replace therapy — but they're genuinely useful companions to it.
🧡
Insight Timer
Meditation & mindfulness
The largest free meditation library available — thousands of guided practices from trauma specialists and somatic practitioners. Excellent for beginners and experienced meditators alike.
Free
🌙
Calm
Sleep, stress & relaxation
Best-in-class for sleep support and anxiety relief. The breathwork tools and Sleep Stories are particularly effective for nervous systems that struggle to power down.
Free + Premium
💙
Headspace
Structured meditation
A structured, course-based approach to mindfulness. Guided programs on stress, sleep, and anxiety — backed by clinical research. Great for people who like a clear path.
Free + Premium
📓
Jour
Guided journaling
A thoughtfully designed journaling app with prompts rooted in psychology and self-reflection. Particularly useful for creatives who think and process through writing.
Free + Premium
🌊
Breathwork Apps
Nervous system regulation
Breath is one of the most immediate tools for regulating the nervous system. Apps like Wim Hof or Othership can complement somatic work powerfully. Check with me first if you have a trauma history.
Varies
📊
Daylio
Mood & pattern tracking
A simple, low-friction mood tracker that helps you notice patterns — what activates you, what regulates you, how you move through the week. Small data, big insight over time.
Free
📌
These resources are offered as supplemental support — not a replacement for therapy or professional mental health care. Books, podcasts, and apps can be powerful companions to the work we do together, but they are not a substitute for it. If something you encounter brings up difficult material, please bring it to our sessions. That's exactly what they're for.
