Dr Colette Lord: Trauma Therapist

09/23/2025

Just Sadie peering deep into your eye. 🐾💖🐾💖

09/20/2025

Su***de is a solution sought to what is experienced as unendurable pain and is absolutely a mental health issue, and an epidemic in the US.

AND there are a lot of things that are not about mental health that need to be part of our discussion of su***de prevention.

One of the things that makes pain more endurable is connection and support, it’s about community.

Only in a society in which we truly love and value all of our members and ensure that they have the resources and supports that they need can we greatly reduce su***de.

Speaking to this I want to highlight some of the ways we can work to prevent su***de that are outside the realm of therapy, medication, or other types of mental health treatment.

Su***de prevention is:

Making healthcare more accessible & affordable
Gender affirming medical care
Making a living wage
Safe, affordable housing
Drug & alcohol treatment
Being believed about your own experience
Living in a society that values all its members
Using the chosen name & pronouns of gender diverse people
Family & faith communities accepting & affirming their LGBTQIA+ members
Living in a society that doesn’t debate your right to exist
Crisis support:

National Su***de Hotline 988*
San Diego Crisis Line 888-724-7240*
Transgender Lifeline 877-565-8860
Trevor Project 866-488-7386*
*calling may result in police involvement

***dePrevention ***dePreventionMonth ***dePrevention

09/17/2025

In honor of September being CPTSD Awareness month, let’s talk about what CPTSD is.

CPTSD stands for Complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and it develops as the result of repeated and on-going trauma.

The fact that the trauma is chronic, it therefore results in more pervasive and complex effects on the individual and their personality.

Typically, this type of trauma starts in childhood in the home, and is often just a way of life rather than a discrete, easily identifiable incident. This experience is compounded when the child also experiences systemic oppression due to race, sexual orientation, gender identity, etc.

When someone has CPTSD this often includes:

💔more difficulty managing emotions

💔more pervasive negative views of self and a sense that they are fundamentally different from others

💔more use of dissociative coping strategies

💔loss of meaning or core beliefs about self/others/world

💔more difficulty in sustaining healthy relationships due lack of trust, negative view of self and/or avoidance of relationships

Healing CPTSD is possible. It often involves not only reprocessing or working through the past traumatic experience, but learning things (coping skills, communication skills, social skills) that were never taught.

Because the experience and symptoms are complex and layered, it’s important to find a therapist who is skilled in working with complex trauma, attachment trauma and/or developmental trauma. You need someone who has the sophisticated and complex skills to address your complex trauma.

If you are a therapist looking to learn how to approach complex trauma by learning EMDR therapy, Precision EMDR Academy is an excellent resource (and of course I’m biased because I help facilitate trainings with Precision).

And if you are already trained in EMDR and are looking for more advanced trainings on working with complex and attachment trauma and/or Dissociative Identity Disorder, check the link in my bio for trainings available through Precision EMDR Academy.

09/15/2025

09/13/2025

You’re EMDR trained.

You realize DID is more common than you were taught.

You want to learn how to recognize and screen for DID.

If you are looking for training and information in this area, I’ve created a course just for you...

Introduction to Working with Dissociative Identity Disorder: Understanding Through an EMDR Lens

8 APA On-Demand CE Credits Available

Application for EMDRIA Credits is under review.

Check out the link in my bio for more information.

When I started as an EMDR therapist 10 years ago, I realized DID/OSDD was more common than I knew and so I threw myself into a ton of trainings and readings and consultation.

I’ve worked to synthesize all I’ve learned in that time into this training.

This training might be for you if...

You aren’t sure how to screen for DID or what it might look like when it shows up in your office.

You’re looking for an understanding of how to work with parts and a framework for treatment planning.

You don’t know where to turn to begin understanding how to work with DID and want a place to start before investing further in training or specialization.

You’ve heard not to use the standard EMDR protocol with DID clients but then don’t know how or when to utilize your EMDR skills.

To find out more info on this training check out the link in my bio or

www.PrecisionEMDR.com/dissociation

09/12/2025

I am currently attending the 2025 EMDRIA Conference in Anaheim. It is so lovely to reconnect with my EMDR community in person as I haven’t done this since 2019.

If you are in attendance swing by the Precision EMDR Academy booth to say hello and connect!

09/10/2025

The traditional thinking and models of attachment focus on the relationship between the child and their caregivers.

As I’ve mentioned previously, there is also the Nested Model of attachment and trauma proposed by Jessica Fern in her book polysecure: Attachment, Trauma and Consensual Nonmonogamy.

The level I want to focus on today is the home level, which focuses on the ways the physical home as well as the totality of family interactions affect our ability to feel safe and secure within ourselves, within our relationships and in the world.

Elements in this level include:

· If you had a home you grew up in

· If you bounced back and forth between homes

· If you liked and felt safe in your home

I have certainly worked with clients who had secure relationships with their caregivers but moved every year due to a parent’s job which left them feeling unable to establish a safe and secure relationship with others or their physical environment, which impacts their ability to feel fully secure in their adult relationships.

In future posts I’ll review the other levels of communities and culture, societal and global or collective level.

09/08/2025

Sadie is slowly adjusting to the newest addition to our furry family - Samson

09/06/2025

September is National Su***de Prevention month

It’s intended to remember those lost to su***de, highlight efforts prevention & reduce the stigma around talking about su***de, suicidal thoughts & su***de attempts.

According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), su***de remains a leading cause of death in the US.

It’s estimated we lose someone to su***de every 11 minutes.

And in 2023 12.8 million Americans admitted to seriously thinking about ending their lives and 1.5 million made an attempt.

There are two times as many su***des as there are homicides each year.

Across ethnic & racial groups, those identifying as Native American/Alaskan have the highest rates of su***de at 23.8 su***des per 100,000 people, which is 1.3x the su***de rate of non-Hispanic white folks, the group with the next highest su***de rates.

As of 2023 the age groups with the highest rates of su***de are those 75 & up.

Results from the 2022 US Transgender Survey indicate 78% of gender diverse adults reported having seriously thought about su***de in their lifetime, and 40% reported having made an attempt.

Reason for hope, these percentages are slightly lower than those reported in the 2015 survey.

These numbers speak to how many folks are hurting out there. It is important to have compassion for them and ourselves if we have suffered like that.

You are not alone, and help is available.

National Su***de Hotline 988

San Diego Crisis Line 888-724-7240

Transgender Lifeline 877-565-8860

Trevor Project 866-488-7386

***dePrevention ***dePreventionMonth ***dePrevention

09/05/2025

Taking a moment to introduce myself in case you are new here.

My name is Dr. Colette Lord and I’m a licensed clinical psychologist with 20 years of experience, most of which has been helping traumatized clients heal.

Being a therapist and working with trauma has been what I wanted to do for as long as I can remember. For me, it is more of a calling than a job, something I feel I was put on this earth to do.

I am passionate about helping people let go of the pain of their past, live more fully in the present and develop hope for the future.

I am particularly passionate about working with folks with DID/OSDD and helping to decrease stigma around this disorder. I’ve been doing this work for 10 years and have been through a ton of trainings.

When I was starting out as an EMDR therapist and started screening for dissociation and realizing I didn’t know how to recognize when someone had DID/OSDD I threw myself into a ton of trainings and readings and consultation.

At the time I couldn’t find anything that sufficed as an introduction to doing this really important work. That’s why I’ve worked really hard and put together what I wish I’d had available to me. 8 APA On-Demand CE Credits Available and Application for EMDRIA Credits is under review. Check out the link in my bio for more information.

To learn more about me and my practice check out the link in my bio.

09/03/2025

As one of my clients recently put it, EMDR is the gift that keeps on giving.

Ther is the obvious benefit in the session when EMDR reprocessing helps to desensitize a painful memory and help someone find a more adaptive belief about themselves, other or the world. This gift is amazing.

And the more subtle gift is what we tell clients to be prepared for, the fact that the brain continues that healing outside of the session. There are profound ripple effects of what is done in session.

Often these effects are not big, in your face changes, but they can be profound. And it’s often not until someone comes in the next week and we look back that those effects become obvious.

Maybe it’s not getting triggered the way they would have in the past, maybe it’s saying no when that’s always been a struggle, maybe their body isn’t reacting the way it did before.

EMDR is an amazing gift. I see it everyday in my practice and I’ve experienced it in my own life.

I’ve seen it change the way clinicians treat trauma and attachment wounds when they get trained in EMDR.

Precision EMDR Academy is having another basic training in the fall for any clinicians interested and I will be facilitating in the Spring 2026. Check out the link in my bio for more info.

Also, for any EMDR clinicians interested in learning to work with Dissociative Identity Disorder, stay tuned for more information on my webinar!

09/01/2025

Sadie sitting pretty (and not eating the 🌱 for once💖🐾)