Janina Fisher Ph.D.

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Janina Fisher Ph.D.

Janina Fisher is an international expert on the treatment of trauma and dissociation, a trainer for It has been a privilege to learn with them and from them.
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I have had the good fortune to have been taught by or worked alongside the giants in the field of psychological trauma: first, Judith Herman, then Bessel van der Kolk, and, most recently, Pat Ogden. And as much as these pioneers taught me, the most powerful and gifted teachers I have are my patients. These survivors have given me a window into the inner experience of the legacy of trauma, taught me what always to say and what never to say, helped to validate or disprove what the experts and theorists were claiming. We now understand that trauma’s imprint is both psychological and somatic: long after the events are over, the body continues to respond as if danger were everpresent. My professional mission has been to bring this understanding of trauma to both clients and their therapists as a psychotherapist, consultant, and trainer of clinicians looking for answers to helping their traumatized clients. I believe the key to healing is not just knowing what happened but transforming how the mind, body, and soul still remember it. Janina Fisher, PhD is a licensed Clinical Psychologist and Instructor at the Trauma Center, an outpatient clinic and research center founded by Bessel van der Kolk. Known for her expertise as both a therapist and consultant, she is also past president of the New England Society for the Treatment of Trauma and Dissociation, an EMDR International Association Credit Provider, a faculty member of the Sensorimotor Psychotherapy Institute, and a former Instructor, Harvard Medical School. Dr. Fisher has been an invited speaker at the Cape Cod Institute, Harvard Medical School Conference Series, the EMDR International Association Annual Conference, University of Wisconsin, University of Westminster in London, the Psychotraumatology Institute of Europe, and the Esalen Institute. Dr. Fisher lectures and teaches nationally and internationally on topics related to the integration of research and treatment and how to introduce these newer trauma treatment paradigms in traditional therapeutic approaches.

01/01/2026

In a traumatic world, it is better to assume danger than to trust safety, so the brain and body don't recognize that the threat is over.

It l takes practice to focus on the proof that you survived – no matter what happened.

12/30/2025

Trauma fragments the self, leaving behind parts of us that carry fear, rage, shame, hopelessness, and despair. In Embracing Our Fragmented Selves, internationally renowned trauma therapist Dr. Janina Fisher offers a clear and compassionate approach to working with these parts and restoring a sense of inner harmony.

Grounded in structural dissociation theory, parts work, and sensorimotor psychotherapy, this workbook teaches trauma survivors to:

➡ Understand their symptoms as expressions of different parts
➡ Notice, unblend from, and befriend traumatized parts
➡ Recognize self-destructive behaviors as the behavior of protector parts
➡ Offer reparative experiences to wounded young parts

Whether you’re a trauma survivor or therapist, this book serves as a reminder that every part of us, no matter how wounded or extreme, is deserving of care. Healing begins when we meet those parts with support, appreciation, and acceptance.

Pre-order now: https://www.amazon.com/Embracing-Our-Fragmented-Selves-Therapists/dp/1683738918/
This Work will be released on January 6, 2026.

12/26/2025

The Power of Dissociation

12/23/2025

It is a well-accepted premise that, to feel safe in any relationship, human beings need compassion both for themselves and for the other. Internal attachment bonds or “earned secure attachment” give us emotional resilience. The internalization of secure attachment allows individuals to tolerate hurt, loneliness, anxiety, disappointment, frustration, and rejection—all the risks inherent in any close relationship.

12/19/2025

When sessions stall, we don’t need more theory—we need a clearer way to apply it in the room.

I created the Clinical Skills Series: three bundles of 3 on-demand courses + corresponding live 90-minute clinical integration sessions to bridge somatic, parts-aware, and polyvagal work with your most complex cases.

Live integration dates: Jan 26, 2026 · May 18, 2026 · Oct 5, 2026
CPD included. Join me to turn concepts into moment-to-moment choices.

Learn more & register for Volume 1:
https://www.nscience.uk/product/the-trauma-trilogy-somatic-breakthroughs-for-ptsd-treatment-resistant-depression-and-memory-work/

12/18/2025

We seem to have a sort of field wide dementia around borderline personality disorder. There is research going back to 1989 that correlates the diagnosis of borderline personality disorder with a history of childhood trauma. That research has been more consistent than most research is and those studies have been replicated numerous times.

However, it’s almost as if the field has a blind spot because no one ever remembers that this s clearly a trauma related diagnosis. A lot of therapists don’t treat borderline personality disorder as a trauma related disorder, they treat it as a personality disorder and some therapists go out of their way to avoid taking personality disordered clients.

There is the stigma attached to it and it is the diagnosis that no one wants. It is therefore demoralizing for the trauma survivors who get that diagnosis.

12/12/2025

When all parts of us feel internally connected and held in the loving embrace of the body of which is an aspect, then they will feel safe and nourished at last. The first step is to become curious about this ‘other’ inside whom we do not really know.

12/10/2025

Enduring, Submitting, Surviving: Rui Cang on Trauma, Identity & Healing in Asian Communities

Rui Cang and I explore intergenerational trauma, cultural endurance, and the courage to find belonging between worlds.

🎧 Listen now on Spotify & Apple Podcasts
👉 Watch now on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/

12/09/2025

The key to the success of this technique is consistency, repetition, and a willingness to keep using it even if you have days when it does not work.

12/05/2025

What it took to survive has created a bind. It was adaptive ‘then’ to avoid comfort or self-compassion, to shame and self-judge before attachment figures could find them lacking, but now it has come to feel believable that others deserve or belong or are worth more – while, at the same time, it also feels that these ‘others’ are not to be trusted; they are dangerous.

12/04/2025

Who Decides What Works? Rethinking Evidence-Based Trauma Therapy

Wendy D’Andrea joins me to bridge the gap between research and clinical practice – questioning who defines “success” in trauma healing.

🎧 Listen now on Spotify & Apple Podcasts
👉 Watch now on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/

12/03/2025

Befriending Our Parts: Sowing Seeds of Compassion, focuses on interventions that begin a process of fostering the increased self-understanding and self-compassion so necessary for healing.

Asked to have compassion for themselves or to better care for themselves, most traumatized clients have a strong negative reaction. But when an emotion such as fear or shame is connected to the felt sense of a young child, the same client can often feel empathy or even indignation for that child. In mindfulness-based treatment, it is not necessary that we differentiate between compassion “for ourselves” versus compassion “for the child.”

The felt emotional and somatic sensations of compassion are the same, no matter who is the intended receiver, and it is those sensations of compassion that help to soothe and heal traumatic and attachment wounding.

Address

5665 College Avenue, Suite 220C
Oakland, CA
94618

Website

http://www.janinafisher.com/

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My Story

I have had the good fortune to have been taught by or worked alongside the giants in the field of psychological trauma: first, Judith Herman, then Bessel van der Kolk, and, most recently, Pat Ogden. And as much as these pioneers taught me, the most powerful and gifted teachers I have are my patients. These survivors have given me a window into the inner experience of the legacy of trauma, taught me what always to say and what never to say, helped to validate or disprove what the experts and theorists were claiming. It has been a privilege to learn with them and from them. We now understand that trauma’s imprint is both psychological and somatic: long after the events are over, the body continues to respond as if danger were everpresent. My professional mission has been to bring this understanding of trauma to both clients and their therapists as a psychotherapist, consultant, and trainer of clinicians looking for answers to helping their traumatized clients. I believe the key to healing is not just knowing what happened but transforming how the mind, body, and soul still remember it. Janina Fisher, PhD is a licensed Clinical Psychologist and Instructor at the Trauma Center, an outpatient clinic and research center founded by Bessel van der Kolk. Known for her expertise as both a therapist and consultant, she is also past president of the New England Society for the Treatment of Trauma and Dissociation, an EMDR International Association Credit Provider, a faculty member of the Sensorimotor Psychotherapy Institute, and a former Instructor, Harvard Medical School. Dr. Fisher has been an invited speaker at the Cape Cod Institute, Harvard Medical School Conference Series, the EMDR International Association Annual Conference, University of Wisconsin, University of Westminster in London, the Psychotraumatology Institute of Europe, and the Esalen Institute. Dr. Fisher lectures and teaches nationally and internationally on topics related to the integration of research and treatment and how to introduce these newer trauma treatment paradigms in traditional therapeutic approaches.