Trauma Therapy in New York & New Jersey

Trauma can shape far more than the memories surrounding what happened. It can influence the way you experience relationships, emotions, boundaries, self-worth, safety, and even your understanding of yourself.

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Alka Chaudhary, LMHC-D, has received intensive training in Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) and DBT with Prolonged Exposure (DBT-PE) for trauma, in addition to training in CBT and Motivational Interviewing.

Trauma is not defined solely by what happened. It can also be understood through the ways an experience continues to affect your sense of safety, relationships, emotions, and understanding of yourself.

Some people experience trauma as intrusive memories, avoidance, or heightened anxiety. For others, its effects may be less obvious: difficulty trusting people, intense emotional reactions, shame, relationship patterns that feel impossible to change, or a persistent sense of being disconnected from themselves.

Trauma therapy can help you understand these patterns with greater compassion while developing the emotional skills and stability needed to respond differently.

Understanding Trauma

When Trauma Continues to Affect Your Life

You may know intellectually that something happened in the past, but still find yourself reacting as though it is happening in the present. Trauma can affect the way you experience emotions, relationships, boundaries, conflict, self-worth, and your sense of safety.

For some people, trauma shows up through anxiety, depression, avoidance, or difficulty trusting others. For others, it can contribute to intense emotions, impulsive or self-destructive behaviors, relationship instability, or feeling overwhelmed by experiences that seem difficult to explain.

Therapy can help you make sense of these patterns without reducing you to a diagnosis or defining you by what happened to you.

My Approach to Trauma Therapy

I provide specialized individual trauma therapy for adults in New York and New Jersey, with an approach that is both compassionate and clinically rigorous. My work draws on extensive trauma-focused training alongside Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), allowing us to address both the impact of past experiences and the patterns that are keeping you stuck today.

Trauma therapy is not about forcing yourself to revisit painful experiences before you are ready. It begins with creating enough safety, stability, and emotional capacity to understand your experiences without becoming overwhelmed by them. From there, treatment is thoughtfully tailored to your history, your nervous system, your relationships, and your goals.

For clients who struggle with intense emotions, self-destructive patterns, interpersonal difficulties, or chronic feelings of being overwhelmed, DBT can be an especially powerful component of trauma treatment.

Specialized Training in DBT-PE with Dr. Melanie Harned

I have received intensive training in Dialectical Behavior Therapy with Prolonged Exposure (DBT-PE) for trauma under the training of Dr. Melanie Harned, the developer of the DBT-PE protocol.

DBT-PE integrates the structure and skills of DBT with Prolonged Exposure therapy to help clients who continue to experience significant trauma-related symptoms. The approach is designed to support trauma processing while maintaining the emotional stability and coping skills needed to engage in that work safely and intentionally.

This specialized training informs the way I approach trauma treatment, particularly with clients whose trauma is intertwined with intense emotions, self-destructive patterns, or other complex clinical concerns.

Trauma and DBT: Understanding the Connection

Trauma and emotional dysregulation often intersect. Some people find that even when they understand where their reactions come from, knowing why they feel a certain way does not necessarily make it easier to respond differently.

DBT offers practical tools for navigating intense emotions, tolerating distress, strengthening relationships, and reducing behaviors that may provide short-term relief but create longer-term difficulties. For some clients, these skills become an important foundation for trauma treatment.

I offer both individual DBT therapy and DBT skills groups, and DBT may be incorporated into trauma treatment when it fits your needs. For clients who are appropriate for more direct trauma processing, DBT-PE provides a specialized pathway for addressing trauma while continuing to use the skills and structure of DBT.

Trauma therapy may be helpful when past experiences continue to affect your present-day life. Clients may seek trauma treatment for:

  • Complex or chronic trauma

  • Childhood or developmental trauma

  • Relational or interpersonal trauma

  • Traumatic invalidation

  • Trauma-related anxiety or depression

  • Emotional dysregulation

  • Intense shame or self-criticism

  • Difficulty trusting or feeling safe with others

  • Relationship patterns that feel difficult to change

  • Avoidance or feeling disconnected from yourself

  • Self-destructive or impulsive behaviors

  • Trauma-related symptoms that have persisted despite previous treatment

You do not need to have a specific diagnosis to explore whether trauma may be relevant to your experience.

What Can Trauma Therapy Help With?

Frequently Asked Questions About Trauma Therapy

  • Trauma therapy is a form of psychotherapy that helps you understand and address the ways traumatic experiences continue to affect your emotions, relationships, behaviors, and sense of self. Treatment may involve developing emotional regulation and coping skills, understanding trauma-related patterns, and, when appropriate, directly processing traumatic memories.

  • No! People can experience lasting effects from trauma without meeting criteria for PTSD. Trauma therapy may be helpful for people experiencing emotional dysregulation, relationship difficulties, anxiety, shame, avoidance, or other patterns connected to difficult past experiences.

  • DBT-PE is a specialized treatment that combines Dialectical Behavior Therapy with Prolonged Exposure therapy for trauma. It is designed to help clients who have developed sufficient stability and coping skills through DBT engage in more direct trauma processing. I have received intensive training in DBT-PE under Dr. Melanie Harned.

  • Yes. DBT can be particularly helpful when trauma is accompanied by intense emotions, difficulty regulating behavior, self-destructive patterns, or interpersonal challenges. DBT skills can provide a foundation for stability and coping, while DBT-PE can be used when direct trauma processing is appropriate.

  • I offer both. Individual DBT therapy provides one-on-one treatment tailored to your specific patterns, goals, and clinical needs. I also offer DBT skills groups focused on developing practical skills in mindfulness, emotion regulation, distress tolerance, and interpersonal effectiveness.

  • You don't need to have everything figured out before reaching out. If you notice that past experiences continue to influence your emotions, relationships, behaviors, or sense of self, trauma therapy may be worth exploring. We can talk together about what you're experiencing and whether a trauma-focused approach makes sense for you.