Trauma Therapy in New Jersey
Colleen Makowsky offers trauma therapy for adults across New Jersey — practical, evidence-based, by secure video.
Trauma therapy at Colleen Makowsky LPC focuses on the automatic nervous system, and processing the story. Whether it’s a single event or years of accumulated experiences, the goal is emotional stability — and understanding what happened.
Colleen Makowsky offers trauma therapy in New Jersey
Most people carrying trauma are affected by a single event or multiple events. They’re dealing with how that event — or those years — rewired how they read safety, relationships, and their own reactions. Trauma therapy works with the automatic nervous system, and the story, to create emotional stability.
Complex trauma — accumulation, not just one event
Repeated relational injury over time — childhood neglect, abusive partnerships, chronic invalidation. Not a “single-incident.” Often shows up as relationship patterns, self-worth disruption, body activation without an obvious trigger. Colleen helps clients recover from complex trauma and find peace.
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Acute trauma — one event, recent or past
A defined incident: accident, assault, medical crisis, sudden loss. The body feels it. Clients may be experiencing chronic PTSD symptoms, or intrusive thoughts and feelings. We work at your pace and use CBT cognitive processing interventions. We work to process and heal the wounds to reduce the intense thoughts and feelings that are a result of the trauma.
PTSD-adjacent — symptoms that read like PTSD but haven’t been diagnosed
Flashbacks, avoidance, hyperarousal, intrusive thoughts. Whether or not the formal diagnosis applies, the symptoms respond to trauma-informed work. Colleen helps clients identify patterns and learn coping skills to reduce symptoms.
Interpersonal trauma — traumatic relationships
Childhood abuse, partner violence, ongoing relational injury, betrayal, abandonment. The work involves both identifying the pattern and rebuilding safety in current relationships. Often interweaves with attachment-pattern work — the original injury which shapes your current relationships.
Medical trauma — what your body experienced
Surgery, ICU, chronic illness, fertility loss, birth trauma, dental trauma. The body remembers what the medical chart missed. EFT tapping (Emotional Freedom Techniques) can help when activation lives in the body and talk alone does not relieve the symptoms.
Grief-related trauma — when loss weighs you down
Sudden loss, traumatic death, anticipatory grief that became its own injury. Sometimes grief and trauma are entangled. The work addresses both. Visit the grief and loss page for more information.
Three trauma-informed approaches
Trauma work depends on the type of trauma and where it lives in your system. The three approaches below are the evidence-based tools Colleen draws on — within a trauma-informed framework.
Trauma-informed care (CCTP-credentialed)
The framework looks like this: trauma-informed pacing, window-of-tolerance attention, choice and control in every session, and recognition that the body holds what the words cannot always express. Not a modality on its own — it’s how every session is conducted when trauma is in the room.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
CBT adapted for trauma work — including cognitive processing of trauma-related beliefs (“it was my fault,” “the world isn’t safe,” “I’m broken”), graded re-engagement with avoided situations within your window of tolerance, and practical tools for when intrusive thoughts take over. Strong evidence base for PTSD and trauma sequelae. Always paced — never pushed.
EFT tapping + Solution-Focused Brief Therapy
EFT tapping (Emotional Freedom Techniques — body-based bilateral tapping protocol) can fit when activation lives in the body and talk alone hasn’t helped. SFBT helps clients recognize the next small concrete step when the trauma work feels overwhelming. Both approaches follow the trauma-informed framework.
Trauma work is paced to what your system can process — everyone’s timeline is different.
Colleen is certified to treat clients experiencing trauma
Trauma work needs a foundation. Colleen has extensive training in helping clients recover from trauma.
Certified Clinical Trauma Professional CCTP
Certified Clinical Trauma Professional certification requires post-licensure training in trauma neurobiology, assessment, and treatment. Colleen takes classes every year to renew this certification.
Trauma training is necessary for trauma work.
Trauma work moves at your pace
Window-of-tolerance pacing means sessions stay inside the activation range you can process. Pushing past that creates more trauma, not healing. Colleen titrates — movement that feels “productive” but not overwhelming.
If sessions feel overwhelming, we slow down.
Scope of practice
Colleen is not trained in EMDR or DBT. If either has been recommended to you, Colleen can refer you to a colleague who specializes in that work. Colleen offers CBT, trauma-informed care, EFT tapping, and SFBT — all within a trauma-informed framework.
Good therapy is practical. You should leave each session with something you can use — not just insight that stays in the room.
How we start — your first three steps
Reach out
Open the secure intake form or call (917) 519-8447. We’ll talk through what’s going on at whatever level feels comfortable during the consultation.
15-minute call (free)
We get on the phone/video for fifteen minutes. You tell me what’s bringing you in, I tell you how I can help. If I cannot help, I’ll point you in a useful direction. No charge. No pressure.
First session, then ongoing work
Sessions run 38 to 53 minutes, by secure video, weekly to start. Trauma work typically runs six to twelve months — sometimes longer, always at your pace.
WHAT A SESSION LOOKS LIKE
What a trauma therapy session actually looks like
Paced sessions, by secure video. Here’s what a trauma session actually covers — and what you leave with.
About trauma
Trauma is rooted in many experiences. Some are obvious; others are quiet and ambient. We identify the root causes and process them to reduce the intensity of symptoms.
Childhood adversity — what your nervous system learned was normal
Chronic invalidation, neglect, abuse, parentification, growing up around addiction or untreated mental illness. The patterns become baseline; therapy makes them visible. Adults processing childhood trauma is one of the core presentations Colleen works with — the inner child is explored and healed.
A single defining event
An accident, assault, loss, or medical crisis you’ve been managing for years. Sometimes the event was never processed. The body has been holding it; therapy can help lift the weight.
Relational patterns from key adult relationships
Partnerships marked by control, betrayal, violence, or abandonment. Often interweaves with childhood trauma — the original injury shaped how you connect with others, which shaped who you chose, which shaped the new injury. We explore the layered patterns and rebuild safety in current relationships.
Medical or birth trauma
What happened in the ICU, on the OR table, in the birth room, in the recovery period. The body remembers what the medical record summarized in two lines. Medical trauma is real trauma — even when the procedure was “routine” or “successful.”
Cumulative chronic stress — trauma’s quieter cousin
Long stretches of unrelenting pressure: caregiving, illness, financial precarity, immigration stress, marginalization stress. The nervous system never got a relief. Sometimes this doesn’t present as trauma — but the body is holding it. Trauma-informed therapy at your pace can help.
It might be time to reach out if…
Most people wait too long — partly because the timing never feels right, partly because trauma work can feel overwhelming. The signs that indicate counseling can help usually look like this.
If you experience two or three of these scenarios, schedule a 15-minute consultation to see if Colleen can help.
Colleen Makowsky offers trauma therapy across New Jersey
Colleen Makowsky
MA · LPC · NCC · CCTP · CAIMHP
Licensed counselor in Fort Lee, NJ. Adults and couples across all of New Jersey by secure video.
MA in Community Counseling, Montclair State University.
CCTP-credentialed (Certified Clinical Trauma Professional) · CBT · trauma-informed care · EFT tapping · SFBT.
OUR LOCATION
Online counseling across New Jersey
I’m a service-area provider — I work with adults and couples statewide by secure video. My base is Fort Lee, NJ (Bergen County), but you can see me from anywhere in New Jersey.
Hours
By appointment
Weekdays and weekends
Morning, afternoon, evening
Phone
(917) 519-8447
EXPLORE OTHER SERVICES
Types of therapy
Anxiety Therapy · Depression Therapy · Grief & Loss Counseling · Anger & Emotion Regulation · Individual Therapy
Trauma therapy FAQ
What does insurance cover?
Colleen accepts Aetna, Cigna/Evernorth, Optum/UnitedHealthcare/Oxford, Horizon BCBS NJ, Oscar, Medicare, and most EAPs. Out-of-network superbill available on request. Medicaid is not accepted. See the insurance and cost page for carrier-by-carrier specifics.
How long are sessions?
Sessions run 38 to 53 minutes, occasionally 60 minutes if needed.
How long does trauma therapy take?
Six to twelve months is the typical frame for trauma work — sometimes longer for complex or accumulated trauma. Colleen works at your pace, not to a fixed timeline.
Do you do EMDR or DBT?
Colleen is not trained in EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) or DBT (Dialectical Behavior Therapy). If a clinician has recommended either, or if you’ve read that one would help with what you’re working on, Colleen can refer you to a colleague who specializes in that work. Colleen offers CBT, trauma-informed care (CCTP credential), Solution-Focused Brief Therapy, and EFT tapping (Emotional Freedom Techniques-body work).
What is a CCTP credential?
Certified Clinical Trauma Professional. Post-licensure training in trauma neurobiology, assessment, and treatment — substantially deeper than what’s covered in standard counseling graduate programs. Colleen accepts clients with complex trauma and uses a trauma-informed framework.
Can you work with childhood trauma in adults?
Yes — childhood trauma in adults is one of the core presentations Colleen works with. Complex trauma, attachment injury, family-of-origin patterns, and the lasting impact of childhood adversity. Note: Colleen does not treat children or teens — adults only.
What if I don’t want to talk about the trauma in detail?
You don’t have to. Trauma-informed work doesn’t require you to narrate the trauma in full to make progress. Colleen works on the patterns, the activation, and the present-day impact — without forcing detailed retelling. Some clients eventually want to talk through specifics; others do not.
What if I’ve tried trauma therapy before and it didn’t work?
That’s common — and worth talking about on the free 15-minute call. Maybe the fit was off, maybe the modality wasn’t right, maybe it was not the right time. Colleen asks what you’ve tried to avoid repetition.
RELATED SPECIALTIES
Anxiety Therapy in NJ · Depression Therapy in NJ · Grief & Loss Counseling in NJ
READY TO START?
Schedule your free 15-minute consultation
Trauma work doesn’t have to start with a long story. It starts with a 15-minute conversation about whether we’re a fit — for you, for your nervous system, for now.