it has changed me in every tiny little way, right down to how my lungs take in and release air.

Debilitating panic attacks brought me to Carla for ART. I realized my experiences were out of proportion, that despite my high degree of self-awareness, off the chart amounts of discipline, my deeply rooted faith and regardless of my actual circumstances, I was simply unable to cope with the simplest conversation around my triggers, even with events that weren’t related to me at all. Once triggered I suffered from intense stomach cramps, sweating, elevated heart rate, insomnia, hypervigilance, and a pervasive sense of dread that could last for days. This was taxing on my most intimate relationships, left me feeling like an inadequate spouse and siphoned joy from my life. I had seen other therapists in the past, I was more than willing to do whatever was necessary to find help. ART seemed like a good option because it isn’t meant to drag on forever. Not that I wasn’t willing to talk my way through it, but over time, the talking process was costly and hadn’t made anything better. After only 3 sessions we got to the root of the trauma. How can so much change so quickly and so gently!?

ART was practically painless, certainly less painful than everything I’d carried around my whole life.

In fact, we laughed most of the way through the experience!

The revelations were crazy and amazing and yet made perfect sense. They came in bite sized little glimpses; slightly hazy recollections that just needed to be noticed. In my case, the trauma went so far back that I basically have no thoughts or experiences that haven’t been touched by it. We were able to get all the way back there. I found healing not only for the problem that plagued me, but through ART, my entire identity has been reformed. Before this work I lived as an “inconvenient burden” to my family. This belief created the primary goal of my life, to make myself as minimal as possible. I lived so small, so unimpactful. I was so afraid to completely exhale, afraid to lean too heavily on anyone, including Jesus. Never wanting to be a bother or an inconvenience, resenting every need I had and loathing each of my desires. I was desperate to earn my keep and cover more than my share, leaving me feeling anxious, unknown, unappreciated, and exhausted.

After ART, I can have the important logistical conversations life requires, but more importantly, I can now let go. I can exhale and not feel this guilt for my next breath, but gratitude for it instead! I can live and breathe deeply and joyfully with great pleasure and peace. I believe I can be truly known and fully loved in a way that had always evaded me. I can step into my life for the first time, not feeling like I’m on eggshells. It’s unknown yet in what great ways ART will permanently change me, but I do know it has changed me in every tiny little way, right down to how my lungs take in and release air. Every single breath, all day long and all through the night, carries with it a contentment and a well-being that I have never known before.

Carla is so fantastic! You get the feeling that you’ve known her forever, that you can’t tell her anything that she hasn’t heard before and that she is wide open to walking through this process with you. Her enthusiasm for our good creation and genuine desire to see healing for you are her greatest attributes.

If you have a nagging experience that you just can’t shake, even if you can’t describe it, even if you can’t make any sense of it (maybe especially if you can’t make any sense of it), when it feels like no amount of talking is going to change anything, when you can’t convince yourself with logic, when no one else can say what you need to hear (and even if they did you wouldn’t believe them), when you have no actual evidence or proof but you know something is definitely there that needs to go, give Accelerated Resolution Therapy a try ( ART).

“As a ‘trauma momma’, I have been on a journey for almost a year to help my teen deal with years of historical abuse that had been fairly recently disclosed. At that point, we had tried it all—talk therapy, DBT therapy, ketamine, hypnotherapy—you name it. Nothing was helping and, if I’m to be honest, talking about her trauma was making it worse.

I discovered ART via a friend and plunged headfirst into understanding it. I watched the YouTube videos, read Laney’s book and called Laney and her partner and spoke to them for an hour. We flew up to Hartford and my girl did a session with her. She did NOT want to do it, but once we got there and Laney took her in, she understood that she didn’t need to talk about her story—she simply needed to hold it in her mind and follow the cues.

She went into that session a hot mess, but came out an hour later, looked at me said, “Mom, I can do ANYTHING. I know that now.” It was a miracle. Laney explained that even she doesn’t fully understand how it works, but she DOES know that it tricks the limbic system into attaching different physical responses to a trauma experience that replaces the negative ones that show up autonomically. The impact was nothing short of miraculous. In one session, my daughter was able to revisit memories that triggered self-loathing, self-harming and shame and embrace that what happened was not her fault. One session. This therapy modality is a gift from God, and it may have saved her life.”