Trauma-Informed Therapy for Anxiety and Panic After Major Life Changes
in Seattle, Bellevue, and all of Washington State
When ANXIETY TOOK OVER AFTER A LIFE CHANGE
A CALM PLACE TO SETTLE.
YOUR ANXIETY AND PANIC AREN’T SIGNS THAT YOU ARE BROKEN - THEY ARE YOUR NERVOUS SYSTEM ASKING FOR HELP TO SETTLE, UNDERSTAND WHAT HAPPENED, AND RESTORE A SENSE OF STEADINESS.
I offer a free virtual 30-minute consultation so we can see f my work is a good fit for you.
SOMETIMES ANXIETY
DOESN’T COME OUT OF
NOWHERE
It begins after a major life change — a loss, a divorce, a medical event, a sudden responsibility, or a season that required you to be strong for too long. You may still be functioning, still showing up, but internally something feels off. Anxiety or panic may have taken over in ways that don’t make sense yet.
You may be asking yourself:
“What if this means I’m broken, failing, or losing my mind?”
“What if the people who hurt me were right about me?”
“What if I am not as capable as I thought?”
If you’re wondering why this is happening now, you’re not alone - and you’re not failing.
Your reactions make sense. It means your nervous system is asking for safety, understanding, and a place to land.
You are a sane person responding to something that was not okay.
You don’t need to be fixed here — you need safety, clarity, and a place where your experience makes sense.
We can start with a conversation that helps you feel grounded and less alone.
I invite you to schedule a 30-minute free virtual consultation and see whether this feels like the right next step for you.
WHY ANXIETY OFTEN FOLLOWS BIG LIFE SHIFTS
Major life changes place real demands on the nervous system.
Even changes that don’t seem “traumatic” can overwhelm your internal sense of stability — especially if you’ve spent years being capable, responsible, or emotionally contained. Anxiety and panic often emerge when your system finally has space to register what it’s been carrying.
This doesn’t mean you’re weak.
It means something meaningful happened.
WHO THIS WORK is for
This page may resonate for you if:
Anxiety or panic began after a significant life change
You don’t fully relate to the word trauma, but something still feels unsettled
You’ve always been the one who handles things
You feel emotionally or physically exhausted in a new way
You’re questioning yourself more than you used to
If parts of this sound familiar, you’re in the right place.nd panic after trauma don’t mean something has gone wrong inside you. They’re signs that your nervous system has been pushed beyond what it could safely handle.
Some people eventually realize that what they experienced wasn’t “just stress.”
They recognize
moments of fear, loss, or emotional harm
that required them to override themselves
in order to survive.
When this happens, anxiety often begins to make more sense — not as a disorder, but as a response.
If you’re noticing anxiety alongside self-doubt, panic, or a fear that something is wrong with you, you may want to read more here:ur nervous system begins to settle, people often notice a gradual shift rather than a dramatic change.
There is nothing wrong with you. - When Anxiety Appears After Trauma (click here)
Who I WORK WITH
This work may be a good fit if you are:
A high-achieving, high-functioning adult who has held it together for a long time
Experiencing anxiety, panic attacks, or emotional overwhelm
Struggling after a traumatic event, loss, betrayal, or major life change
Feeling like you “can’t hold it together” the way you used to
You worry that this collapse means you’re weak, broken, or “crazy”
Quietly wondering if this means something is wrong with you
You just want things to make sense again
You don’t need a diagnosis or a clear story for therapy to help.
If you recognize yourself here, you’re not alone — and you’re not failing. What you’re experiencing is a common response when capable people are pushed beyond what they were meant to carry on their own.
Therapy with me is for people who want a space to slow down, understand what happened, and rebuild steadiness and self-trust through active, engaged work — not by being talked at or reassured, but by working directly with their inner experience.
This work may not be the right fit if you’re looking for therapy that is primarily conversational or passive, or if you’re hoping someone else will fix what’s happening for you. My approach is structured and depth-oriented, and works best for people who bring curiosity, insight, and a willingness to take responsibility for their own healing process.
My intention is to offer a grounded, relational space where your experience is taken seriously — and where meaningful change happens through collaboration, presence, and careful attention to what your nervous system is asking for.
A first step doesn’t have to be a big one. Just a place to start.
CH
Welcome to Phoenix Rises Counseling LLC.
Hi, I am Veronika Stutz, LMHC.
I immigrated to the United States from Germany in my early twenties. Growing up, I was surrounded by adults whose lives had been deeply shaped by the aftermath of World War II. My parents were children during the war, and the effects of trauma were woven quietly into everyday life.
I remember how easily adults became overwhelmed — how something as small as a fork falling off a table could trigger a sudden, intense reaction that was hard to settle. As a child, I assumed this was simply how adults were. It wasn’t until I came to the U.S. that I realized I had grown up inside a culture where many nervous systems were still carrying unprocessed fear.
That early experience gave me a lived understanding of something I now see clearly in my work: trauma doesn’t always announce itself. It often shows up as heightened reactivity, anxiety, or a body that can’t settle — long after the original danger has passed.
This is part of why I approach therapy the way I do. I don’t rush people. I don’t assume pathology. I understand that intense reactions are often the legacy of something real — something that once required survival.
I’m a licensed therapist with training in trauma-informed care and EMDR, and I work primarily with adults in private-pay therapy. More important to me than credentials is how I show up: steady, attuned, and respectful of your experience. I believe therapy should restore a sense of reality and calm — not take it away.
Why EMDR Works with My Approach
I believe healing happens through real human connection — not through sterile professionalism or endless clinical jargon. When you’re in my office, you’re sitting with a real person. I’ll meet you where you are, without judgment or pretense. Sometimes that means we’ll talk deeply about pain and meaning, and sometimes we’ll use humor to make the hard moments a little easier to bear.
I don’t see you as “broken.” I see a nervous system that’s been doing its best to protect you — even if those old strategies don’t work anymore. Together, we’ll help your system learn that it’s finally safe to let go.
If it fits for you, we utilize EMDR to engage the innate adaptability of your brain and nervous system for natural healing.
My approach to EMDR is integrative and personalized. While the Adaptive Processing Model of EMDR is at the heart of trauma work, we also draw from the Rogerian Person-Centered Approach, Internal Family Systems (IFS), Ego State interventions, Gestalt Therapy, Polyvagal Theory, Attachment Theories, and Mindfulness.
Together, these perspectives allow us to work not only with the memories but also with the parts of you that hold pain, survival strategies, and resilience—creating a deeper, safer, and more lasting transformation
You won’t have to tell your story over and over again or re-live the worst moments of your life. Instead, we’ll work with your nervous system to gently reprocess what’s been stuck, so the memories lose their charge — and you can finally feel grounded, present, and more you.
Clients often tell me that sessions feel surprisingly calm, even when we’re moving through painful material. EMDR allows healing to unfold in a way that feels natural, safe, and integrated — not forced.
My approach is part neuroscience, part soul work. I bring both structure and humanity into the room. You bring your courage, curiosity, and truth. Together, we create the conditions your system needs to finally rest and heal.
Always at your pace, on your timing, and with your consent.
WORKING TOGETHER -
THIS IS WHAT IT MAY LOOK LIKE
1) Preparation: ASSESSMENT, DIAGNOSIS, TREATMENT PLAN
Generally, we will meet 1-2x per week for 60-90 minutes at your appointed time.
For the first 2 sessions, we meet for 90 minutes to complete an assessment together, identify a diagnosis if you want one (unless you’re an insurance client, then we must add a diagnosis), identify your goals, and make a treatment plan.
2) The beginning stage: Playing puzzle
We get to know each other until we know and trust each other. Since we don’t want to waste any time, we’ll start by spilling all the puzzle pieces of your life on the table. We’ll look at each piece and see how they all fit together until we have a coherent picture.
We’ll start an EMDR case conceptualization and possibly do a brief demo of how EMDR works.
We may use Gestalt therapy/parts work/Ego States therapy. You’ll playfully give different personality parts, thoughts, feelings, or memories a voice until your entire inner committee feels heard and understood. It’s a bit like role-playing or theater, and it saves you from “talking about it”. You’ll just … spill it. I’ll show you and support you, and we make it fun. Of course, I’ll always be open to your feedback, and you don’t have to use interventions you don’t like.
We may learn cognitive-behavioral strategies and behavioral supports as necessary, such as learning Dialectical Behavior Therapy skills by workbook or groups, or creating action-plans to begin changing habits.
We’ll engage in EMDR resourcing, which means strengthening the part of you that is wise, capable, skilled, heroic, resilient, and so very lovable and worthy.
3) The intermediate stage: Detective work
We’ll start the detective work of seeking the needle in the haystack, which we do by riding feelings back in time to the earliest time you remember feeling this way. We may give parts a voice again to find out what “decisions” you made about life at a time when you were too young to know the final truth about life. We’ll identify limiting beliefs that may have kept you safe at the time but are no longer needed.
We’ll identify negative core beliefs about yourself that are associated to traumatic experiences.
From here, we’ll either continue parts work and engage in Healing of Memories or self-parenting, move into EMDR processing, or alternate and mix modalities depending on what works best for you.
4) The end stage: The Harvest
We continue EMDR processing until you report no symptoms, we see behaviors change positively, you reached your goals, we measure your progress on a scale from 0-10, and we determine that you have achieved significant change.
When we are certain that you are satisfied with the improvements, we switch to bi-weekly therapy sessions to taper off and see how you do on your own. After a month or so, we’ll officially end therapy and switch to voluntary wellness visits. This means that you can schedule irregular single sessions to check in.
the FREE CONSULTATION
1) Click on the “Schedule Your Free Consultation” button. It will take you to my secure client platform Simple Practice, where you can schedule a meeting. You can also email me directly at vivi@phoenixrisescounseling.org, or use the contact form to ask for a meeting time that is not listed. I may be able to see you earlier if someone cancels.
2) I will either confirm your consultation through Simple Practice, or email you additional availabilities.
3) You will receive an email from Simple Practice, giving you access to the portal. For a consultation, please fill out the Informed Consent for a Telehealth Consultation form. (Simple Practice is so easy to navigate, even I can do it.) If you run into problems, email me.
4) A few hours before your appointment, Simple Practice will send you an email with a link to access the virtual consultation. Try the link ahead of time. Some cell phones require you to download an app. Desktops or laptops won’t.
5) We’ll meet! I will ask you what brings you into therapy and what your goals are. You can ask me anything and I will do my best to address your concerns. We will connect informally to get to know each other, but observe professional boundaries.
What others are saying
about my work
I sometimes hear that this work has ‘changed lives”, “exceeded expectations” and made clients feel “heard and understood like they haven’t before.”
Colleagues who recommend me wrote:
“Veronika is a compassionate and caring EMDR practitioner. She is innately tuned into the needs of her clients. I recommend her to men and women who have experienced abusive childhoods and/or relationships and are yearning for big life changes.“
“Also, X shared how impactful you have been to her over the past year and it was so touching. It made my eyes fill up with tears thinking of how meaningful your work is in this world. You truly are a lovely, kind and compassionate soul.” Ellie Kane, LMHC
“Veronika is a highly skilled, warm, and caring therapist. She has extensive experience treating grief and CPTSD and is an expert in treating poly, kink, and ENM couples and individuals. She excels at helping her clients achieve their goals.“ Milena Gordillo, MSW, LICSW
FEE SCHEDULE
60-minute therapy/EMDR: $160
90-minute therapy/EMDR: $240
90-minute IADC therapy: $250
60-minute couples counseling: $180
90-minute couples counseling: $270
I offer out-of-network benefits and I will provide superbills for insurance reimbursement.
PLEASE NOTE:
Insurance doesn’t pay or reimburse for IADC.
I accept Aetna, Kaiser PPO, and First Choice Health.
I offer Premera out-of-network benefits. Please feel free to inquire about details.
CONTACT ME
Take your time. Share only what feels comfortable. This is simply a first point of contact — not a commitment.
You can email me at: vivi@phoenixrisescounseling.org
You can also request an appointment directly in my Simple Practice schedule by using the red button ”Request Appointment”.
A Good Faith Estimate is available upon request.
My license number in Washington state is LH 61526615.