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Relationship Trauma Therapist · LA

Relationship trauma therapist in LA. Susan Quinn Therapist, LMFT Attachment-Focused EMDR for relational harm, betrayal, narcissistic and abusive relationship recovery, and the patterns that won’t quit on their own.

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AF-EMDR

Attachment-Focused Approach

Betrayal · Abuse · Loss

Relational Trauma Targets

Pattern-Level

Repair, Not Just Coping

What relationship trauma actually is

The Harm didn't end When the Relationship Did.

Most people seeking anxiety therapy have already tried coping tools, mindfulness, or medication yet the anxiety keeps returning because it isn’t just a thinking problem. It’s a nervous system response shaped by stress, fear, or past experiences.

My approach focuses on calming the body’s alarm system, not just managing thoughts. Using EMDR, nervous system regulation, and trauma-informed therapy, we work to reduce chronic vigilance so your mind and body can finally feel safe again.

What-relationship-trauma-actually-is
What relationship trauma therapy addresses

The Relational Injuries this
Practice Works with.

Betrayal trauma. 

Betrayal trauma. 

Infidelity, deception, the discovery that the relationship you thought you were in was something else.

Narcissistic and emotionally abusive relationships.

Narcissistic and emotionally abusive relationships.

Recovery from coercive control, gaslighting, chronic emotional invalidation.

Domestic violence recovery.

Domestic violence recovery.

The trauma left behind by physical, sexual, or pattern-of-coercive-control abuse.

High-conflict divorce and breakups. 

High-conflict divorce and breakups. 

Acute loss, identity disruption, and the trauma layered into prolonged separation.

Family-of-origin wounds. 

Family-of-origin wounds. 

Patterns from caregivers — neglect, enmeshment, parentification, emotional unavailability.

Attachment patterns in current relationships. 

Attachment patterns in current relationships. 

Anxious, avoidant, or disorganised attachment expressing itself now.

Unsafe friendships and chosen-family rupture.

Unsafe friendships and chosen-family rupture.

The trauma of being abandoned, betrayed, or harmed by people you trusted outside romantic relationships.
Is this practice the right fit?

Where Relationship Trauma
Therapy Tends to Help.

My approach to relationship trauma is specialised primarily AF-EMDR and trauma-informed individual therapy. Here’s the honest fit picture.

This may be a good fit if

  • You're recovering from a specific relational harm betrayal, abuse, sudden loss.
  • You see the same patterns showing up across relationships and want to change that.
  • You've left a narcissistic or emotionally abusive relationship and need help putting yourself back together.
  • Earlier family-of-origin material is showing up in current relationships.
  • You want individual work focused on you not couples therapy.
  • You're willing to do trauma work, not just talk about the relationship.

Another option may fit better if

  • You're looking for couples therapy that's a different modality.
  • You're still in an actively unsafe relationship safety needs to come first.
  • You're seeking only short-term, surface coping strategies.
  • You're looking for legal, financial, or advocacy support those need different specialists.
Relationship trauma therapy - Common Questions

What People Ask First.

What is relationship trauma?

Relationship trauma is the lingering nervous-system and psychological impact of relational harm — betrayal, infidelity, emotional abuse, narcissistic relationships, sudden breakups, prolonged conflict, or the accumulated weight of being unsafe with someone you loved. It can also include earlier relational wounds — caregivers, family dynamics, formative friendships — that shaped how you do closeness now.

No. This is individual therapy for the impact relational harm has had on you — your sense of self, your nervous system, your patterns. Couples therapy is a different modality with a different focus. I’m happy to refer you to qualified couples therapists if that’s what you’re looking for.

Yes — particularly Attachment-Focused EMDR (AF-EMDR). Standard EMDR processes specific events well; AF-EMDR is specifically built for the relational and developmental layers, which is most of what relationship trauma is. It addresses both the events and the templates they left behind.

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AREAS SERVED

A Brentwood Practice.

With Telehealth Across CA.

My office sits on San Vicente Boulevard in Brentwood minutes from Santa Monica, West LA, and Beverly Hills. For clients across California, telehealth makes the same work possible from home.

Book a free consultation

Brentwood

Primary office · 90049

Santa Monica

20 min · Telehealth

West Los Angeles

20 min · In-person

Beverly Hills

20 min · Telehealth

Pacific Palisades

20 min · Telehealth

Culver City

20 min · Telehealth

Start with a Conversation.

No commitment, no paperwork. A chance to talk through what you’re carrying and see whether EMDR and whether I might be the right fit.

Book a free 20 min consultation