Experienced somatic trauma therapist
Level 3 trained Deep Brain Reorienting (DBR) practitioner
In-person therapy in SE Portland
Telehealth therapy serving all of Oregon and Minnesota
Compassionate Therapy and Trauma-Recovery
Kristine Zappa, MA, LPC
My Approach and Values
Overall, my approach to therapy is to help you move through life in ways that feel more aligned with your values and your deepest sense of self. Using bottom-up approaches, my aim is to support you in making transformational shifts towards a more wholehearted experience of life. I take a gentle, collaborative, and body-based approach in which we work to uncover your body and brain’s own inherent wisdom and capacity for healing.
My work is also informed by a social justice oriented, feminist, and anti-oppression lens and I believe that the systems in which we are a part of impact all areas of our lives, inside and out. I am LGBTQIA+ affirming, sex positive, body/size/ability inclusive and my practice is grounded in an anti-oppression lens. I am deeply honored to support you on your healing journey.
What is Deep Brain Reorienting?
Deep Brain Reorienting (DBR), developed by Frank Corrigan, MD, is a ground-breaking approach to treating trauma, dissociation, and other stress-related conditions. DBR helps relieve underlying symptoms of stress and activation that talk therapy alone cannot address by accessing the deep brain and body mechanisms of the trauma response. DBR has shown clinically-proven results and is designed to be gentler and more efficient than other trauma treatments.
In DBR, the therapist supports and guides the client in accessing midbrain structures that hold shock stored in the system, slowly allowing the brain to process sensations it wasn’t able to in the wake of past overwhelm. DBR often leads to folks feeling a deeper sense of embodiment, connection, and inner clarity as well as relief from long-held emotional pain.