Brainspotting California: Deep Healing for Anxious Overachievers Who Are Ready for Real Change
You're successful on paper, but inside, you're exhausted from the constant internal chaos. The perfectionism, the people-pleasing, the endless self-criticism—it's all become too much. You've tried self-help books. Maybe you've even tried therapy before, but it felt like you were just learning to cope rather than actually healing. If you're ready to go deeper and address the root causes of your anxiety and relationship struggles, Brainspotting therapy might be the breakthrough you've been searching for.
As a certified Brainspotting therapist serving clients in Roseville and throughout California and Texas, I specialize in helping anxious overachievers who are tired of feeling disconnected from their emotions while simultaneously feeling overrun by emotional reactivity. My approach combines Brainspotting with other evidence-based methods to create lasting change—not just temporary relief.
Understanding Brainspotting: A Revolutionary Approach to Healing
Brainspotting is an evidence-based therapeutic method that works with your brain's natural ability to heal itself. Unlike traditional talk therapy that primarily engages the thinking part of your brain, Brainspotting directly accesses the subcortical regions where trauma, emotional pain, and automatic response patterns are stored.
The fundamental principle is both simple and profound: where you look affects how you feel. Your eye positions connect to different areas of your brain where thoughts, emotions, and beliefs are held. By identifying specific eye positions—called "brainspots"—we can access and process stored trauma or emotional pain that traditional therapy might miss.
The Neuroscience Behind Your Healing
When you're stuck in patterns of anxiety, perfectionism, or reactive behavior, your brain is essentially running outdated survival programs. These patterns often originate in your subcortical brain—the deeper, older parts responsible for fight, flight, or freeze responses. Brainspotting creates a direct pathway to these areas, allowing your nervous system to:
- Release "frozen" emotional patterns stored from past experiences
- Process trauma without extensive verbal processing
- Regulate your nervous system naturally
- Create new neural pathways that support healthier responses
Research suggests that Brainspotting can be more effective than other approaches because of its precision in targeting specific neural networks. It works with your brain's neuroplasticity—its ability to reorganize and form new connections throughout your life.
Why Anxious Overachievers Choose Brainspotting
You know the feeling: watching yourself repeat patterns you swore you'd never repeat. Taking things too personally. Reacting in ways that don't match the situation. The constant voice telling you everything is your fault, that you're not good enough, that you need to try harder.
Despite external success, you carry a deep-seated feeling of inadequacy. You're tired of being disconnected from your emotions, yet paradoxically feeling controlled by emotional reactivity. You seek connection but struggle to allow yourself to truly have it. You busy yourself to avoid feeling or dealing with your internal world.
Brainspotting offers something different. Rather than teaching you more coping strategies or asking you to endlessly analyze your childhood, it helps your brain naturally process and release what's been holding you back. Many of my clients experience significant shifts within the first few sessions, finding relief they hadn't experienced in years of traditional therapy.
Breaking Free from Perfectionism and People-Pleasing
Perfectionism and people-pleasing aren't character flaws—they're survival strategies your nervous system developed to keep you safe. Maybe growing up, being perfect meant avoiding criticism. Maybe pleasing others meant securing love and acceptance. These strategies worked then, but now they're exhausting you.
Through Brainspotting, we access the subcortical brain where these patterns are stored. By processing the original experiences that created these adaptations, your nervous system can finally update its programming. You'll move from constantly needing external validation to finding genuine self-acceptance and inner calm.
Healing Trauma Without Reliving It
One of the most powerful aspects of Brainspotting is that it allows you to process trauma without having to verbally recount every detail. For many anxious overachievers, the idea of talking about painful experiences feels overwhelming or even retraumatizing.
Brainspotting works differently. By maintaining your gaze on a specific point, your brain naturally begins to process and release stored trauma. You remain in control throughout the process, and your body's innate wisdom guides the healing. It's a gentle yet powerful way to finally put painful experiences to rest.
Specialized Approaches for Deep, Lasting Change
My training and expertise allow me to offer a comprehensive approach to healing that goes beyond surface-level symptom management. Each method I use is specifically chosen to help anxious overachievers create real, lasting transformation.
Accelerated Resolution Therapy: Rapid Relief from Persistent Patterns
As a Certified Master ART Practitioner, I incorporate Accelerated Resolution Therapy to help you quickly move past trauma and anxiety. Accelerated Resolution Therapy works by helping your brain re-file distressing memories so they no longer trigger intense emotional responses. Many clients experience significant relief in just a few sessions with Accelerated Resolution Therapy.
This approach is particularly effective for:
- Single-incident traumas that continue to haunt you
- Persistent anxiety that doesn't respond to logic
- Specific phobias or triggers
- Recurring nightmares or intrusive thoughts
When we combine Accelerated Resolution Therapy with Brainspotting, the results can be transformative. You're not just learning to cope—you're actually resolving the root causes of your distress.
Relational Life Therapy for Couples: Beyond Communication Issues
For couples, I specialize in Relational Life Therapy (RLT), a powerful approach that goes deeper than typical communication exercises. Many couples come to me thinking they have "communication problems," but what's really happening is that unconscious patterns and automatic responses are sabotaging their connection.
Relational Life Therapy works through three distinct phases:
Phase 1: Understanding Your Dance We identify your specific conflict pattern—the repetitive cycle that keeps you disconnected. We examine each partner's contribution to escalation (it's not always 50-50, and I will take sides when needed). We establish clear goals for what success looks like and amplify both the consequences of not changing and the possibilities that await when you do.
Phase 2: Healing the Past This is where we address the trauma and past experiences that fuel your reactive patterns. We explore how your childhood adaptations, while protective then, are now damaging your relationship. Using Brainspotting and Accelerated Resolution Therapy, we process these experiences directly and efficiently—this isn't a long, drawn-out exploration but focused work with clear connections to today's challenges.
Phase 3: Building New Skills We teach specific skills, including the feedback wheel—a structured approach that allows one partner to bring up an issue and communicate their experience while the other listens to understand and offers repair. Unlike other approaches, this isn't about both parties being understood equally; it's about creating a clear pathway to resolution.
For couples, I recommend 80-minute sessions, typically every two weeks, with an initial three-month commitment to see significant progress.
Financial Therapy: Healing Money Anxiety
Money anxiety is particularly common among high achievers in California. The pressure to succeed financially, combined with the high cost of living, creates a perfect storm of stress that infiltrates every aspect of life and relationships.
Financial therapy isn't just about budgeting—it's about understanding and healing your relationship with money. We explore the beliefs, fears, and patterns you've inherited around finances, then use Brainspotting to process the emotional charge behind money-related anxiety. This integrated approach helps you find peace with finances while building practical strategies for financial wellbeing.
Your Personalized Healing Journey
When you begin working with me, you're not getting a one-size-fits-all approach. Your healing journey is customized to your specific needs, challenges, and goals.
Comprehensive Intake Process
I use a comprehensive intake packet that includes detailed assessments to gauge where you are and track your progress. Our first session focuses on:
- Understanding your background and contributing factors
- Identifying your specific goals for therapy
- Creating a customized treatment plan
- Making recommendations for additional support if needed
I look at you as a whole person within the systems you exist in—family, work, culture—to create a truly holistic plan. This thorough approach ensures we're addressing not just symptoms but root causes.
Flexible Treatment Options
Treatment is tailored to what works best for you:
- Weekly sessions for intensive support during challenging periods
- Extended sessions (80-90 minutes) every other week for deeper processing
- Standing appointments for consistency or flexible scheduling as needed
- Intensive sessions for focused, accelerated healing
Many clients benefit from incorporating Brainspotting and Accelerated Resolution Therapy early in treatment, creating quick wins that build motivation and momentum for deeper work.
Progress Tracking and Goal Updates
At 3-6 months, we reassess using detailed measurements to determine progress and identify areas needing continued focus. We regularly update goals to ensure we're on track together. This isn't therapy that goes on indefinitely without clear direction—it's focused work with measurable outcomes.
The Brainspotting Process: What to Expect
A typical Brainspotting session unfolds through several gentle phases:
Grounding and Resourcing We begin by ensuring you feel safe and stable. Through simple exercises, you'll become more present in your body, creating a solid foundation for deeper work.
Locating Your Brainspot Together, we identify the specific issue you want to address, then find the eye position that connects to where this issue is held in your nervous system. This gives us direct access to the stored emotional charge.
Focused Processing You maintain your gaze on the identified spot while your brain naturally processes and releases stored tension. You might notice physical sensations, emotions, memories, or insights arising. Throughout this process, you remain in control while I provide steady, supportive presence.
Integration and Closing We gently conclude the session, ensuring you feel grounded and stable. We discuss any shifts or insights that emerged, making sure you're ready to integrate these changes into daily life.
Intensive Retreats for Accelerated Healing
Sometimes you need concentrated focus on your healing without daily distractions. Intensive Brainspotting retreats offer a powerful opportunity for rapid, deep transformation.
Customized Intensive Treatment Plans
Each intensive is tailored specifically to you. After an initial consultation to ensure this approach is right for you, we create a detailed plan mixing Brainspotting, Accelerated Resolution Therapy, and focused talk therapy. These intensives are designed to achieve in days what might typically take months of weekly sessions.
Investment for intensive sessions ranges from $300-$500 per session, with packages customized to your specific needs and goals.
Accessible Services Throughout California and Texas
I understand that finding time for therapy can be challenging, especially for busy professionals. That's why I offer multiple ways to access support:
In-Person Therapy in Roseville
For those who prefer face-to-face connection, I offer in-person sessions at my Roseville location. The focused environment of in-person work can be particularly powerful for deep processing.
Virtual Sessions Across California and Texas
Online Brainspotting is just as effective as in-person work. All you need is:
- Stable internet connection
- Private, quiet space
- Comfortable headphones
Virtual sessions make this transformative work accessible regardless of your location in California or Texas, allowing you to heal from the comfort and safety of your own space.
Taking the First Step Toward Real Change
You've accomplished so much, yet inside, you're exhausted from the constant striving, the self-criticism, the feeling that nothing is ever enough. You're ready to stop just coping and start truly healing.
The path forward isn't about trying harder or being more perfect. It's about addressing the root causes of your patterns, updating your nervous system's programming, and finally experiencing the calm and connection you've been seeking.
As a certified Brainspotting therapist and Certified Master ART Practitioner, I'm here to guide you through this transformative process. With specialized training in Relational Life Therapy for couples and financial therapy for money-related anxiety, I offer comprehensive support for all aspects of your healing.
You don't have to continue living with constant internal chaos. Real change is possible, and it starts with reaching out.
Ready to Begin Your Healing Journey?
If you're an anxious overachiever tired of the constant internal struggle, if you're ready to go deeper than surface-level coping strategies, if you want to finally address the root causes of your patterns—I'm here to help.
Contact me today to schedule your initial consultation. Together, we'll create a customized plan for your healing, whether through weekly sessions, intensive retreats, or virtual support.
Audrey Schoen, LMFT, is a certified Brainspotting therapist and Certified Master ART Practitioner specializing in helping anxious overachievers heal from trauma, perfectionism, and relationship challenges. With advanced training in Relational Life Therapy and financial therapy, she offers comprehensive support for individuals and couples ready for deep, transformative change.