Has survival mode become a way of life ?
Somatically-informed trauma therapy for adults who are used to being the steady one.
You are perceptive, capable, and almost automatically track what’s needed around you.
You’ve learned how to function in your family, your career, and your community. You can lead when others hesitate, and somehow keep moving forward under pressure.
But something feels off. Your anxiety doesn’t quite make sense. Your reactions can feel intense or difficult to explain. You keep showing up for everyone else, yet privately you feel tense, reactive, or quietly exhausted.
You don’t have to perform strength here.
What makes this different:
Many people arrive here after years of insight-oriented therapy. They understand their history, have tried affirmations, explored retreats, and practiced meditation — yet the same patterns persist.
NARM is experiential and present-focused. Instead of endlessly analyzing the past, we pay attention to what is happening right now — in your body, your emotions, and the beliefs organizing your experience.
We’re not trying to fix you. We’re interested in how your patterns are actually working — and what they’re costing you.
As core emotional experience is allowed and integrated, the system reorganizes naturally. Change comes from clarity and contact, not from pushing harder.
Who this work is for:
This work is for adults who have long been the steady one. You read the room quickly, take responsibility without being asked, and rarely create problems for others.
You may be the first in your family to do things differently. A parent trying not to pass on what you inherited. A queer professional who learned early how to adapt in rooms that weren’t built for you. Someone holding a diagnosis, a genetic result, or a season of uncertainty while still packing lunches, leading meetings, and keeping everyone else afloat.
Over time, that outward orientation can leave you disconnected from your own internal signals. Anxiety becomes familiar. Emotional flooding feels confusing. You may struggle to identify what you need — only what others need from you.
There is nothing wrong with you. Your nervous system did exactly what it needed to do.
Now we make room for something else.
Medical and hereditary stress:
When medical decisions enter the picture, those same survival patterns intensify.
Research becomes relentless. Responsibility expands. The pressure to stay strong and informed can override grief and fear moving underneath the surface.
If you’re navigating cancer, high risk genetic mutations, IVF decisions, surgical timing, or survivorship, you may find yourself functioning remarkably well while feeling anything but steady inside.
In this work, we slow it down. We make room for what hasn’t had room. So you can move forward connected to your whole self — not just the competent part.
Working together
Therapy here is deliberate and relational. We move thoughtfully and with precision, paying attention to patterns as they arise in real time — without forcing insight or dramatic catharsis.
Nothing is rushed. Nothing is bypassed.
If you’re ready for therapy that moves beyond coping skills and into real integration, I invite you to schedule a consultation.
Hi, I’m Sara Champie, LCSW.
I’m a NARM Master Therapist, and my work addresses developmental trauma at its roots so that responsiveness becomes choice, not compulsion. I work with people who want more than coping — they want to feel alive again and make sense of what they’ve inherited, not just endured. Much of my work is with people carrying genetic mutations, navigating cancer, or living inside the constant decision-making, uncertainty, and grief that comes with hereditary risk.
You didn’t choose this. And you don’t have to be inspirational, grateful, or “good” about it here. This is a space where you can say the unpopular things, step out of people-pleasing, and set down the shame — without being told what you should do next.
Three ways we can connect
Individual Support
For California-based clients seeking one-on-one support. Therapy with me is a space to work gently and deeply with the emotional, somatic, and relational impact of trauma and long-term stress. Together, we explore how survival patterns, anxiety, and grief live in the body — and how to rebuild a sense of steadiness, agency, and connection.
Group Programs
An intimate space to connect with others who want to do the deep dive—who want to explore their process, not just their outcomes. With weekly topics, these groups offer community, shared understanding, and guided support for the emotional, relational, and generational challenges of carrying hereditary cancer risk.
Podcast
Conversations about navigating hereditary cancer risk. Join us to talk about life between the scans, and how finding out you have a genetic mutation can be a portal to emotional, relational and intergenerational healing.
