Complex Trauma Therapy
With Jennifer Dodd, LMFT
Complex trauma inspired me to become a therapist — living through my own and learning to heal it. These are the clients I love working with most.
Does the world often feel unsafe?
Is it hard to trust other people even when part of you wants to?
Does your mind know your safe but the body goes into turbo?
Trauma shows up in relationships and the patterns you keep repeating.
Some clients come in struggling with low self-esteem, emotional ups and downs, hypervigilance, or using substances to cope. Maybe something that happened in the past still has your nervous system responding as though it’s happening now.
Complex trauma focused therapy helps you understand those patterns and work toward responding differently.
Clients Come To Me With:
Feeling stuck
Relationship struggles + patterns
Overusing substances to cope
Emotional ups and downs / Mood swings
Hypervigilance / Constant high alert
Trouble trusting / Isolation and withdrawal from others
Vulnerability
Repeating unhealthy patterns
Shame and guilt
People-pleasing
Numbness and emptiness
Flashbacks
Chronic Pain
How My Complex Trauma Therapy Works
Therapy with me combines depth-oriented work with practical tools. We’ll look at what happened, how it shaped the patterns that affect your relationships, and what continues to affect your emotions, relationships, and sense of safety.
Our therapy work is collaborative. We’ll use therapy to understand the roots of your patterns while also building emotional regulation and a stronger sense of what you want.
Modalities I Use
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We explore patterns connected to earlier experiences and relationships to help you understand why certain responses continue to show up.
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We work with attachment-related trauma and experiences that continue to affect you to support a greater sense of safety in your body.
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We identify and challenge unhelpful thoughts and support stronger self-esteem and more balanced responses to stress.
What Helped You Survive Doesn’t Have To Keep Running The Show
The protections you created to cope made sense at the time. Therapy helps you understand those patterns, build new responses, and have more choice in how you show up.
After Working With Me
Clients report:
Easier time with boundaries
Healthier partners
Speaking up more
Know what they want + how to go for it
The body has calmed down
Fewer repeating patterns
Just feeling more confident
Have a path forward
Progress looks like knowing what you want, speaking up more clearly, choosing healthier relationships, and feeling safer in your own body.
“What the world calls a symptom or a destructive habit, I view as a deeply intelligent, desperate attempt to survive unmanageable internal pain.”
About Jennifer Dodd
Hi, I’m Jennifer Dodd, LMFT.
I understand complex trauma not only through my clinical work, but through my own experience of living through it and learning how to heal. Those experiences are part of what inspired me to become a therapist.
I look at complex trauma alongside any other diagnoses like anxiety, ADHD, or attachment because these concerns impact and feed into each other. We’ll work together to understand your history, your patterns, and what’s happening in the present without treating you like a collection of separate problems.
If you’re ready to take the first step, I’d love to meet with you and see if we’re a fit.
Availability: I provide in-person therapy in West Side LA, and virtual therapy via telehealth for clients across California.
Education, Credentials, & Trainings
M.A. in Clinical Psychology with an emphasis in MFT & Psychological Trauma - Antioch University (Higher Learning Commission (HLC) Accredited)
Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT) - California Board of Behavioral Sciences - LMFT #158776
Clinical Training - Stori Marriage & Family Therapy Corp. - Associate Marriage and Family Therapist
Clinical Training - Well Baby Center - Associate Marriage and Family Therapist - Clinical Internship Program in infant-family and maternal mental health
Clinical Training - Maple Counseling Center - Marriage and Family Therapist Intern - Adult Program
ADHD-Certified Clinical Services Provider (ADHD-CCSP) - Evergreen Certifications, 2026
Attachment-Focused EMDR (AF-EMDR) in training (completed basic parts 1 & 2) - The Parnell Institute - Trained by Julie Probus-Schad, LCSW, 2026
BrainSpotting Phase 1 Trained - Trained by Kelly Larson, 2025
Certificate in Child and Adolescent Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy - New Center for Psychoanalysis, 2025
3 Steps To Get Started
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Fill out the contact form and tell me a little about what brings you to therapy.
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We’ll talk about what you’re looking for and whether working together is a good fit.
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We’ll begin learning about your history, current concerns, and what you want to change.