HOLISTIC TRAUMA THERAPY® | Pasadena & Throughout California
They Called it AMBITION. Your Nervous System called it SURVIVAL.
Full-spectrum trauma therapy in Pasadena and throughout California for the wounds that learned to look like achievement.
Full-spectrum Trauma Therapy in Pasadena and throughout California for the Wounds that Learned to look like Achievement.
Holistic Trauma Therapy® is led by Chief Traumatologist Seema Sharma, SEP, LMFT — a former Fortune 500 senior leader turned trauma clinician who brings together holistic EMDR, Somatic Experiencing, depth-oriented psychotherapy, and consciousness studies to help high-achieving professionals, survivors, and culturally complex clients return to themselves. Insight. Embodiment. Transformation.
or call (626) 605-1785
Success can hide a lot of pain.
From the outside, you may look accomplished, capable, and composed. Others may see you as the driven one, the dependable one, the person who always seems to hold everything together.
Do you feel empty, alone, or as if you are just going through the motions of life?
But inside, it may feel very different. You may feel exhausted, lonely in relationships, disconnected from yourself and others, or painfully hard on yourself in ways no one sees. You may understand your patterns intellectually, yet your body still feels tense, guarded, or braced for something to go wrong. You may know you are safe now, but still struggle to feel safe inside.
Maybe you learned early that love felt more secure when you were helpful, successful, easy to be with, or not too much for anyone. Over time, those survival strategies can become perfectionism, people-pleasing, overthinking, over-functioning, and the quiet ache of always appearing “okay.”
You are not broken.
The patterns you carry once protected you. They were intelligent. They were necessary. But they may now be keeping you from feeling close, grounded, and fully alive.
You do not have to keep performing while feeling alone inside. Reach out, and let’s explore a different way.
If you are looking for a practice with the background to understand you…
…you’re in the right place.
Hi, I’m Seema.
Chief Traumatologist, Founder of Holistic Trauma Therapy®, Professor, Researcher, Board Member, Business Owner, and lifelong student of holistic healing and the human experience.
Before becoming a trauma therapist, I spent over 25 years in Senior Leadership across Fortune 500 companies, start-ups, and global organizations. I understand the pressure of performing at a high level, leading international teams, traveling extensively, and holding everything together at home—while internally feeling stressed, disconnected, or quietly overwhelmed.
I also understand how difficult it can be to find a therapist who truly grasps the nuances of that life. The ambition. The responsibility. The cultural and relational layers. The invisible stress that doesn’t always “look” like trauma—but lives in the nervous system all the same.
This private practice was created for people who are balancing it all, longing for a space to feel deeply understood, and ready to make meaningful change.
At Holistic Trauma Therapy®, we specialize in trauma in all its forms—developmental trauma, complex PTSD, attachment wounds, sexual trauma, religious trauma, and corporate burnout. We understand how trauma shapes the nervous system, relationships, identity, and leadership capacity. And we know that insight alone is rarely enough.
Holistic Trauma Therapy®, as we practice it, goes beyond traditional talk therapy. We integrate somatic trauma therapy, EMDR therapy, attachment-informed work, and nervous system regulation. We don’t just explore what happened—we work with how your body adapted to survive it.
In this practice, therapy is depth-oriented, relational, and intentional. We take the time to understand your patterns, your history, and the protective strategies that once kept you safe. Our goal is not simply symptom relief—but integration. Embodiment. A return to yourself.
If you’re ready to move beyond survival and into a fuller, freer, more grounded life, we would be honored to walk that journey with you.
25+ years Senior Leadership across Fortune 500 companies
PhD candidate in Psychology, Integral & Transpersonal Psychology, emphasis Contemplative Neurobiology of Consciousness Studies · CIIS
Somatic Experiencing Practitioner · EMDR-trained · IFS-trained · AASECT Sex Therapist · Advanced Professional Trauma Training, ISST-D
Trained directly under Peter Levine, Gabor Maté, and Dan Siegel
Pasadena office and virtual care throughout California
The only full-spectrum trauma healing practice in California led by a Chief Traumatologist.
Holistic Trauma Therapy® is not a trauma practice that does one thing well. It is a practice built around the recognition that trauma lives in many places at once—in the nervous system, in the body, in identity, in relationships, in culture, in spirit, and in meaning. Healing must be able to meet a person in all of them.
Our approach brings together what most practices treat as separate worlds:
Evidence-based Western clinical care — including EMDR therapy, attachment-informed psychotherapy, IFS/parts work, depth psychology, and trauma-focused approaches grounded in current neuroscience and clinical research.
Advanced professional trauma training — including specialized training through the International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation, supporting our work with complex trauma, dissociation, attachment wounds, and fragmented self-states.
Somatic and body-based healing — including Somatic Experiencing, nervous system regulation, deep poly-vagal understanding, and the slow, careful work of helping the body feel safe enough to release what it has been holding.
Depth, transpersonal, and consciousness-informed care — drawn from Chief Traumatologist Seema Sharma’s, SEP, LMFT in transpersonal and consciousness psychology, integrating meaning, identity, and the spiritual dimensions of healing without losing clinical rigor.
Culturally attuned trauma care — including specialized work with BIPOC clients, immigrant families, religious trauma survivors, LGBTQ+ clients, and high-achieving professionals whose wounds rarely get named.
This combination does not exist anywhere else in California. This combination is what makes Holistic Trauma Therapy® different. It is the result of a clinician who has spent her life studying not only how trauma happens, but every way humanity has ever found to heal it.
What we hold in this practice.
The performing child often becomes the performing adult. Healing complex PTSD, attachment wounds, emotional neglect, and the developmental trauma that shaped who you had to be in order to survive your earliest relationships.
Reclaiming your body, your boundaries, and your capacity for closeness after sexual abuse, harassment, betrayal, or relational violation. AASECT-informed, somatically grounded, and held with the tenderness this work requires.
For the leader, the founder, the executive, the professional, physician, and lawyer, the high achiever whose nervous system has been carrying what their career rewarded. Burnout, harassment, identity collapse, and the quiet trauma of high-stakes professional life.
Full Clinical Spectrum
High-control religion, spiritual abuse, faith deconstruction, and the long path back to your own knowing.
The body's relationship with itself after years of being managed, controlled, or disowned.
The transitions that ask everything of a body and rarely get held with the depth they deserve.
Your body holds the stories of your experiences, even the ones your mind tries to forget.
Meet the Team
Every clinician at Holistic Trauma Therapy® has been chosen for their depth, their training, and their alignment with the practice's commitment to full-spectrum, trauma-informed care. Our team holds specialties across complex trauma, religious and spiritual trauma, LGBTQ+ affirming care, family and relational trauma, and the lived experience that makes this work credible.
THE ARCH OF THE WORK.
INSIGHT.
We begin by understanding your story. Together we explore the patterns shaped by childhood trauma, attachment wounds, cultural inheritance, and the nervous system adaptations that became your way of moving through the world. Insight gives language to what once felt confusing, shameful, or simply unnameable.
EMBODIMENT.
Insight alone is not enough. Trauma lives in the body. Through somatic therapy, holistic EMDR, and nervous system regulation, we work with how your body learned to survive — tracking sensation, building internal safety, and gently releasing what has been stored for years. Embodiment is where healing moves from understanding into lived experience.
TRANSFORMATION.
As insight meets embodiment, transformation becomes possible. Old protective patterns soften. Relationships shift. Your nervous system stabilizes. You begin responding rather than reacting. This is not about becoming someone new. It is about integrating the parts of you that had to fragment in order to cope — and coming home to a self you may have been waiting your whole life to meet.
Pasadena, and virtually throughout California.
Holistic Trauma Therapy® serves clients in person at our Pasadena office at 65 N. Madison Avenue and virtually throughout California — including Los Angeles, the San Gabriel Valley, Orange County, San Diego, the Bay Area, and rural and coastal communities where specialized trauma care is harder to find. For some clients, particularly those new to somatic work or EMDR, in-person sessions can deepen the work. For others, the privacy and continuity of virtual therapy is exactly what their healing needs. We help you decide what fits.
We are currently accepting new clients.
What others tell us.
“A highly experienced clinician with the ability to work deep into the psyche to help with long-term change instead of short term symptom solutions. She is able to hold space and safety to work through the deepest of challenges..”
— CRAIG PETERS, LMFT“Seema is a highly trained and skilled trauma therapist. Her presence is calming and soothing, and yet she is also direct and to the point. She is warm, empathic, and understanding. She is my go-to referral for individuals and couples who suffer from trauma.”
— NATALIE GOLDBERG, LMFT“I am astounded by the depth of Seema's expertise in such a variety of topics. She knows so much, and her knowledge integrates seamlessly with her therapeutic work. She is warm, caring, and masterful in guiding her clients to their goals..”
— CAITLIN LABRIE, PSYDTrained under the field's most influential teachers — Including Peter Levine (Somatic Experiencing), Gabor Maté (Compassionate Inquiry), and Dan Siegel (Interpersonal Neurobiology).
A clinical team committed to depth — Every clinician is selected for their training, their alignment with the practice's full-spectrum approach, and their commitment to working at the depth this clientele requires.
Recognized for the work — As featured in Medium, Good, VoyageLA, CanvasRebel.
Questions people often ask before reaching out.
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Holistic trauma therapy is an integrative approach to trauma healing that addresses the mind, body, nervous system, relationships, and sense of meaning together rather than separately. At Holistic Trauma Therapy®, this includes evidence-based approaches such as EMDR and attachment-informed psychotherapy, alongside somatic therapy, nervous system regulation, transpersonal psychology, and culturally attuned care. The goal is not symptom management but integration — helping you return to yourself at every layer.
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For many trauma survivors, insight alone is not enough. Talk therapy can help you understand your patterns, but trauma also lives in the body and nervous system in ways that conversation cannot fully reach. Holistic Trauma Therapy® combines depth-oriented psychotherapy with somatic work, EMDR, and nervous system regulation so that healing happens not only in your understanding but in your body, your relationships, and your daily life.
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Holistic Trauma Therapy® is a private-pay practice and is not in-network with insurance. Most clients with PPO plans can submit superbills for partial out-of-network reimbursement, and we provide these monthly along with guidance on how to request reimbursement from your insurer.
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Our office is located at 65 N. Madison Avenue, Suite 707, Pasadena, CA 91101. We also have an office located at 1000 Quail Street, Suite 220, Newport Beach, CA 92660. We offer in-person sessions in Pasadena and Newport Beach, and virtual sessions throughout California, serving clients in Los Angeles, the San Gabriel Valley, Orange County, San Diego, the Bay Area, and beyond.
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We specialize in trauma therapy for high-achieving individuals, who are often professionals, senior leaders, executives, survivors of childhood and complex trauma, sexual trauma survivors, religious trauma survivors, and culturally complex clients including BIPOC and immigrant-family clients. Our clinicians also hold specialties in LGBTQ+ affirming trauma care, family and relational trauma, and neurodivergent adult trauma therapy.
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When you contact us, you'll receive a response within one business day. We'll schedule a complimentary consultation with the clinician most aligned with what you're carrying. The consultation is a chance for you to ask questions, share what feels right to share, and decide — without pressure — whether the fit feels right. You do not have to know exactly what to say. You only need to be ready to begin.
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Holistic Trauma Therapy® provides outpatient trauma therapy and is not a crisis or emergency service. If you are in immediate danger or experiencing thoughts of harming yourself, please call or text 988 (the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline) or go to your nearest emergency room. When you are safe and stable, we are here to begin the deeper work.
You do not have to keep carrying this alone.
If something in you is ready — not certain, not fully prepared, just ready — that is enough to begin. Healing can start gently. We will move at the pace of your nervous system, not ahead of it.
Pasadena office · NEWPORT BEACH office · Virtual care throughout California · Currently accepting new clients