Dr. Chelsea Bucina

I am a licensed psychologist who specializes in treating trauma and PTSD in adult men via individual, relationship, and group therapies. Trauma affects everyone differently, but societal pressures and stigma often mean men are particularly at risk for externalizing their symptoms by using alcohol and other substances, experiencing significant relationship conflict or difficulty controlling anger, isolating or shutting off from others, and avoiding emotions by distracting with work and other tasks. Left unchecked, trauma also contributes to depression, anxiety, shame, and feelings of powerlessness or self-criticism. I received extensive training and experience providing therapy for men in a variety of settings including community mental health clinics, private practice, residential treatment, substance use treatment, and several prisons and hospitals. I have specialized training and certifications in several trauma-focused treatments, such as Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT), and draw from various evidence-based practices alongside body-focused and emotions-focused strategies to facilitate a holistic approach to addressing your unique concerns.

Making the choice to seek therapy is an act of courage. My goal is creating a safe, collaborative relationship where we work as a team to address patterns that keep you stuck and begin moving toward a greater sense of control and wellbeing. To me, success means my clients feel empowered to explore and make the changes that feel most important to them. For some, that might mean learning strategies and skills to better manage stress or emotions. For others, it might mean digging into core wounds or processing painful experiences from the past. I see my role as a psychologist as one of growth and learning right alongside my clients; I greatly appreciate when clients feel comfortable to share their internal worlds as well as their thoughts or opinions about the therapy process, to ensure they are getting the care they deserve. I believe there is no one-size-fits-all therapeutic treatment, and our job is to decide together how our sessions will look.

I believe in working just as hard as my clients do, meaning you can expect me to tune in to our work together and help you get the most of your session time. I frequently work with clients who struggle with feelings of shame, worthlessness, loneliness, and anger related to past experiences that may be resurfacing due to current stressors. We'll work to explore and process these emotions, reduce avoidance strategies that maintain symptoms, and increase your self-compassion and self-protection. I also find it helpful to create opportunities for practice and reflection outside of sessions based on what we're working on together, if this feels important to you. My clients describe improvements in emotional awareness, self-understanding, and connection with others. They also report less reliance on avoidance (e.g., using alcohol or drugs) as a coping mechanism and feeling less controlled by anger or other uncomfortable emotions.