Lisa Larson has been a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist for over twenty years. After seven years in private practice doing Solution Focused therapy or “talk therapy,” Lisa experienced a traumatic event that transformed the course of her life as well as her therapeutic orientation. Lisa and then her teenage son, just a few weeks later, flat lined, that is, clinically died. They had unrelated allergic reactions and fortunately both have fully recovered. Lisa was acutely traumatized and had a classic case of PTSD. No amount of talk therapy worked. In contrast, after only two sessions of EMDR she was back to being herself.

Lisa was inspired. She sought out and was trained in the most powerful trauma modalities known. She was trained by the founder of EMDR and later trained with the creator of Brainspotting, Dr. David Grand. She immediately recognized the power and effectiveness of  Brainspotting as she witnessed  her severely traumatized clients heal quickly and permanently. She learned that her years as a talk therapist were missing the most crucial piece required to heal those with trauma, the deepest regions of the brain where trauma is stored. (The limbic system and the Brainstem.)  Those with complex trauma and PTSD are enslaved by their own neurophysiology. True healing requires releasing the individual from the trapped body-brain memories that trigger chronic fight/ flight or numb/ freeze or appease responses. 

A dream was born in Lisa. She was determined to do something about the unnecessary suffering of the traumatized. She opened Pacific Counseling and Trauma Center in Folsom, CA in 2012 and became a Brainspotting Trainer to teach other therapists how to bring lasting relief to their traumatized clients. She is passionate about teaching Brainspotting and letting the world know that trauma and PTSD are not something you have to live with. Brainspotting makes freedom, peace and joy possible, even for the most severely traumatized.