Complex Trauma
Mary McDonald, LICSW
I help people work through complex trauma (the pattern of repeated, prolonged, often interpersonal, injuries) and the lasting burden it imposes.
Sometimes a troubling event, or a new stressor, can cause us to consider whether our past experience has been more destabilizing than we recognized.
It can feel like losing your center of gravity, especially in relationships or at work. Some isolate, shut down, or feel overwhelmed by reactions that seem bigger than the moment.
Therapy lets you see your trauma more clearly. When that happens, its impact diminishes; repair can begin.
Clients Come to Me
Whey They:
Feel stuck
Trigger easily
Have emotional outbursts
Shut down
Feel burdened by a sorrow they can’t name
Have low energy
Can’t wake up
Struggle in relationships
The weight of complex trauma is usually more draining than we realize.
How Complex Trauma Therapy With Me Works
We slow things down and begin to understand what happened, what mattered, and how it still shows up today.
Therapy helps you see your trauma more clearly. When that happens, it begins to feel smaller and less oppressive. This is how we begin to turn injury into wisdom.
Modalities I Use
-
Explores how your past and unconscious patterns shape your present, helping you understand the roots of your reactions.
-
Helps make sense of how early relationships impact your sense of safety, trust, and connection.
-
Helps you understand different parts of yourself so you can respond with more clarity instead of conflict.
-
Identifies and shifts thought patterns that keep you stuck in anxiety or self-doubt.
-
Reflects the understanding that we do not live in a vacuum; we continually impact one another.
Shift Your Life
As our work unfolds, your past is no longer in the driver’s seat.
What changes after this therapy?
Less reactivity
Energy
Better sleep
Clearer thinking
Healthier relationships
Fewer triggers
Feeling like yourself
Testimonials
⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆
"Mary does her analytic work as the person she is – generous, empathetically focused, worldly wise, incisive, humorous, earnest and devoted. She is palpably there."
—Stuart A. Pizer, Ph.D., ABPP
Founding Board Member, Massachusetts Institute of Psychoanalysis
Assistant Professor of Psychology (part time), Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School
⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆
"Over the years, Mary has become highly valued colleague. As a therapist and psychoanalyst, she has a rare gift for combining a warm and welcoming presence with incisive intelligence and understanding."
—Carol Rubin, PhD
Faculty of PINE Psychoanalytic Center and Faculty member of the Massachusetts Institute for Psychoanalysis
About Mary McDonald
My therapy is designed for people who want to understand their story and change what constrains life today.
I am direct, engaged, and fully present. Many people wonder what their therapist is thinking. My clients do not. I will tell you what I see, and we will work through it together in a way that is clear and grounded.
Before becoming a therapist, I spent 16 years in the financial sector. I realized I was more drawn to cultivating people than profits. I do find that my prior professional life informs much of my work now – I don’t need to conjecture about the pressured workplace; been there.
I’m an energetic character. Personally, I enjoy theater, reading, art and art collecting, gardening, and travel.
Availability: I work with clients in person in Cambridge, MA, and via Telehealth, across Massachusetts.
Education, Credentials & Training
Masters in Social Work, Simmons College, Boston, MA
Psychoanalytic Training, Massachusetts Institute of Psychoanalysis
Psychodynamic Fellowship Program, PINE Psychoanalytic Center
Couples Counseling Fellowship, The Psychodynamic Couple and Family Institute of New England
Fellowship Program, Boston Institute for Psychotherapy
Faculty, Massachusetts Institute for Psychoanalysis
MBA, New York University
Bachelor’s Degree, Vassar College
3 Steps to Get Started
-
Fill out the contact form. I will get back to you and help you take the next step.
-
We’ll talk briefly to see if this feels like the right fit for you.
-
If there’s a decision to go forward, we review schedules, compensation and location / modality