The wound is the place where the light enters you.

-Rumi

On the outside you have it all together, and it seems like no one knows you're struggling. But on the inside, you feel overwhelmed, detached, stuck, burnout, stressed and depleted. It takes tremendous courage to start letting someone else in. I value your trust and start by actively listening to what it feels like for you on the inside. We will explore the different parts of you longing to be heard and seen, and will also support you learning to trust your own wisdom and the ways your body may have been communicating with you all along. Whatever may be the reason for disconnection from yourself, there's always a way back. Whether it’s anxiety, grief, trauma or a general feeling of discontent, you deserve relief. Longing to be seen, but also terrified of it. I get it!

Together we can explore your unique experiences that have been dismissed, unnoticed, forgotten about, or neglected. Your experience matters. We can find ways to alleviate the anxiety, restlessness, feelings of stuckness, resolve painful childhood memories and soften the inner critic into a trusted ally.

Erica Lima, Therapist at Sunset Trauma Therapy and Consultation

Welcome!

A little about me. Being raised in outskirts of Charlotte, NC and isolated from larger society, I never knew how much I could actually love the city-life!

I am a recovering perfectionistic, & anxiously-attached person who is on a journey to support others in helping professions, activists, mothers, creatives, therapists & healthcare workers to love themselves more fully and be themselves in relationships (Yes, without HIDING).

Healing through relationships, has always been the most important part of the work I do. Yes, I was the 15 year old kid reading about attachment styles in barnes and noble… for fun…yikes! Yet it took me a while to learn how to take off my own striving and people pleasing hat and embrace my imperfect wounded self. It is possible, with support, for your imperfect self to be seen & accepted.

Some issues I specialize in helping people break out of people pleasing, childhood neglect, trauma, perfectionism, religious trauma & relationship obsessive compulsion disorder ( Relational OCD)

We do relationship differently, so you can understand and develop a new relationship with yourself and others.

Other issues I support folks with:

Family of origin conflict
Religious Trauma & Spiritual Abuse
Body image issues
Self-esteem, self-doubt
Parental stress
Healthcare professionals burn out & compassion fatigue
Silent panic attacks
Unpacking internalized white supremacy

Anxiety
Perfectionism
Relationship difficulties / Attachment wounds
Childhood Emotional Neglect
Grief/loss
PTSD
Complex & Childhood Trauma
Cancer Survivors

Together we will move past intellectualizing and analyzing and into restoring back the connection to your body - reclaiming back self-awareness, self-agency, and self-compassion.

Start today

My Background and Approach

I have worked over 8 yrs in community mental health organizations, residential treatment centers and outpatient/private practice settings. In those years of experience, I have supported many people through complex trauma, PTSD, dual diagnosis, anxiety, depression and mood disorders. I frequently walk alongside people who yearning to understand themselves more fully and ready to embark on their wellness journey.

I practice from a strength-based, trauma-informed & anti-oppressive lens. This means we recognize systems of oppression & the harm they cause marginalized communities in society & the essential value of creating safe anti-discriminatory practices in the therapy space. Your unique experience matters.

It is an honor to work with Folks of Color, and Black Folks who decide to work with me, and I take your trust with great care.

I also work with white folks who want a space to heal from internalized white superiority, to speak truthfully about our past and process somatically the generational legacy of whiteness and white supremacy.

Individual Therapy

Whether you’re struggling with anxiety that keeps you up at night, or perhaps you are feeling stuck or lost in a cycle of hopelessness. There is hope. You deserve a safe space to process some of your feelings and get some relief.

Couples Therapy

Perhaps there’s been a recent rupture of trust in your relationship that has put a wedge between you and your partner, or maybe you’ve grown apart and loss a sense of connection and love - whatever the reason be, you deserve a space where you can explore your relationship needs.

Get started today