Jessica A. Hughes

I’m a psychodynamic trauma therapist who works with adults carrying invisible wounds from childhood: early environments that were neglectful, intrusive, or emotionally misattuned. These histories often echo in the present as anxiety, depression, people-pleasing, low self-worth, or relationships that leave one feeling unseen or depleted. Many of the people I work with sense something is “wrong” with them but can’t explain why. Together, we explore how those internal narratives were shaped, and how they can be softened, re-understood, and ultimately transformed. I specialize in complex trauma, dissociation, and the lasting impact of narcissistic abuse. I also work with individuals navigating the emotional toll of chronic illness, conditions like IBS, chronic fatigue, and autoimmune disorders, where grief, isolation, and bodily distrust often compound one another. Therapy becomes a place to metabolize these experiences, rebuild internal safety, and reconnect with meaning, even within constraint. Before becoming a therapist, I earned a PhD in Psychology from the University of Toronto with a research focus on the neuroscience of emotion. I also taught university courses on the physiology and psychology of emotion and cognitive neuroscience for over seven years. My clinical work integrates this scientific grounding with a depth-oriented, relational, and somatically attuned approach. I draw from contemporary psychodynamic theory, Internal Family Systems (IFS)-informed parts work, EMDR, Deep Brain Reorienting (DBR), and trauma-informed somatic modalities. This is not just “talk therapy”, we engage both mind and body, attending to the emotional and physiological traces of your history as they show up in the present. At the core of my work is a commitment to helping you understand your emotions not as problems, but as meaningful signals, traces of unmet need, memory, and adaptive wisdom. We will explore your internal world with compassion and curiosity, helping you reconnect with disowned parts of self and move toward greater clarity, integration, and freedom.