NARM Therapy in MINNEAPOLIS + ST PAUL
What is NARM (the NeuroAffective Relational Model)?
NARM therapy is a somatic, relational approach for developmental trauma & childhood wounds
If you’re someone who is self-aware but still feels stuck in anxiety, self-doubt, or people-pleasing patterns, NARM may be especially supportive for you.
Many of the clients I work with grew up in homes where emotional attunement wasn’t consistently available. Their parents may have been emotionally volatile, highly critical, or emotionally checked out.
Nothing “big” had to happen — but something essential was missing.
NARM (the NeuroAffective Relational Model) is a therapy approach designed to work with the long-term impact of those early relational environments.
So how does NARM therapy work?
Every NARM session starts with a question: “What is it you would most like for yourself?” - we ask this in a deep way, meaning what is it you are most desiring in your life. What is your heart's desire, the thing you’re searching for most in your life?
And then we explore what’s getting in the way of having that.
Why self-awareness hasn’t been enough
You may already understand why you are the way you are.
You’ve read the books. Reflected deeply. Pinned all those super helpful Insta posts. Processed with friends, family, and maybe even a whole roster of therapists.
And yet, you still:
overthink every interaction
feel responsible for others’ emotions
struggle to trust your needs
freeze or shut down in conflict
carry a quiet but constant sense of anxiety or shame
NARM is a powerful therapy approach that starts with the belief that insight alone doesn’t change patterns that formed in our earliest and most important relationships. These patterns live in your nervous system, in your most deeply ingrained beliefs about yourself.
And weirdly enough, these patterns weren’t mistakes.
They were intelligent adaptations to the emotional environment you grew up in.
They were survival strategies you needed to develop to survive back then.
The problem is, you might not need them anymore. The thing is, your nervous system probably doesn't know that.
Rather than analyzing your past in detail, NARM focuses on what’s happening right now — in your body, your emotions, and your relationships.
Together, with NARM therapy, we explore:
how you learned to disconnect from your needs
how self-criticism and self-blame have helped you
how you manage closeness, conflict, and vulnerability
the tension between wanting connection and fearing it
the ways you adapted to emotionally immature or unavailable caregivers
This work is not about blaming your parents.
It’s about understanding how you learned to survive — and what it might be like to move out of being in survival mode towards something more free and alive.
