Clinical Therapist and Trauma Specialist
Breanna Todd
LPC, EMDR
Therapy for ages 17+
I’m a trauma therapist and EMDR practitioner who believes therapy is a profoundly human experience. My goal is to partner with you in healing, meeting you where you are with compassion, acceptance, and understanding.
Creating a safe, respectful, and supportive space is central to my approach. I tailor therapy to your unique needs and experiences, honoring your mind, body, and soul. I specialize in supporting individuals navigating complex trauma and PTSD, domestic violence, sexual assault, anxiety, relationship and attachment challenges, and struggles with sexual identity or expression. You are the expert in your own life, and I’m honored to walk alongside you on this journey.
Your sense of safety comes first. My role is to meet you with warmth, respect, curiosity, and to build a relationship where you feel supported rather than judged or analyzed. We’ll move at a pace that respects your body, nervous system, boundaries and needs, working together to create a space where healing can unfold gently and collaboratively. Healing happens in connection, and we’ll take this one step at a time—together.
A little about me:
Outside of therapy, I enjoy spending time with friends, reading, experimenting in the kitchen, playing video games, or indulging in reality TV. I also love snuggling with and training my German Shepherd, Kane.
Education:
National Louis, Clinical Mental Health Counseling, Master of Science, 2020
What are your top specialties?
I am passionate about working with anyone looking to improve their lives, relationships, or circumstances; however, my longstanding passion is with clients who have experienced different levels of trauma or who have been victims of violence. My career has been rooted and centered in domestic violence, sexual assault and other forms of trauma.
What would you say to someone considering therapy with you?
You don’t have to have everything figured out before you start. You don’t need to know what to say or what to do. You can come exactly as you are—confused, overwhelmed, skeptical, hopeful, or unsure. Trauma can make reaching out feel vulnerable or even unsafe. Trauma can shape how you experience yourself, others, and the world—and healing doesn’t happen by being pushed or rushed. We’ll move at a pace that respects your body, nervous system, boundaries and needs, working together to create a space where healing can unfold gently and collaboratively.
What insurance do you accept?
BCBS PPO, Aetna, Anthem, and Cigna/Evernorth.
What does a typical session with you look like?
A typical session with me is free flowing. We will approach and process what is presenting challenges at the moment, and find a deeper level of understanding to learn how to cope (outside of sessions) with this processed information. You can expect to be the expert in the room about your own life, receiving guidance from me. You will be met where you are and not be pressured, but rather challenged as needed. You will be treated with warmth, respect, and dignity. Being your therapist is a privilege. I do not take my job lightly and the information you share with me is sacred.
Who is your ideal client?
What lights me up in session is when a client feels the warmth of the therapeutic environment, as well as feels seen and heard for the first time. My ideal client is someone that brings a willingness to do the work, and wants to be the best version of themselves. The rest can be worked out.
How do clients describe you?
Compassionate, good energy, and relatable.
Breanna’s Approach
IFS: Just as all of our organs work in the body to create a healthy process, emotional parts also come together to try to work toward out highest good. However, these parts can become confused, prompting us to use survival or protective techniques formed during childhood. With IFS, we learn to soothe these confused parts of your emotional system, allowing them to function toward your greater good.
EMDR: EMDR therapy utilizes bilateral stimulation to help desensitize certain thoughts and memories in a way that allows for reprocessing or reprogramming of the information. EMDR can target neuropathways in a way that talk therapy cannot.
CBT: We will talk about your issues and concerns, allowing you more understanding of your cognitive processes and experiences.
Somatic Therapy: The body is the house of emotion. With CBT therapy, the brain is able to make logical and rational connections. Through somatic therapy, we will focus on bodily sensations, emotional flashbacks and what your body is storing emotionally. We’ll work to release it through emoting, movement, breathing, and grounding techniques.
EFT: EFT focuses on understanding, experiencing, and using emotions to improve connection, resolve conflict, and build secure bonds and attachments. We will identify negative interaction cycles, access deeper underlying emotions, and restructure how we interact with these emotions to construct more positive patterns and attachments.
Click here for more detailed information on therapeutic modalities.
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Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is a structured, goal-oriented type of talk therapy that can help manage mental health conditions, such as depression and anxiety, and emotional concerns, such as coping with grief or stress.
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Internal Family Systems (IFS) is frequently used as an evidence-based psychotherapy, helping people heal by accessing and healing their protective and wounded inner parts.
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Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is a psychotherapy treatment that is designed to alleviate the distress associated with traumatic memories.
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Somatic interventions are therapeutic techniques that focus on the body and its relationship with the mind and emotions. They aim to promote physical and psychological well-being by addressing bodily sensations, movement, and awareness.
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Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) is a type of talk therapy, specially adapted for people who experience emotions very intensely.
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Emotionally Focused Therapy privileges emotion and emotion regulation, shaping key emotional experiences in session, where the therapist guides clients into and through the emotional moments that define their sense of self and of others towards a new sense of balance competence and connection.
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TF-CBT is an evidence-based treatment approach designed to help children, adolescents, and their parents (or caregivers) cope with the emotional and behavioral difficulties resulting from trauma, particularly child maltreatment.
Top Specialties:
Trauma and PTSD
Sexual Abuse
Domestic Violence
Areas of Expertise:
ADHD
Anxiety
Attachment issues
Behavioral Issues
Bipolar Disorder
Body Positivity
Codependency
Coping Skills
Depression
Eating Disorders
EMDR Therapy
Emotional Disturbance
LGBTQ+ Identity Support
Life Transitions
Mood Disorders
Obsessive-Compulsive (OCD)
Open Relationships Non-Monogamy
Peer Relationships
Personality Disorders
Relationship Issues
Religious trauma
Self Esteem
Self-Harming
Sex-Positive, Kink Allied
Sexual Abuse & Violence
Sports Performance
Suicidal Ideation
Teen Violence
Veterans
Women's Issues
Interested in working together? Fill out the form below, call (630) 940-6828 or email scheduling@paderatherapy.com. We also offer a 15-minute free phone consultation.
Questions about insurance?
Give us a call or email scheduling@paderatherapy.com. We can often work with insurance companies if we are out-of-network. If we are an out-of-network provider or you do not have insurance, our rate is currently $135.00 for a 53 minute session. However, we also offer reduced rates in special circumstances. Finances should never be a deterrent for seeking help! We work with families to come up with a number that works for you.