Q&A with Trauma Therapist, Carolina Bracco on: Working Through Childhood Trauma

traumamental healthchildhood traumatrauma therapyinner child work

Jun 23

Join me for this powerful, inspiring Q&A session with Trauma Therapist, Carolina Bracco, as she shares her own personal journey of childhood trauma and how she landed in the trauma therapist seat. She loves helping adult children of narcissists heal and find self-compassion.
Grab a pen and paper because you are going to want to take notes!

Carolina, what led you to focus on working with adult children of narcissistic or emotionally immature parents?

As an adult child raised by narcissists myself, I can understand my clients' experiences. The more I did my own healing work, the more I could help others in similar situations.

My passion for this work also comes from seeing how profoundly childhood experiences shape our adult lives. Many clients who come to me are successful, capable, and self-aware, yet they struggle with anxiety, people-pleasing, perfectionism, low self-worth, or difficult relationships. As we explore their stories, we often discover that these struggles are rooted in growing up with narcissistic, emotionally immature, or emotionally unavailable parents.

What draws me to this population is that many adult children don't realize how much their childhood environment impacted them. They often believe they should simply "get over it" because their parents provided financially or because others had it worse. I love helping clients connect the dots, understand themselves with compassion, and discover that healing is possible. Watching someone move from self-blame and confusion to clarity, confidence, and freedom is incredibly rewarding.

What are some common ways people minimize or misunderstand their own childhood trauma?

One of the most common things I hear is, "My childhood wasn't that bad." Many people think trauma only refers to extreme abuse such as physical abuse. They don't recognize that growing up in an environment where they felt unseen, criticized, emotionally invalidated, parentified, controlled, or responsible for a parent's emotions can have lasting effects. People also tend to compare their experiences to others and dismiss their own pain. Chronic emotional neglect, inconsistent caregiving, walking on eggshells, or never feeling emotionally safe can deeply impact a person's sense of self and relationships.

What do you see people missing when they stay at the level of coping tools or insight alone?

Insight is important, but insight alone rarely creates transformation. Many people can explain exactly why they struggle, where their patterns came from, and what they should do differently, yet they continue repeating the same behaviors.

That's because healing doesn't happen solely through intellectual understanding. The nervous system, emotional brain, and unconscious parts of us often continue operating from old survival strategies long after we understand them. Real healing occurs when we begin working experientially by helping the body feel safe, processing unresolved experiences, and creating new emotional and relational experiences that allow lasting change.

What patterns do you most often see in adults who grew up in dysfunctional families?

While everyone's experience is unique, there are some recurring themes. Many struggle with people-pleasing, perfectionism, chronic guilt, self-doubt, difficulty trusting themselves, and fear of disappointing others. They often become highly attuned to other people's needs while losing touch with themselves.

What does the deeper healing process typically look like for your clients over time?

Initially, clients begin developing awareness of their patterns and understanding how those patterns helped them survive. As we continue, we focus on building emotional safety, nervous system regulation, self-compassion, and healthier relationships with their emotions and needs.

Over time, clients often become less reactive, more confident in their decisions, and more connected to their authentic selves. They begin setting boundaries with less guilt, trusting their intuition, expressing themselves more openly, and creating healthier relationships.

How do you use inner child or parts work to create meaningful change for clients?

Many of our struggles connect to younger parts of ourselves that carry unmet needs, painful experiences, or limiting beliefs. They are stuck and frozen in the past. Rather than trying to suppress these parts, we learn to understand them with curiosity and compassion.

Inner child and parts work help clients identify the younger aspects of themselves that still fear rejection, abandonment, criticism, or not being enough. As clients develop a healthier relationship with these parts, they become less driven by unconscious survival patterns and more guided by their adult wise self.

How does EMDR fit into your work, and when is it most impactful?

EMDR is one of the most powerful tools I use for helping clients process unresolved trauma and disturbing experiences that continue to affect them in the present.

It's especially impactful when clients understand their patterns intellectually but still feel emotionally stuck. EMDR helps the brain reprocess experiences that were never fully integrated, reducing the emotional charge connected to painful memories and negative beliefs.

For many adult children of narcissistic parents, EMDR can help heal core beliefs such as "I'm not enough," "I'm unlovable," "My needs don't matter," or "I have to earn love." As these beliefs shift, clients often experience greater confidence, emotional freedom, and healthier relationships.

What shifts do you see in clients around boundaries, guilt, and finding their voice?

One of the biggest transformations I witness is clients learning that boundaries are not selfish, they are healthy and necessary.

In the beginning, many people feel intense guilt when they prioritize themselves or say no. They fear rejection, conflict, or being perceived as selfish. As healing progresses, they begin recognizing that their worth is not dependent on keeping everyone else happy.

Clients often become more comfortable expressing their needs, sharing their opinions, and making decisions based on their values rather than fear. The guilt doesn't always disappear completely, but it no longer controls them. They learn that they can experience discomfort and still choose what is healthy for them.

How can someone tell if they're ready for this level of healing work and a good fit for your approach?

You don't have to have everything figured out to begin. In fact, many people start therapy because they feel confused, stuck, or overwhelmed.

What matters most is a willingness to be curious about yourself and open to exploring patterns that may no longer be serving you. The clients who benefit most are often those who are tired of simply surviving and are ready to understand themselves on a deeper level.

If you find yourself repeating the same relationship patterns, struggling with boundaries, carrying chronic anxiety or self-doubt, or feeling disconnected from who you truly are, this work may be exactly what you're looking for.