Written by Maria Boncyk, LCSW | Reviewed July 2026
This content is for informational purposes only and does not constitute professional mental health advice, diagnosis, or treatment. If you are experiencing a mental health crisis, please contact the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988.
Maria Boncyk, LCSW provides fully virtual complex trauma therapy to teens and adults across New York and Massachusetts. She uses EMDR, somatic awareness, and attachment-focused approaches to treat the effects of prolonged trauma, including hypervigilance, emotional overwhelm, and relationship difficulties. Start with a free 25-minute consultation.
What Complex Trauma Actually Feels Like
Complex trauma is what happens when difficult experiences repeat over months or years, often beginning in childhood, until the nervous system reorganizes itself around survival. Where single-incident trauma might produce flashbacks tied to one event, complex trauma weaves itself into how you experience everything. You might live with a baseline of hypervigilance, scanning rooms and reading moods automatically, always braced for something to go wrong. Emotions can arrive in intense waves that feel bigger than the situation, followed by shame about the reaction. Your sense of who you are may feel unstable or harsh, shaped by an inner voice that sounds suspiciously like the people who hurt you. Relationships often carry the deepest imprint. You may find yourself caring for everyone while trusting no one to care for you, or cycling through connections marked by explosive arguments and the recurring feeling that you are not protected and not important. Many people carry all of this while appearing composed and capable, which is itself a survival skill. None of it means you are broken. It means you adapted to something that should not have happened.
How Maria Treats Complex Trauma
Complex trauma is the center of Maria’s clinical specialization, and her approach reflects fifteen-plus years of experience across community mental health, crisis work, and private practice. Treatment integrates several strands. EMDR therapy, in which Maria completed basic training in 2021, intermediate training in 2022, and Relational EMDR training in 2026, helps the brain reprocess traumatic memories so they stop hijacking the present. EMDR is recognized by the World Health Organization and the American Psychiatric Association as an evidence-based trauma treatment. Because complex trauma is fundamentally relational, wounds created inside relationships need relationships to heal, the therapy relationship itself becomes part of the treatment, offering a consistent experience of being met without judgment, shame, or agenda. Attachment-focused and psychodynamic work illuminates how early survival strategies became today’s patterns, and somatic awareness helps you learn your body’s signals, since trauma lives as much in the nervous system as in memory. Pacing is everything in this work. Nothing is forced, processing happens only when enough stability is in place, and you remain in control of what gets approached and when.
Ready to Take the First Step?
Complex Trauma Therapy sessions are held virtually, so you can meet with Maria from anywhere in New York or Massachusetts. Request a free 25-minute consultation to see if it feels like the right fit, with no commitment required.
What the Course of Treatment Looks Like
Trauma therapy with Maria moves in phases rather than on a fixed timeline. Early work builds safety and stabilization, developing your capacity to notice and regulate what happens in your body and emotions, which matters because processing trauma without stability can overwhelm rather than heal. Middle-phase work uses EMDR and relational exploration to process the experiences and beliefs at the root, the memories, the internalized messages, the patterns learned in unsafe relationships. Later work consolidates change, helping you carry your new capacities into relationships, work, and identity. Weekly 50-minute virtual sessions are the standard rhythm, and complex trauma work realistically spans many months to a few years depending on history and goals. That honesty matters more than a comforting estimate. Clients frequently report that earlier gains, better boundaries, less reactivity, a quieter inner critic, arrive well before the deepest work completes.
Who This Therapy Is Right For
This work fits teens and adults across New York and Massachusetts who recognize themselves in long-standing patterns: chronic anxiety or emptiness that predates any single event, relationships that repeat painful dynamics, an unstable or punishing sense of self, or PTSD symptoms like flashbacks and avoidance layered with relational wounds. It is especially suited to people who have done talk therapy before, understood their patterns intellectually, and found that understanding alone did not change how they feel, which is precisely the gap EMDR and body-based approaches address. If you are in active crisis, managing an untreated substance dependency, or needing more than weekly support, a higher level of care is the right first step, and Maria will say so honestly in a consultation. Wondering whether your experiences count as real trauma is one of the most common doubts people bring, and the doubt itself is often part of the wound. You do not need your history to be dramatic enough for anyone. If it still shapes your life, it deserves care.
Trauma Therapy Without Leaving Home in New York or Massachusetts
For many trauma survivors, a therapist’s office is not automatically a comfortable place. Virtual sessions let you do this work from a space you control, wherever you are in New York or Massachusetts. EMDR adapts effectively to telehealth using visual and bilateral stimulation methods designed for video sessions, and Maria has provided trauma-focused teletherapy since 2021. Appointments run Monday through Thursday, 9 AM to 7 PM Eastern. Maria is an out-of-network (OON) provider who confirms coverage details with each client first, supports out-of-network reimbursement, and maintains an AI-free practice, so nothing from your sessions is recorded, transcribed, or processed by artificial intelligence tools. For trauma survivors especially, knowing exactly where your words go is not a small thing.
Common Questions, Answered Directly
What is the difference between PTSD and complex PTSD?
PTSD typically follows a single overwhelming event and centers on flashbacks, avoidance, and hypervigilance. Complex PTSD develops from repeated trauma over months or years and adds three deeper layers: difficulty regulating emotions, a persistently negative sense of self, and ongoing struggles in relationships. Complex trauma responds well to phased, EMDR-informed treatment.
Can complex trauma be treated over telehealth?
Yes. EMDR and other trauma treatments have been successfully adapted for virtual delivery, with research supporting comparable outcomes. Some trauma survivors actually progress faster in virtual work because being in their own controlled environment lowers the baseline threat level during sessions.
How do I find a good EMDR therapist near me?
Look for a licensed clinician with formal EMDR training and genuine trauma specialization rather than a long list of general specialties. Maria Boncyk, LCSW has EMDR basic, intermediate, and relational training and fifteen-plus years of clinical experience, seeing clients virtually across New York and Massachusetts, so location is not a barrier.