The RITTM Trauma Treatment Model
The Reconnect Integrative Trauma Treatment Model — a proprietary 3-phase approach that weaves together established, evidence-based therapies into one comprehensive healing journey.
The Reconnect Integrative Trauma Treatment Model
RITTM was developed by Dr. Karol Darsa, Psy.D., drawing on 28 years of clinical experience treating trauma survivors. Rather than relying on a single therapeutic approach, RITTM integrates multiple evidence-based modalities into a structured, phased treatment journey tailored to each individual.
The model recognizes that trauma affects the whole person — mind, body, and spirit — and that lasting healing requires addressing all of these dimensions. RITTM combines top-down cognitive approaches with bottom-up body-based therapies, creating a comprehensive framework that meets each person exactly where they are.
The Three Phases of RITTM
Like many established trauma treatments, RITTM is phase-oriented: it builds safety and stability first, then works through traumatic memories, then helps you carry the changes into daily life.
The phases are not a rigid schedule. Your clinician adjusts the pace to you and returns to stabilization skills whenever you need them.
- Stabilization & Safety — Establishing trust, safety, and the internal resources needed to engage with trauma processing. This phase focuses on grounding, emotional regulation, and psychoeducation.
- Trauma Processing — Using evidence-based modalities — EMDR, Brainspotting, Somatic Experiencing — to process traumatic memories and resolve stored emotional and physical distress.
- Integration & Growth — Consolidating gains, rebuilding identity and relationships, and developing a vision for life beyond trauma. This phase prepares you to sustain progress long-term.
Therapies Within RITTM
RITTM draws on these approaches and sequences them to fit your phase of healing.
EMDR Therapy
Bilateral stimulation to reprocess traumatic memories, allowing the brain's natural healing mechanisms to resolve stored distress.
Learn MoreBrainspotting
Fixed eye positions to access subcortical brain regions where trauma is stored, enabling deep processing beyond conscious awareness.
Learn MoreSomatic Experiencing
Body-based therapy that releases trauma stored in the nervous system, restoring natural regulation and resilience.
Learn MoreMindfulness & HeartMath
Present-moment awareness practices and biofeedback techniques that train the nervous system to self-regulate.
Learn MoreGestalt & Energy Psychology
Experiential and energetic approaches that address unfinished emotional business and restore the body's energy systems.
Is RITTM Right for You?
RITTM was designed for anyone living with the effects of trauma, whether from a single overwhelming event, prolonged adversity, or complex developmental experiences. It is often a good fit for people who have tried other approaches without lasting results, or who feel stuck in patterns they cannot seem to break.
Find the Right Level of Care
Virtual PHP
Our most structured virtual program, for those who need intensive daily support.
Learn MoreVirtual IOP
Intensive outpatient care that fits around work, school, and family commitments.
Learn MoreEvening IOP
The same intensive trauma support, scheduled for evenings. Currently paused.
Learn MoreVirtual Outpatient
Flexible, ongoing therapy for continued healing and step-down care.
Learn MoreTrauma Coaching
Goal-driven coaching support between or after clinical care.
Learn MoreFrequently Asked Questions
RITTM (the Reconnect Integrative Trauma Treatment Model) is a structured, 3-phase trauma treatment framework developed by Dr. Karol Darsa, Psy.D. It combines evidence-based modalities — including EMDR, Brainspotting, and Somatic Experiencing — into one integrated, body-centered approach.
RITTM was developed by Dr. Karol Darsa, Psy.D., a licensed psychologist in California (PSY 19847) and the founder of Reconnect Center, drawing on 28 years of clinical experience treating trauma survivors.
EMDR, Brainspotting, and somatic work are individual modalities. RITTM is the overarching framework that sequences and combines them based on your phase of healing, so you are never relying on a single technique alone.
Many trauma treatments follow three broad phases: safety and stabilization, processing traumatic memories, and integration into everyday life. RITTM uses this structure as Stabilization & Safety, Trauma Processing, and Integration & Growth.
An integrative approach draws on more than one therapy method and chooses among them based on the person's needs, rather than applying a single technique to everyone. RITTM is Reconnect's integrative model, combining approaches such as EMDR, Brainspotting, and Somatic Experiencing within a phased structure.
RITTM integrates established, research-supported modalities such as EMDR, Brainspotting, and Somatic Experiencing. It was developed and refined by Dr. Darsa over more than 20 years of clinical practice treating trauma survivors.
RITTM is used to treat PTSD and complex trauma, anxiety, depression, OCD, dissociative disorders, emotional dysregulation, and co-occurring conditions.
Yes. Every Reconnect program built on RITTM is delivered virtually. Your clinician guides each phase — including body-based and EMDR work — through secure video, wherever you are.
It depends on your history, your goals, and the program you join. Your clinician sets a personalized pace through the three phases and reviews your progress regularly.
RITTM is delivered within our virtual treatment programs, and many commercial plans cover trauma-focused outpatient care. You can verify your coverage in minutes through our insurance page.
Yes. Dr. Darsa teaches the model to therapists in an on-demand course with recorded client sessions and APA CE credit for psychologists. See RITTM Training for Clinicians below for details.
Dr. Karol Darsa,
Psy.D. · Last reviewed June 2026
Dr. Darsa is a licensed clinical psychologist with 28 years of clinical experience in trauma and mental health treatment. She is the founder of Reconnect Center and the creator of the Reconnect Integrative Trauma Treatment Model (RITTM) — the evidence-based framework that anchors every program and therapy at Reconnect Center. A certified Brainspotting therapist with advanced EMDR training and extensive Somatic Experiencing training, Dr. Darsa lectures on trauma treatment at USC, UCLA, and Cal Lutheran, and oversees clinical standards across all of Reconnect's virtual care.
Are you a clinician? Learn RITTM from Dr. Darsa
Dr. Darsa teaches the full model to therapists in an on-demand course, with fifteen recorded client sessions and APA CE credit for psychologists.
Experience the RITTM Difference
Discover how a truly integrative approach to trauma treatment can help you heal at every level — mind, body, and spirit.
