​

​

As the founder of True North Therapy, Jaime McNatt is a Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker specializing in trauma, nervous-system regulation, relationships, and the complex ways people adapt to stress.

Her work is grounded in a simple belief: people are not problems to be fixed. Our behaviors, coping strategies, relationships, and protective responses often make sense when we understand what the nervous system has learned to expect.

Jaime uses a strength-based, goal-oriented approach that integrates neurobiological, relational, somatic, and experiential therapies. She is EMDR certified, with advanced training in the Gottman Method, somatic therapies, TRE (Tension & Trauma Releasing Exercises), and attachment theory.

Understand. Stabilize. Build Capacity. Grow.

Therapy often begins with understanding what is happening beneath the surface.

Stress, trauma, high-performance environments, relationships, and life experiences all shape the nervous system. What once helped someone adapt may eventually show up as anxiety, anger, shutdown, over-functioning, avoidance, relationship conflict, emotional disconnection, or difficulty slowing down.

At True North Therapy, the work is not simply about identifying what is wrong. It is about understanding why the system responds the way it does, stabilizing what is overwhelmed, and developing the capacity to respond differently.

Because insight alone isn't always enough.

You need the capacity to do something different with what you now understand.

 

01 — Understand

Identify the patterns beneath the symptoms—attachment, trauma, nervous-system responses, relationships, identity, learned protective strategies, and the environments that shaped them.

02 — Stabilize

Build practical skills for regulation, grounding, emotional awareness, communication, and recovery so deeper therapeutic work can actually take hold.

03 — Build Capacity

Increase the ability to tolerate emotion, remain present, communicate effectively, process difficult experiences, strengthen relationships, and access more choices.

04 — Grow

Move beyond simply managing symptoms toward greater flexibility, connection, resilience, and the ability to navigate life with intention.

 

Military & High-Risk Professionals

Jaime works extensively with active-duty service members, veterans, Special Operations Forces, first responders, military families, and other high-risk professionals.

Her clinical work includes trauma recovery, operational stress, moral injury, reintegration, emotional regulation, relationship strain, and the cumulative effects of high-demand careers.

As the daughter of a Veteran, Jaime also brings a personal understanding of the military family experience.

She is a contract provider with 5by5 Performance Therapy, working with Special Operations personnel experiencing the cumulative effects of operational stress, brain injury, high allostatic load, and Operator Syndrome. She is also a provider with the Veteran Resilience Project and the Special Operations Forces (SOF) Network.

A central focus of this work is helping clients understand and navigate their own nervous systems—stabilizing first so that deeper therapeutic work and new growth can take hold.

For operators and other high-risk professionals, that may mean learning how to transition between performance and recovery, intensity and connection, mission and home.

​

Couples & Relationships

Relationships don't usually struggle because people don't love each other. More often, couples become caught in patterns they don't know how to interrupt.

Two nervous systems enter every relationship. Attachment history, past experiences, protective strategies, communication patterns, and unresolved injuries can create cycles that become increasingly difficult to change from inside the relationship.

Jaime helps couples understand what is happening underneath the conflict—what each person is protecting, needing, fearing, or trying to communicate.

Her work draws from the Gottman Method, attachment theory, and nervous-system regulation to help couples communicate differently, repair more effectively, and create greater safety and connection.

The goal isn't simply to stop fighting.

It is to change the pattern.

​

Adolescents & Families

A teenager's brain is not simply an adult brain with fewer miles. Adolescence is a major period of neurological, emotional, social, and identity development.

Jaime works with adolescents experiencing anxiety, depression, stress, grief, trauma, low self-esteem, behavioral concerns, school or social difficulties, substance use, identity struggles, and relationship challenges.

Therapy doesn't have to wait until a young person is in crisis.

The work often begins with helping adolescents understand what is happening inside them—why they react the way they do, what their nervous system is doing, and how to develop healthier ways to regulate, communicate, and navigate the world around them.

Parents are part of that process, too. When appropriate, Jaime works with parents to better understand their child's behavior, strengthen connection, and develop strategies that support change at home.

​

Trauma & Nervous-System Regulation

Trauma is not only about what happened. It is also about how the nervous system adapted to what happened.

Some people develop recognizable symptoms of PTSD. Others remain highly functional while carrying chronic hypervigilance, emotional shutdown, irritability, avoidance, disconnection, or difficulty feeling safe enough to slow down.

Jaime's trauma-informed approach looks beyond the symptom to the adaptation underneath it.

Treatment may include EMDR, somatic and experiential therapies, nervous-system education, mindfulness, attachment work, and practical regulation skills based on the individual's needs.

The goal isn't simply to feel better.

It is to become more capable of regulating, connecting, responding, recovering, and choosing—rather than being driven by old protective patterns.

​

A Strength-Based Approach

Jaime's style is direct, collaborative, and grounded in respect for the strengths her clients already possess.

Therapy is not about stripping away the defenses that once served a purpose. It is about understanding them well enough to determine when they are still protecting you, when they are getting in the way, and what new options are available.

You don't have to lose your intensity to become regulated.

You don't have to become less capable to become more connected.

You don't have to abandon the parts of yourself that got you here.

The work is learning when those responses are useful, when they are costing you, and what else is possible.

​

​