About Karen
EFT Tapping expert, trauma healing coach, and childhood abuse survivor — passionate about helping you reclaim your life.
My story of survival and healing
I grew up in England, the youngest child of an alcoholic father. There was very little safety or security in my childhood. To survive, I blocked out most of the trauma.
I found solace at school. I worked hard, made it into a great college and excelled in my studies. I graduated with an English Literature degree and grew up into a seemingly confident, high-functioning woman with an exciting career in movies, and a love of travel.
Underneath this exterior though, I was still an anxiety-ridden people-pleaser desperately searching to fit in and be loved.
In 2005 the world I knew flipped on its axis. My mother died of lung and brain cancer after a lengthy illness. Formerly an atheist, I began receiving angel signs as well as communications from my mother and from, what I later came to know as, my Guides.
Within a year, I felt like my soul had been set on a completely new course. I decided that I wanted to do something besides making movies to entertain. I knew now that I wanted to help people heal the pain in their life.
I have been to the darkest of places. I share my story, my past, my struggles and my survival to help my clients see that they too can sit in the darkness. But they are not alone.Karen Ortner
A new path to healing
And so, I set about re-educating myself. I trained in NLP and hypnotherapy. I also trained in various energy modalities including Reiki and Harmonium Healing. I met my now husband, Alex and moved to the US in 2006. We live in Connecticut with our 3 children, Malakai, Lucas and Olivia.
I first learned about EFT Tapping from my brother-in-law when he made the documentary film ‘The Tapping Solution’. I helped out during filming, offering emotional support to the participants. What I did not expect, however, was that the intensity of the program would trigger me to begin memory recovery of my own traumatic history of childhood sexual abuse.
I added EFT Tapping to my private practice in 2007 and have been using it to great success personally and with my clients ever since.
Memory recovery for me has always been a process of decoding the sensations and symptoms showing up in my body. Fascinated, and eager to meld body-based mindfulness with the psychology of Tapping, I trained in Somatic Experiencing (SE) under Dr. Peter Levine. SE is a body-based therapeutic approach which gently moves the traumatized person from states of rigid fixity to freedom and flow.
Today, I combine EFT Tapping with SE to guide my clients towards feeling more whole and healed. Treating not only the emotional and psychological aspects of trauma, but also the physical manifestations of it, has radically altered the experience of healing for myself and for my clients.
As a Coach specializing in Trauma Healing, I share from my heart my own experiences as a survivor of sexual abuse. You are not alone. Together we can find the way through healing into light.
Training & Qualifications
EFT Tapping
EFT Practitioner specializing in sexual abuse and trauma recovery
Somatic Experiencing
SE Practitioner trained under Dr. Peter Levine — body-based trauma resolution
NLP Master
Master Neuro-Linguistic Programming Practitioner for transformative change work
Reiki Healer
Trained in Reiki and Harmonium Healing energy modalities
Hypnotherapy
Certified Hypnotherapist for deep subconscious healing and reprogramming
Trauma Coach
Personal development coach specializing in childhood trauma and abuse recovery