Katelyn Baxter-Musser, LCSW

Trauma, DBT & EMDR Training

Katelyn E. Baxter-Musser, MSW, LCSW, C-DBT, C-PD, is a licensed clinical social worker, trauma therapist, author, consultant, and professional educator based in Maine. Her clinical and training work focuses on trauma, post-traumatic stress, dissociation, emotional dysregulation, anxiety, depression, grief, personality-related concerns, intimate partner violence, narcissistic abuse, gaslighting, relationship trauma, and the needs of first responders. Through Inner Awakenings Counseling and Consulting, she provides psychotherapy, professional consultation, and practice-oriented education for mental health clinicians.

Katelyn is certified in Dialectical Behavior Therapy and is an EMDRIA Approved Consultant. Her work combines DBT, EMDR, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, mindfulness, trauma-informed care, and solution-focused interventions within an individualized clinical framework. Rather than using one treatment model for every presentation, she encourages clinicians to consider safety, emotional regulation, dissociation, attachment, physiological activation, shame, culture, relationships, and the client’s readiness for trauma processing.

As a presenter, Katelyn is known for translating complex clinical material into specific interventions that therapists can apply in practice. Her training addresses the moments that often leave clinicians feeling uncertain: when a client becomes emotionally overwhelmed, disconnects during a session, struggles to use coping skills, repeatedly returns to unsafe relationships, or becomes destabilized when treatment moves too quickly. Her teaching emphasizes careful assessment, collaborative pacing, clinical boundaries, and interventions that strengthen clients’ capacity to remain present and engaged.

Professional Background

Katelyn earned her Master of Social Work from Arizona State University and developed professional experience across private practice, behavioral health agencies, child and family services, trauma-focused programs, and community settings. Her current practice, Inner Awakenings Counseling and Consulting, is located in Gorham, Maine, and offers therapy, EMDR services, clinician consultation, and professional training.

Her clinical specialties include trauma and PTSD, anxiety, depression, grief, dissociation, personality disorders, relationship difficulties, narcissistic abuse, gaslighting, and concerns affecting first responders. Her practice profile describes an integrative approach incorporating DBT, CBT, EMDR, mindfulness, and solution-focused treatment. This combination allows her to address both immediate stabilization needs and the emotional, cognitive, behavioral, and relational patterns that may continue after a traumatic experience.

Katelyn holds the EMDRIA Approved Consultant credential. EMDRIA requires Approved Consultants to demonstrate substantial EMDR clinical experience and provide consultation that helps other clinicians develop competence in EMDR case conceptualization and treatment. Her consultation work includes trauma treatment, EMDR, DBT, intimate partner violence, narcissistic abuse, gaslighting, and work with first responders.

She has also served as a national presenter for PESI and other continuing education organizations, providing training on DBT, trauma, mindfulness, intimate partner violence, personality disorders, and related behavioral health concerns. New Harbinger’s current author profile notes that she has trained thousands of mental health professionals through her educational work.

Katelyn is the author of The DBT Workbook for Narcissistic Abuse and Gaslighting, published by New Harbinger Publications in 2024. The workbook uses DBT-informed exercises to support emotional regulation, self-compassion, healthier boundaries, self-trust, and recovery from manipulative or emotionally abusive relationships.

Areas of Expertise

Trauma, PTSD, and Dissociation. Katelyn helps clinicians recognize that dissociation may appear as emotional numbness, depersonalization, derealization, memory gaps, loss of time, disconnection from physical sensations, or difficulty remaining mentally present. These reactions can be mistaken for avoidance, noncompliance, inattention, or lack of motivation. Her work emphasizes assessment, orientation, stabilization, grounding, predictable therapeutic relationships, and careful pacing before intensive trauma processing. Clinical Events’ guide to evidence-based trauma therapy offers related information on trauma assessment, dissociation, EMDR, cognitive therapies, and body-oriented interventions.

Dialectical Behavior Therapy. DBT is a central part of Katelyn’s clinical teaching. She helps professionals apply mindfulness, distress tolerance, emotion regulation, and interpersonal-effectiveness skills within a coherent case formulation rather than using DBT as a collection of unrelated worksheets. Her training also addresses validation, behavioral chain analysis, crisis survival, shame, dialectical thinking, treatment-interfering behavior, and the development of a life that reflects the client’s values. Clinical Events’ resource on DBT, trauma, and emotional dysregulation provides complementary clinical context.

EMDR and Trauma Processing. As an EMDRIA Approved Consultant, Katelyn supports clinicians in approaching trauma reprocessing with attention to consent, preparation, resourcing, readiness, dissociation, emotional tolerance, and the client’s ability to remain oriented. She emphasizes that disclosure of trauma does not automatically indicate readiness for memory processing. Clinical Events’ complete guide to EMDR therapy offers additional background on assessment, preparation, bilateral stimulation, processing, installation, closure, and reevaluation.

Emotional Regulation and Stabilization. Katelyn’s work helps clinicians support clients who experience intense emotions, shutdown, panic, shame, impulsive coping, relational crises, or difficulty using skills under stress. Her approach recognizes that understanding a coping strategy intellectually is different from accessing it during emotional activation. Treatment therefore includes repeated practice, individualized cues, environmental support, self-validation, and realistic planning for moments when the client’s usual coping capacity is reduced.

Narcissistic Abuse, Gaslighting, and Relational Trauma. Katelyn works with survivors of manipulation, coercive control, chronic invalidation, psychological abuse, and relationship dynamics that undermine self-trust. Her approach focuses on the client’s reported experiences, symptoms, safety, functioning, boundaries, and recovery rather than diagnosing an absent partner or family member. Clinical Events’ clinical overview of gaslighting can support clinicians in recognizing manipulation while avoiding unsupported diagnostic conclusions. Her published workbook extends this work through DBT-based exercises for emotional regulation, self-worth, and boundaries.

Personality Disorders and Complex Presentations. Katelyn’s education addresses personality-related patterns, emotional instability, identity concerns, impulsivity, shame, interpersonal conflict, and recurring behaviors that interfere with treatment. She encourages clinicians to differentiate trauma responses, personality traits, attachment adaptations, and formal personality-disorder diagnoses. This distinction is especially important in an online environment where clinical terminology is frequently used without comprehensive assessment.

Intimate Partner Violence and First Responder Trauma. Her professional background also includes work related to domestic violence, coercive relationships, abuse, and occupational trauma affecting first responders. Treatment in these contexts may require attention to ongoing safety, traumatic exposure, shame, organizational culture, sleep, hypervigilance, relationship strain, and concerns about professional consequences. Katelyn’s consultation and training help clinicians balance validation with careful risk assessment, documentation, referral, and collaboration when additional support is needed.

Clinical Training and Consultation. Katelyn provides workshops, consultation, and professional education for clinicians seeking stronger competence in trauma, DBT, EMDR, dissociation, mindfulness, relational abuse, and personality-related concerns. Her programs prioritize clear explanations, clinical examples, practical resources, and interventions that can be adapted to varied professional settings while remaining within the clinician’s scope of practice.

Authored Publications

• The DBT Workbook for Narcissistic Abuse and Gaslighting: Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills to Stay Emotionally Centered, Overcome Self-Doubt, and Reclaim Your Self-Worth