Meet Cynthia St. Clair

MA, LCMHC, LPC

Specialties: Nervous System Regulation, Trauma & Complex PTSD, Anxiety & Emotional Overwhelm, PMDD & Hormonal Mood Changes, Perimenopause, Highly Sensitive Women (HSPs), Life Transitions, Infertility, Reproductive Trauma & Grief, Sexual Assault, Body Image, Disenfranchised Grief

You may have spent years feeling like you are “too much” and not enough at the same time. Too emotional, too sensitive, too reactive, too overwhelmed, while also quietly carrying the pressure to hold everything together for everyone else. Maybe you find yourself questioning your emotions, your body, your relationships, or even your sense of self as you try to make sense of intense mood shifts, chronic overwhelm, trauma, grief, infertility, or emotional pain that feels difficult to explain to others.

For some women, these struggles become especially intense during certain parts of the month or during major hormonal transitions like perimenopause. You may notice yourself feeling unlike yourself, emotionally flooded, disconnected, irritable, anxious, hopeless, or exhausted, only to feel guilt and confusion afterward. For others, the pain comes from years of living in survival mode, carrying unresolved trauma, feeling emotionally unsafe, struggling with body image, or navigating losses that others may not fully understand or acknowledge.

Cynthia St. Clair, MA, LCMHC, LPC, specializes in supporting women navigating the complex intersection of hormones, mood, trauma, identity, and emotional overwhelm. She is especially passionate about working with women experiencing PMS and Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder (PMDD), the perimenopausal transition, infertility, highly sensitive women, and individuals carrying the effects of unprocessed trauma. Cynthia also supports women navigating complex PTSD, reproductive trauma and grief, body image concerns, sexual assault, disenfranchised grief, and major life transitions that can leave you feeling disconnected from yourself.

Many of the women Cynthia works with appear high functioning on the outside while internally feeling emotionally exhausted, overwhelmed, anxious, or deeply misunderstood. You may be the person everyone depends on while privately feeling like you are barely keeping your head above water. Therapy with Cynthia offers a space where you no longer have to minimize your experiences, explain away your pain, or carry everything alone.

Her approach is warm, compassionate, trauma informed, and deeply validating. Cynthia believes healing begins when women feel emotionally safe enough to slow down, reconnect with themselves, and begin understanding their experiences with greater compassion instead of shame. Together, therapy can help you better understand your nervous system, process unresolved pain, strengthen your sense of self, and move through life feeling more grounded, empowered, and emotionally connected.

Offering virtual therapy across North Carolina

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Nervous System Regulation & Somatic Therapy

You may feel like your body is constantly stuck in survival mode. Even when life appears “fine” from the outside, your nervous system may still feel overwhelmed, reactive, emotionally exhausted, anxious, shut down, or constantly on alert. You might notice racing thoughts, difficulty relaxing, irritability, emotional flooding, chronic tension, panic, numbness, or feeling disconnected from yourself and your body. For many women, especially those navigating trauma, hormonal shifts, PMDD, chronic stress, or emotional overwhelm, these responses are not a sign that something is “wrong” with you. They are signs that your nervous system has been carrying too much for too long.

Cynthia integrates nervous system regulation and somatic-based approaches into therapy to help women better understand how stress, trauma, emotions, and hormonal changes live not only in the mind, but also in the body. Rather than simply “thinking differently,” somatic therapy focuses on helping you feel safer, more grounded, and more connected within yourself. Together, therapy may include building awareness of your body’s responses, identifying triggers and patterns, developing regulation tools, and learning how to move out of chronic fight, flight, freeze, or overwhelm.

Many women come to Cynthia feeling emotionally exhausted from constantly trying to push through, stay productive, or hold everything together while their bodies quietly carry the weight of stress, grief, trauma, or emotional pain underneath the surface. Therapy offers a space where you no longer have to ignore what your body has been trying to communicate. Cynthia’s approach is compassionate, calming, and deeply validating, helping women reconnect with themselves, regulate their nervous systems, and begin feeling more emotionally safe, balanced, and present in their daily lives.

Highly Sensitive Women

Being highly sensitive means your nervous system experiences the world deeply. You may absorb the emotions and energy of others without even realizing it, feel overstimulated by noise, conflict, crowded environments, or emotional tension, and need more time alone to recover and reset. You may find yourself emotionally exhausted from constantly processing everything around you while still trying to show up for everyone else.

Many highly sensitive women grow up feeling misunderstood or believing they are “too emotional,” “too reactive,” or “too much.” Over time, you may have learned to hide your sensitivity, minimize your needs, stay hyperaware of other people’s emotions, or take on responsibility for keeping everyone around you okay. This can lead to chronic anxiety, burnout, people pleasing, nervous system overwhelm, emotional shutdown, or feeling disconnected from yourself.

The truth is, your sensitivity is not a flaw. It is a deeply attuned way of experiencing the world. Cynthia helps highly sensitive women better understand their nervous systems, recognize patterns of overstimulation and emotional overload, and create boundaries that protect their energy rather than deplete it. Through somatic therapy, nervous system regulation, mindfulness, and trauma-informed care, therapy can help you feel more grounded, emotionally safe, and connected to yourself without feeling like you need to harden who you are in order to survive.

Trauma and Complex PTSD

Trauma is not just about what happened to you, but how those experiences continue to live in your body and mind. Complex PTSD often develops from ongoing or relational trauma and can shape how you see yourself, your relationships, and your sense of safety.

You may notice patterns like overthinking, people pleasing, emotional shutdown, or feeling constantly on edge. You may feel disconnected from yourself or unsure why certain situations affect you so strongly.

These responses are not random. They are adaptations that once helped you cope. Cynthia provides a safe, trauma informed space to begin understanding these patterns, gently processing what you have been through, and creating new ways of relating to yourself and others.

PMS, PMDD & Hormonal Mood Changes

Hormonal changes can deeply impact the way you experience yourself, your emotions, your relationships, and your ability to move through daily life. You may notice that certain times of the month bring increased anxiety, emotional sensitivity, irritability, overwhelm, exhaustion, hopelessness, or a feeling that you are no longer fully yourself. For some women, these symptoms feel disruptive and confusing. For others, they can feel intense, debilitating, and impossible to explain to people who have never experienced them.

Many women seeking support for PMS, PMDD, or hormonal mood changes have spent years minimizing their experiences, blaming themselves, or trying to push through emotional pain in silence. You may feel emotionally flooded one week and then suddenly clear headed the next, left wondering what just happened and why it keeps repeating. Others may simply know that something feels “off” in their body and emotional world each month without fully understanding the connection between hormones, trauma, stress, and the nervous system.

Cynthia specializes in helping women navigate PMS, PMDD, hormonal mood changes, and nervous system dysregulation related to the menstrual cycle and perimenopause. With a background in Dance and Movement Therapy, yoga, somatic work, and women’s mental health, she brings a strong mind-body perspective into therapy. Cynthia has developed a hormone-informed healing model for PMDD that combines somatic awareness, nervous system regulation, lifestyle support, emotional processing, and practical coping tools to help women better understand and navigate their emotional patterns with greater stability and self-compassion.

Cynthia’s approach to therapy is embodied, trauma focused, and deeply relational. She integrates somatic therapy, Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), mindfulness practices, and depth-oriented work to support healing on both an emotional and physical level. Rather than only helping you intellectually understand your experiences, therapy with Cynthia focuses on helping you begin to actually feel different in your body, your relationships, and your daily life.

Many women leave therapy feeling relief simply from finally realizing they are not “too emotional,” “too sensitive,” or failing. Your experiences deserve to be taken seriously. Healing begins when your body no longer has to carry the weight of everything alone.

Perimenopause

Perimenopause is the transition leading up to menopause, and it can begin years before you expect it. During this time, hormone fluctuations can significantly impact mood, sleep, memory, and emotional regulation.
You may feel more anxious than usual, more irritable, or emotionally off balance. You might find yourself thinking, “Why do I feel like this? This is not me.”
This stage of life can feel disorienting, especially when there is little guidance or support. Cynthia helps you make sense of what your body is going through, while also supporting the emotional and identity shifts that often come with this transition so you can feel more grounded and like yourself again.

Infertility and Reproductive Grief & Loss

The experience of infertility, pregnancy loss, or complicated reproductive journeys can be deeply painful and often invisible to others. This type of grief can come in waves, hope and disappointment, longing and loss, all at once.

You may feel like your body has let you down. You may feel isolated watching others move through milestones you are still waiting for. You may carry grief that does not have a clear place to land or feel unsure how to talk about what you are going through.

Whether you are navigating infertility, miscarriage, pregnancy loss, or the emotional toll of trying to grow your family, your experience matters. Cynthia provides a space where this grief is honored without minimization, where you do not have to explain why it hurts, and where you can begin to process both the loss and the uncertainty in a way that feels supported and deeply understood.

Life Transitions

Even when change is expected or chosen, it can still feel overwhelming. Life transitions such as career shifts, relationship changes, or identity changes can bring uncertainty, grief, and a sense of losing your footing.

You may feel stuck between who you used to be and who you are becoming. You may feel pressure to have it all figured out, while internally feeling unsure or disconnected.

Cynthia helps you slow down and process these transitions so you can move forward with greater clarity, intention, and self trust.

Body Image

Body image struggles often go far beyond appearance. They can impact how you see yourself, how you show up in relationships, and how safe you feel in your own body.

You may find yourself in cycles of self criticism, comparison, or disconnection. You may feel like your body is something to fix, rather than something to understand.

Cynthia supports you in rebuilding a more compassionate and respectful relationship with your body, helping you move toward acceptance, awareness, and a deeper sense of connection.

Disenfranchised Grief

Some forms of grief are not always recognized or validated by others. This is known as disenfranchised grief. It may include grief related to fertility struggles, pregnancy loss, identity changes, or relationships that others do not fully understand.

When your grief is not acknowledged, it can feel especially isolating. You may question whether your feelings are valid or feel like you have to carry it alone.

In therapy, your grief is given space. Cynthia helps you process these experiences in a way that feels seen, supported, and meaningful.

Reproductive Trauma

Reproductive trauma can include experiences related to fertility challenges, pregnancy, birth, or medical procedures. These experiences can leave emotional imprints that are often misunderstood or minimized.

You may feel grief, anger, confusion, or a sense of disconnection from your body. You may struggle to trust your body again or feel alone in your experience.

With her background in women’s health and training as a birth doula, Cynthia offers informed, compassionate support to help you process these experiences and reconnect with your body in a way that feels safe.

Sexual Assault

Sexual trauma can deeply impact your sense of safety, identity, and relationship with your body. Healing from these experiences takes time, care, and a space that feels truly safe.

You may feel disconnected, guarded, or unsure how to move forward. You may carry feelings that are difficult to put into words.

Cynthia approaches this work with gentleness and respect, allowing you to move at your own pace while helping you rebuild a sense of safety, agency, and connection within yourself.

Her Approach

Cynthia’s approach to therapy is embodied, trauma focused, and deeply relational. She integrates somatic work, Dialectical Behavior Therapy, mindfulness, and depth oriented practices to support healing on both an emotional and physical level.

With a background in Dance and Movement Therapy, yoga, and women’s health, she brings a strong mind body perspective into her work. She developed a hormone informed healing model for PMDD that combines lifestyle support, somatic awareness, and practical tools to help clients better understand and navigate their emotional patterns.

Cynthia believes that healing happens through both insight and experience. Her work is collaborative, compassionate, and at times gently challenging, helping you not only understand yourself but begin to feel different in your body and your life.

Begin Your Healing Journey

If you are feeling overwhelmed, disconnected, or unsure of how to move forward, you do not have to figure it out alone.

There is a reason you are here. Something in you is ready for support, for understanding, and for change.

Cynthia would be honored to walk alongside you in this process. Reach out today to schedule a consultation and take the first step toward feeling more grounded, connected, and like yourself again.

Reach out today to schedule a consultation and take the next step toward a more grounded, balanced, and fulfilling life.

Accepted Insurances

Aetna, BCBC (excluding HealthyBlue, Blue Home, and Blue Local), Blue value, Cigna, and NC State Health Plan. Accepts self-pay and offers sliding scale rates.