Specialties and Therapeutic Approach
Vanessa H. Roddenberry, Ph.D., is a licensed psychologist and trauma specialist in Raleigh, North Carolina. With nearly two decades of experience in trauma treatment, she brings both clinical depth and systems-level expertise to her work. She is the founder of Breyta Psychological Services and provides specialized, evidence-based psychotherapy and psychological assessment for adults and couples navigating trauma, Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), moral injury, burnout, insomnia, and complex relational challenges.
Her work is grounded in rigorous scientific research, psychological flexibility science, and an unwavering commitment to clinical integrity. Dr. Roddenberry works with individuals who seek depth rather than surface-level symptom management and who are prepared to engage meaningfully in lasting change.
Trauma and PTSD Treatment
As a trauma psychologist, Dr. Roddenberry is extensively trained in the assessment and treatment of acute and complex trauma, including: accidents, natural disasters, traumatic loss, combat exposure, Military Sexual Trauma (MST), moral injury, childhood abuse and neglect, interpersonal violence, sexual or physical abuse, first responder trauma, medical trauma, birth trauma, and cumulative toxic stress.
She provides trauma-informed assessment and structured, gold-standard PTSD treatment using Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT) and Prolonged Exposure (PE), integrated within an Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) framework. You can read more about the American Psychological Association’s clinical practice guidelines in the treatment of PTSD in this report. Her approach directly addresses avoidance, trauma-related beliefs, and emotional constriction while strengthening resilience and psychological flexibility. With nearly twenty years of experience in trauma-focused settings, including Veterans Affairs medical centers, she has witnessed the evolution of trauma treatment firsthand and remains committed to delivering care that reflects best practices and empirical support.
She is passionate about helping clients develop empathy and self-compassion for the way trauma or toxic stress can impact their lives and behaviors. She has particular expertise in helping clients foster posttraumatic growth, develop resiliency, and make meaning following trauma. She enjoys assisting clients as they navigate the path from “survivor” to “thriver.”
Who Seeks Her Work
Dr. Roddenberry is often sought out by high-functioning professionals, parents, veterans, first responders, physicians, attorneys, executives, and entrepreneurs who:
- Have previously engaged in therapy and want a more specialized approach
- Value scientific rigor and clinical depth
- Are ready to address trauma at its roots
- Want durable change rather than temporary relief
Her practice serves Raleigh, Wake Forest, and the greater Triangle area, offering both in-person and secure telehealth services.
Dr. Roddenberry views therapy as a collaborative process in which therapist and client form an empathic alliance as they work together towards the client’s goal. Her therapeutic approach is integrative and evidence-based; providing support, skills education, and practical feedback to help clients effectively address personal life challenges and enhance well-being. She employs complementary, results-oriented methodologies such as mindfulness and acceptance based techniques (ACT) to offer a highly personalized approach tailored to each client. With compassion and understanding, she builds on clients’ existing strengths to develop resiliency and attain the personal or professional growth they are committed to accomplishing. She believes that every person inherently possesses the strength and values needed to live a healthy and authentic life. She sees the work she does with clients as illuminating these strengths, helping them to gain perspective on thoughts and behaviors that are barriers to change, and providing them with the tools and insight needed to activate their capabilities in order to reach their full potential.
Dr. Roddenberry is a third-wave cognitive behavioral therapist whose work centers on psychological flexibility. Rather than attempting to eliminate painful thoughts or emotions, her approach helps clients change their relationship to internal experience so they can remain grounded, present, and values-directed even under stress.
Emotional suffering often persists not because individuals are weak, but because avoidance temporarily relieves distress while narrowing life. Therapy focuses on expanding capacity by increasing willingness, clarity, and purposeful action, so that clients move from constriction toward resilience, meaning, and posttraumatic growth.
In short, she helps her clients be present, open up, and do what matters. This means that you acknowledge bothersome thoughts or feelings but don’t get so caught up trying to suppress, avoid, or change them; rather, we focus on how to stay present despite them and move toward what’s meaningful.
Her expertise in evidence-based psychotherapies includes:
- Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR)
- Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
- Process-Based Therapy (PBT)
- Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT)
- Prolonged Exposure Therapy (PE)
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I)
- Motivational Interviewing (MI)
- Stress Inoculation Skills Training (SIT)
- Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) Skills Training
- Problem Solving Therapy (PST)
- Seeking Safety
- Schema Therapy
- Cognitive Behavioral Couples Therapy
Education and Experience
Dr. Roddenberry received a B.A. in Cultural Anthropology and International Studies from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, as well as an M.A. in Psychology from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. She earned her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Tennessee. She was selected for predoctoral internship at the Hampton Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Hampton, Virginia. Following completion of her doctoral degree, Dr. Roddenberry was offered a postdoctoral fellowship in Women’s Health and Trauma at the Hampton Veterans Affairs Medical Center.
During her postdoctoral training, Dr. Roddenberry assisted in the development and implementation of an innovative recovery-based model of patient-centered, integrative health care for female Veterans. Her clinical experience includes work in outpatient, inpatient, and domiciliary settings. She has worked with a variety of clinical populations, such as Posttraumatic Stress, Women’s Health, Primary Care Mental Health, Military Sexual Trauma, Psychiatric Inpatient, Mental Health Outpatient, and Health Promotion and Disease Prevention, among others.
In addition to clinical experience, Dr. Roddenberry has held supervisory and educational roles, such as serving as National Coordinator for a collaborative training program on evidence-based mental health care techniques between the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Defense Center of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury. Dr. Roddenberry is also trained in program evaluation and process improvement techniques. She completed Lean Six Sigma Green Belt training through the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Dr. Roddenberry is a licensed psychologist and health service provider in psychology (HSP-P) in Raleigh, North Carolina. She is credentialed as a Health Service Psychologist (HSP) by the National Register of Health Service Psychologists.
Additional Trainings
Through the Center for Deployment Psychology, Dr. Roddenberry received in-depth training as a provider in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I), Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT) for PTSD, and Prolonged Exposure Therapy (PE) for PTSD. Dr. Roddenberry completed an additional six months of case consultation and training through the Department of Veterans Affairs required to become nationally certified in CPT.