Katrina L Sanyal, MA, LPC, RDT

Meet Katrina

I’m a licensed professional counselor with the bones of a storyteller, the heart of a drama therapist, and the muscles of a trauma-focused therapist. 

I’m the clinical director and founder of Threshold Center for Trauma and Creative Arts Therapy, which is a practice centered on serving people who have experienced traumatic events and loss across the lifespan.

I work with clients to help them move out of disconnection and distress and cross the threshold into a life of understanding, authentic expression, possibility, and connection.

With my approach to trauma therapy, the first stage of treatment is about finding the most accessible entry point for our work together.

I collaborate with you to find the most accessible threshold to start your therapeutic work, and I have many different therapeutic tools to help us do that, including:

Trauma Therapy

  • Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing (EMDR), with a focus on the Recent Traumatic Events Protocol (R-TEP)

  • Drama Therapy

  • Expressive Arts Therapy

  • Group Therapy

  • Parts Work (Trauma Informed Stabilization Treatment (TIST) and Internal Family Systems)

  • Psychodrama

  • Trauma-Centered Developmental Transformations

  • Trauma-Centered Psychotherapy

  • Narrative Therapy

  • Tarot Therapy

I also offer extended EMDR intensives for clients who are ready to commit to focused, in-depth therapeutic work over a concentrated period of longer sessions over several months.

I have specialized experience with survivors of sexual assault, adults and children processing recent trauma, and clients with dissociative systems.

My style is direct, collaborative, and fully engaged. We will work well together if you are ready to get to work, committed to real change, and looking for a clinician who will meet that commitment with you fully.

EMDR Intensives

Before becoming a therapist, I spent over a decade in international education, leadership development, and the social sector, primarily in India.

I directed fellowship and study-abroad programs and facilitated storytelling and creative workshops with immigrant communities, women's empowerment groups, and alternative schools.

I also performed globally as a storyteller, theatre artist, and dancer across India, South Africa, Thailand, Japan, and the United States.

These prior experiences inform how I show up for clients today as I bring in years of experience mentoring individuals from diverse backgrounds, an eye for innovation, strategy, and program design, and a deep understanding of how narrative, creativity and ritual help us reconnect with ourselves.

Trauma Therapy

My Education and Development

  • I hold a master’s degree in clinical Mental Health Counseling, specializing in Drama Therapy, from Lesley University.

  • I am a Registered Drama Therapist (RDT) and completed EMDR training through the Center for Excellence in EMDR.

  • My clinical career has included residential substance use treatment, school-based counseling with refugee children, private practice, and specialty trauma clinics.

  • One area of particular focus for me is cross-cultural therapy, including drama therapy with refugee and immigrant children which I've presented on at conferences and published in the Drama Therapy Review.

I grew up between multiple cultures and have called many places home, including Germany, India, New York City, the Twin Cities, and Connecticut.

I now live in Madison, Wisconsin, where in my free time you'll find me learning Flamenco dance, kayaking, throwing pottery, or curating my spice cabinet. I speak English, German, and Hindi.

Reach Out for Therapy

Here, at Threshold, we hold both meanings around the symbol of the pomegranate: it represents the moment of no return, and the delicacy and care required to understand what that experience uniquely means to you.

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