
Who I am and Why I'm Here
Hi, I’m Isabella Pugliese, a Connecticut-based therapist and founder of The Ventral Space.
The work I do today grew out of one question I couldn’t stop asking:
Why is nobody talking about this?
That question started to emerge as I began learning more about the nervous system and how it shapes our internal experiences.
Everyone has a nervous system, yet most of us were never taught how to understand it.
Mine spent years stuck in survival mode, and for a long time, I thought that was just who I was. I was always thinking, anticipating, overanalyzing, and trying to stay one step ahead—all while wondering why life felt so much harder than it seemed to be for everyone else.
That frustration sent me down a rabbit hole of psychology, attachment, trauma, and the nervous system.
Along the way, I realized something that changed everything:
Nothing was wrong with me.
My nervous system had simply adapted to the experiences it had lived through.
That realization changed not only how I understood myself, but how I practice therapy.
Today, I work with women who are tired of feeling stuck in the same patterns and ready to understand the story behind them.
My approach is relational, trauma-informed, and grounded in the belief that healing doesn't happen by trying harder or becoming someone new.
It begins with understanding yourself with compassion, in the context of a safe, supportive relationship where new experiences become possible.
From there, we gently reconnect with the parts of you that got lost beneath survival.
