Has there been a rift in your relationship that feels painful, frustrating, or irreparable?
Do both people want to show up and work on it—hoping to find a way forward?
How to Repair Love with Trauma-Informed Couples Therapy Read More »
Watching a loved one struggle with any kind of substance dependence fills many of us with worry, confusion, and questions. What can we do?
Understanding trauma’s role in addiction will help more of us lead the change in attitude we need.
Addiction Recovery: Why the Best Therapy is Trauma-Informed Read More »
Trauma-informed therapy is an approach that guides us in creating a safe environment that empowers you to find healing.
Trauma-informed care provides a foundation for the trust and resources that people need in order to work with emotional struggles and to change how those challenges impact them today. When you feel safe in therapy, you can learn and grow from challenging experiences toward greater wellbeing.
Trauma-informed therapy is the key to understanding your experiences, without becoming flooded, overwhelmed, or re-traumatized when bringing up painful issues.
Trauma-informed care (TIC) makes the process of therapy as safe, productive and beneficial to you as possible.
Even if you think your issues have nothing to do with trauma, you can benefit tremendously from working with a trauma-informed therapist. You are working with someone who is aware of the impact of emotional and psychological stress on the mind and body. A trauma-informed therapist will use that awareness to help you in every way possible.
TIC recognizes that emotionally overwhelming experiences — or traumas — lie at the root of many mental, emotional and behavioral challenges people want to heal. Because the person seeking therapy may not see the connection, we take responsibility to keep ourselves informed about the impact of trauma so we can help a person safely explore their experiences in therapy.
Trauma can come from any experience in which a person feels endangered. Trauma can happen regardless of the circumstances or how others react to the same situation. Trauma impacts the
As we approach two long years experiencing the global trauma of COVID, we are hoping things are winding down to allow more manageable challenges. Yet many are experiencing symptoms familiar to those experienced by survivors of any long-term or chronic developmental relational trauma (CPTSD).
6 signs of trauma after COVID: Finding your path to healing Read More »
CDC research shows more than 60 percent of American adults have as children experienced at least one ACE (adverse childhood experience), and almost a quarter of adults have experienced 3 or more ACEs — and this is likely an underestimate. [Source: CDC]
Because emotional trauma is so prevalent, you are likely a trauma survivor; you are in a relationship with a trauma survivor — or both.
You deserve love and harmony no matter your scars from trauma Read More »
So many relationship experts have embraced the idea of love languages. They became popular with Gary Chapman’s 1992 book, The 5 Love Languages, for the ways partners show love and care: acts of service, physical touch, words, gifts, quality time. Yet none of these can exist in a meaningful, enriching way without one basic element — safety.
Safety is the foundation for all of the love languages.
Safety is the prerequisite for everything else in a healthy relationship.
This Missing Love Language Is the One Trauma Survivors Need Most — Safety Read More »
The word trauma is so important to help those who suffer from emotional injury. Yet people so often think of trauma as only including physical or sexual injury. Many overlook its role in their overall health and quality of life. They don’t know they are struggling with a changed nervous system that leads to a wide range of physical and emotional symptoms. Confusion about the emotional injury we call trauma is a barrier to care.
That’s why it’s important to help more people understand the emotional side of trauma. By being clear that we use a definition of trauma to include the impact of mental and emotional issues, we can help more people better understand and talk about their mental health care.
When I talk about trauma survivors, I am speaking about anyone who has survived any type of physical, emotional or sexual trauma. Working with a trauma survivor means working with anyone who seeks to heal from the resulting personal impact on their lives. It doesn’t matter whether the impact looks like PTSD, CPTSD, coping mechanisms, dissociation, difficulty in relationships, addiction, eating disordered behavior, a myriad of other “symptoms,” or any of all of the above.
Recently I tried to bring clarity and dive a little deeper into the exact terminologies and what they look like. I’ve addressed complex post-traumatic stress disorder (CPTSD), PTSD, and how CPTSD is different from PTSD. These specific terms have their place in describing deeper aspects of trauma. However, we also need a way to
If someone tries to erode your self-confidence, deny your experience, or plant seeds of self-doubt, there’s a word for that: Gaslighting.
Gaslighting is abuse. It happens in relationships, often without the awareness of the person receiving it. It can cause trauma. And it’s never okay.
We need to know more about what gaslighting is, and why someone would use it. Trauma survivors may be more susceptible to this kind of abuse, so it’s important to understand what gaslighting is and realize when it is happening in a situation, and how to deal with it.
Gaslighting In a Relationship Explained: A Trauma-Informed View Read More »
After living through abuse, neglect, or violence, it’s normal to promise yourself you will never let that happen again. That promise seems to make sense. You need to feel safe, to find some sense of control. Otherwise, the danger and powerlessness you feel are too hard to live with.
Control As a Trauma Response: Knowing You Were Powerless Helps You Heal Read More »
If you and your partner want to pursue couples therapy, that’s commendable! There is so much hope and help available in therapy. What if you’re dealing with intimate partner abuse or violence (IPV)? Therapy for domestic violence requires a trauma-informed approach.
