Trauma-Informed Therapy
Trauma occurs when too much happens too soon and too fast for your usual coping skills. Trauma can be a single event, like a car crash. Trauma can also be repeated experiences of being devalued either in childhood or as an adult. Living within a society that threatens your well-being or the well-being of those you care about can also result in trauma. For example, diet culture, transphobic legislation, and the violent conditions of injustice are traumatic to many.
What you’re going through matters. You deserve room to heal.
Somatic Experiencing
I have completed over 75 hours of training and approved consultations in Somatic Experiencing (SE) as I work toward becoming a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner (SEP). After over a decade of working with trauma in therapy, I decided I needed additional training in not just talk therapy but also in the role of the body in healing.
SE is an approach to trauma therapy that was named by Dr. Peter A. Levine. This therapeutic method recognizes that trauma isn't just a psychological issue; it also affects the body on a profound level.
Trauma is not just in the mind, but is also in the body. Trauma therapy that relies only on traditional talk therapy misses the experience of the body and can therefore be incomplete or inefficient. For example, the traumatic impact of a car accident does not just include panic but also the body’s remembered experience of the physical impact of airbags. It is not just the thinking self, but also the bodymind that is in need of healing.
Through SE, we engage with the body's innate healing mechanisms and release stored traumatic energy, leading to profound healing and resolution of trauma-related symptoms.
Clients who have experienced trauma often worry they will overwhelm their therapist.
This is a normal concern because most clients who come to therapy are themselves overwhelmed. Trauma informed therapy is an opportunity for skilled, trustworthy space to be held for you. Who you are and what you have experienced are not too much.
Clients who have experienced trauma also often believe what they have experienced is too little or is insignificant compared to what someone else has experienced.
Minimizing what we’ve experienced can be a way of coping. At the same time, what you have experienced is important and significant. You deserve to have a life that is not interrupted or made small. Trauma Informed Therapy is a place where a brave space is held for the true impact and significance of all of your experiences.