Trauma Recovery Counseling
People often wonder if negative experiences they endure are considered trauma. A traumatic event is anything that exceeds our ability to cope, leaving us overwhelmed or frightened. This can be one event such as a car accident or natural disaster, or repeated exposure to experiences that slowly chip away at our sense of wholeness.
Our brain is programmed to keep us safe. Part of how it does that is assessing our environment for signs of danger. It can also search for patterns- trying to predict cause and effect. However, traumatic experiences do not get integrated into our body or long-term memories like “normal” memories. Often, because the experience is overwhelming, the memories of such events are fragmented, and largely focused on our senses. This is why seeing, smelling, hearing, tasting or touching certain items can trigger flashbacks or negative sensations in the body. These experiences do not just get stored in our brain, but deep within our nervous system.
Trauma Recovery Counseling might be right for you if are:
having nightmares, or unwanted memories of the traumatic event.
trying to avoid thinking or talking about the event.
feeling distrustful of others, and perhaps even yourself.
experiencing difficulty focusing and remembering.
feeling numb, irritable or on edge.
Overwhelmed with guilt and shame.
Together, we can evaluate how these experiences have impacted how you see yourself and the world. Healing is non-linear, and everyone’s path is different, but recovery is possible.
I help clients navigate PTSD and CPTSD with an IFS informed approach as well as EMDR.
If you want to do some self-exploration regarding trauma, I recommend:
What Happened to You (Bruce Perry, Oprah Winfrey)
Waking the Tiger (Pete Walker)
The Body Remembers (Babette Rothschild)
“Being traumatized means continuing to organize your life as if the trauma were still going on-unchanged and immutable- as every new encounter or event is contaminated by the past”- Bessel Van der Kolk