Healing & Recovery from Trauma
Healing from trauma can feel overwhelming and challenging. Breaking the process down into manageable stages can help you navigate your journey towards recovery. Here I will outline a 3-stage approach to healing and recovery pioneered by Judith Herman.
Stabilisation
Safety & Grounding
Resources
Self-Regulation
Activations & Triggers
How trauma effects your brain and nervous system
Processing
Remembering & Mourning
Sharing your story
Integration
Sense of Agency & Self-Identity
Healthy Relationships & Boundaries Empowerment & Ability to Thrive
Phase 1 - Beginning: Safety & Stability
Embarking on a healing journey from trauma or challenging experiences can be likened to learning how to swim. Initially, it's crucial to get comfortable in the shallow end, focusing on developing coping strategies and self-care routines. Together, we'll craft tools to help manage intense emotions or triggers, incorporating simple practices like breathing exercises to foster relaxation and present-moment awareness. Understanding the disruption trauma causes to memory and time perception is vital, as past events might feel ongoing. These strategies will enrich your toolkit, supporting your journey outside our sessions.
Exploring how trauma affects your brain, body, and behaviours is also critical. Empowering you with knowledge offers new insights into your experiences. Establishing healthy boundaries, minimizing trigger exposure, and building supportive networks are essential steps in this phase.
Phase 2 - Explorations: Trauma Processing
The processing of trauma isn't just about recalling past events; it's about understanding how these experiences have woven themselves into your present thoughts, feelings, and physical sensations. We'll map out these experiences in a way manageable for you. Together, we might uncover and challenge any unhelpful beliefs or behavioural patterns that hold you back. Remember, as we navigate through this, we'll be seeking out those everyday things that are food for the soul and help steady the heart. Maybe it’s making time in a busy schedule to sit down with a cup of tea, maybe it's pouring your thoughts into a journal, maybe it's just a slow walk through the park. It's all about finding and supporting what makes you feel steady, at peace, and more 'you'.
Phase 3 - New Horizons: Integration & Growth
The last part of our journey together shifts focus to growth and integration. It's like coming up for a breath of fresh air after a challenging deep dive. This is where we start to weave together all the insights and learning from the first two phases into the messy tapestry of everyday life.
In this phase, you're not only acknowledging the distance you've travelled, but how far you have come. There's an opportunity to cultivate new perspectives, attitudes and to turn up the volume on your own wisdom. This part of your journey is about embracing those discoveries, and translating them into regular practices and tools for continued growth. This is about you having control and cultivating a sense of empowerment.
Remember, this three-stage approach is a roadmap rather than a strict plan. The process of healing and recovery is deeply personal and unique, and my role is to accompany you along your path. Your journey is fluid – meaning you will revisit different stages as you continue to discover your unique strengths, and connect to your own creativity.
Healing and recovering from trauma isn't straightforward, instead it can often feel like navigating difficult terrain - twisting, turning, and full of surprises. But along the way, you may stumble upon hidden treasures - moments of insight and personal growth. With time, commitment, and the right support, I am a firm believer that not only is healing from trauma possible, it's right there, within your reach.
