Trauma Therapy and Recovery

Trauma Therapy: Recovery and Healing

Trauma therapy will support you in living a happier and healthier life.  Past unresolved trauma or ongoing trauma affects all aspects of your life.  Explore this page to learn more.

“Trauma recovery involves much more than remembering and processing the traumatizing incidents.
In fact, for some of you, focusing on the past will not be necessary, or desirable.  Trauma recovery must, first and foremost, improve your quality of life.  Anything which furthers that goal is good for you; anything which compromises that goal is not.”

Source: Babette Rothschild, 8 Keys to Safe Trauma Recovery

Trauma therapy and recovery for Childhood Abuse and Adult Relational Trauma include:

  • Creating a sense of stability and safety inside and outside therapy
  • Knowing that remembering or retelling the story is not required
  • Fostering self-esteem and empowering you to make decisions that benefit you
  • Working in small steps and applying the brake as needed to avoid re-traumatization
  • Building resources by honoring current coping strategies and increasing healthy coping skills
  • Calming of your nervous system so you can think more clearly and make decisions more easily
  • Learn how to tap into and listen to your body’s inherent wisdom

Begin Your Healing Journey Today

Call Loretta to discuss how trauma therapy will support in you creating a calmer and happier life.

231-434-8587

Recovery Process

Phase I: Stabilization and Safety

In the first stage of trauma therapy, the emphasis is on helping trauma survivors to gain control over their symptoms. This is necessary to ensure that the circumstances of your daily life are safe and secure, and that the therapeutic environment and relationship feel safe.

Phase II: Remembering and processing trauma memories

This phase may or may not be necessary.  Sometimes stabilization is all that is needed and sometimes trauma processing is beneficial.  We decide together the best approch once stabilization is consistent in daily living.

Recovery Tools

Mindfulness:  We use mindfulness during trauma therapy to focus on self-awareness of thoughts, feelings, body sensations, images and impulses as they move in and out of your consciousness.

Education:  You’ll learn the physiological and emotional responses to trauma for better self-understanding and to reduce shame and guilt.  Most people do not understand the automatic responses of the mind and body during and after trauma.

Narrative:  In phase two of trauma therapy you’ll explore the present, release the past, and create your future.  This can be done verbally, visually, in writing, with hypnotherapy and/or equine assisted therapy.

Trauma Therapy Outcomes

Body: You will safely reconnect to your physical and energetic sensations.

Feelings:  You will express your emotions, moods, fears, and desires in a safe and nurturing space.

Mind:  You will learn to communicate thoughts and internal images verbally and visually.

Thriving: You are here.  You survived.  It is now time to thrive.

Childhood Abuse:  How it impacts your life.

Childhood abuse shapes the survivors life in unconscious ways.  If you were physically or sexually abused as a child, it may be impacting your life and the lives of others in more ways than you know.  Abuse is a significant factor in your self-concept, self-esteem, relationships, lifestyle and self-care choices.  It can define how you relate to others and your capacity to be emotionally connected in relationships.  Often your choices and habits are rooted in the trauma experience.

Many survivors have never spoken about the experience to anyone.  Those who confide in friends or family often find that their friends and family cannot provide the support needed to heal the deep wounding.  Either way, the effects of trauma can leave you feeling unsafe and out of control.

You are not alone.  Most advocacy organizations state that 1 in 4 girls and 1 in 6 boys are a victim of childhood sexual abuse.*  Many experts believe these statistics are low.  Taking charge of your own course of recovery will help you to reclaim control over yourself, your symptoms, and your life. 

Childhood Sexual Abuse Statistics: http://naasca.org/2012-Resources/010812-StaisticsOfChildAbuse.htm

Adult Relational Trauma

Adult relational trauma is the exploitative harm done to one person by another in a primary relationship.  This includes physical, verbal, emotional, and sexual abuse, rape, assault, neglect, or abandonment. Primary relationships are characterized by personal and intimate relationships.  These include family, close friends, romantic partners, and religious/spiritual/social groups.

Romantic partner trauma is often called domestic violence, intimate partner violence, domestic abuse or relationship abuse.  It is a pattern of behaviors used by one partner to maintain power and control over another partner in an intimate relationship.

Experiening trauma as an adult shapes the survivors life in conscious and unconscious ways.  As described above, abuse is a significant factor in your self-concept, self-esteem, relationships, lifestyle and self-care choices.  For more information about domestic violence and realtional trauma, see the National Domestic Violence Hotline

*Although the Power & Control Wheel uses she/her pronouns for the victim and assumes a male perpetrator, abuse can happen to people of any gender in any type of relationship.

Begin Your Healing Journey Today

Call Loretta to discuss how to receive the support you deserve.

231-434-8587