Trauma

What exactly is trauma? The word trauma gets tossed around a lot in in our everyday lives, and so it can be confusing as to when to label something “trauma,” and thereby when to identify with it. Generally, trauma is your response to an experience or experiences that threatens your well-being, overwhelming your system so that you are unable to cope or process what has happened. What may be traumatic to you may not be to someone else, based on your particular physiology and life experiences. Trauma can be the result of major events, such as a natural disaster or war; it can be the effect of ongoing harm such as physical or sexual abuse, neglect, chronic stress or frequent invalidation; it can result from events such as divorce or discrimination, to list only several examples that are broad in scope.

Depending on how it presents for you, healing from trauma can take many forms in therapy. We will first work to gain an understanding of who you are, how your trauma shows up in your life, and the coping mechanisms you have developed to survive, whether it’s “fight, flight, freeze, or fawn.” Some of our clinicians use EMDR (eye movement desensitization and reprocessing), some use “parts work” pulled from Internal Family Systems, some use art, some use unstructured approaches. All will provide you with psychoeducation about trauma and your particular trauma response so that you can better understand what is happening for you, and therein feel empowered. Creating a sense of inner safety and establishing trust is the key to feeling secure.