When healing from trauma, recovery means the ability to live in the present without being overwhelmed by the thoughts, feelings, and physical experiences of the past. An event becomes traumatic when a person experiences helplessness, isolation and the loss of power and control.
The process of safe trauma recovery involves layers of interventions that occur in a therapeutic setting based on the needs of the client. In order to improve a person’s quality of life, the focus is on:
Working together, the client and therapist will decide if it is best to address specific memories in detail or more generally. Safety throughout the entire process is essential. Rather than focus on the explicit memory, we may decide to work with what is occurring in the body through images, sensations, and movements. Most importantly, we want to help our clients to live in the here and now with a sense of safety and empowerment.
Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) is a skill-based therapy that teaches people how to live in the moment, cope with stress using healthy coping skills, regulate emotions, and improve relationships with others.
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is an eight-phase therapeutic treatment that identifies and addresses experiences that have overwhelmed the brain's natural ability to process and cope with distressful experiences.
Sensorimotor Psychotherapy is a body-oriented form of therapy that focuses on healing the whole person – physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. The approach begins with noticing the body.
