Trauma can change the way we experience our bodies, leaving us feeling tense, on edge, disconnected, numb, or like a live wire, buzzing with residual activation. This can happen even when we are no longer in danger. For some trauma survivors, the body may feel overwhelming, unpredictable, or even inaccessible, rather than the place of comfort, belonging, and familiarity we hope for.
Read MoreDo you ever find yourself making yourself small or holding back who you are or how you feel for fear of it overwhelming the other person? Do you worry that if you were yourself it would be too much? Do you have trouble knowing what you want or need?
Read MoreYou’ve likely heard of fight, flight, and freeze. But you may not have heard of the fourth “F”: fawn. You might think of fawning as people-pleasing, over-accommodating, not rocking the boat with your own boundaries, needs, or wants.
Read MoreThere’s been a true uptick in political unrest over the last couple of weeks. It’s a lot to take in, and you may be feeling the powerlessness that comes with watching things unfold and not knowing what you can do about it.
Read MorePerhaps one of the unexpected challenges of life after trauma, is the struggle to connect and linger with enjoyable or pleasurable experiences. Sometimes a nervous system stuck in a trauma response, doesn’t have much tolerance for enjoyment. This can be the result of shut-down, hypervigilance, fear, and anxiety.
Read MoreWhen the news is filled with violence—political assassinations, escalating war, hunger and malnutrition, and other traumatic events—it can take a toll on our emotional well-being. It’s important to know how this kind of media exposure can affect your mental health and what you can do to care for yourself.
Read MoreI’ve often noticed a connection between people who have experienced trauma and the challenge with emotional expression. This tends to go one of two ways for folks: either a difficulty accessing, identifying, and communicating feelings OR on the other end of the spectrum, emotional flooding and difficulty with regulating big emotions.
Read MoreWhen we talk about “trauma-informed therapy,” we’re not simply referring to a specific technique or set of tools. Rather, it’s a way of approaching therapy that recognizes the pervasive impact trauma can have on a person’s life, and it’s centered around creating a safe, supportive environment where healing can take place.
Read MoreYou might have heard how trauma can blur our sense of time and place. We can be reacting to something in the present moment but really our reaction is informed by something that happened in the past.
Read MoreWhen you have someone around you who you know has experienced trauma, this is the first invitation in service of supporting them: be curious and compassionate. It is not uncommon for people to minimize their own experiences or feel shame about them.
Read MoreYou may have noticed there’s a lot going on in our political news right now. This can feel true so much of the time, but tensions have really ramped up during this election year.
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