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Your Trauma Doesn’t Define You, Healing Is Possible
Do certain triggers cause you to have panic attacks?
Have you questioned your self worth and value since the event?
Do you feel numb, spaced out, detached from your body?
Do you experience an unnerving feeling of being unsafe?
Are you constantly reliving the event, trying to figure out what you could’ve done differently?
If you answered yes to any of these questions, it’s likely that you have experienced a traumatic event.
Now, we know that you may not always label the things that you have experienced as traumatic. A particularly piercing comment from a friend in high school that has stuck with you until adulthood couldn’t possibly be trauma right? I can just imagine what you are thinking. “It’s just that you have a vivid memory”, it pops into your brain every once in a while, and each time you remember it, you experience similar feelings to how you felt when you were 15. In fact, if you really reflect, that one comment has actually impacted some of your relationships with others. But that’s not trauma right?
But that’s EXACTLY what it is.
Trauma is defined as “a deeply disturbing or distressing experience.”
This definition creates a broad spectrum in which traumas may be experienced by everyone AND for different types of experiences. Bottom line, that experience that you continue to experience as “just a vivid memory” may indeed be classified as trauma.
It can feel absolutely overwhelming, painful, and lonely after experiencing something traumatic. You can feel overcome with so many emotions that you don’t know what to do with them or how to process them. Trauma can instill a fear in you, sometimes unconscious, that can cause you to live life avoiding people, places, or things that remind you of the traumatic experience, which can make it difficult for you to function. For example, if you got into a car accident you may avoid getting in cars or avoid taking the same road the accident occurred on. If you had a difficult experience with a friend or a romantic relationship, you may avoid connecting with others or engage in surface level relationships that leave you feeling unfulfilled. You may find yourself repeatedly playing parts of the event over in your mind. It’s like no matter how much you try to forget about it and move on, the memories are always there. You try to focus on the present, the positive, like everyone tells you, but it doesn’t seem possible. Despite how long ago it happened, it’s still impacting you today and it seems like you can’t move forward.
Trauma can be different for everyone, along with your response to it. There is no one size fits all reaction. At Renewed Focus, we specialize in helping clients deal with and overcome their trauma. We are not therapists who deal with trauma, we are trauma therapists. Whether it happened last week,last year, or many years ago, we utilize our experience and passion to help you understand what happened, process the experience, and develop tools to help you move forward.
In our sessions, we’ll provide you with a safe, non-judgmental space where you can open up about what happened. Once you do, we’ll work together to help you figure out why you have certain thoughts, feelings, and behaviours and how you can overcome them. We will also help:
Redeveloping your sense of safety, both mentally and physically, can be one of the hardest steps of healing. During this stage, we will help you process your emotions and discuss things you can do in your day to day life to help you feel safe within. Feeling safe in the environment in which you live and interact, is just as important. The goal of establishing safety will be to help you no longer feel extremely vulnerable and to improve your confidence in yourself and your support circle to protect yourself.
As we mentioned earlier, one response to trauma may be avoiding anything that reminds you of the event. And while this may provide temporary relief, in the long run it can prevent you from truly living life. The last thing we want is for you to navigate life in fear. The next phase in trauma therapy includes helping you identify, understand, explore, and express your memories and feelings as they relate to your trauma.
Those feelings that seem like they come out of nowhere are actually tied to trauma reminders that you may not be aware of. This could be certain items or things, perhaps sounds, even people. As we explore your trauma, we can help you identify what your triggers are and come up with a plan to help you respond in a healthy way rather than running or avoiding, because that’s no way to live life!
Coping skills have many different names, but at Renewed Focus we like to think of them as tools for your emotional toolbox. It’s technically any healthy activity or habit that helps you deal with your emotions. Healthy coping skills can help soothe you, momentarily distract you, or help you tolerate your distress. In our sessions we will help you determine some healthy activities you can engage in after feeling triggered, so you can take back control of your life.
While it may not seem possible now, you can heal and overcome your trauma.
There is no trauma too “small” for therapy. If you experienced an event that has emotionally impacted you and is preventing you from living your best life, you could be suffering from trauma. With the help of therapy, we can help you process your feelings and take back control of your life.
Trauma is different for everyone, so without getting to know you and what you’ve gone through we can’t say why you haven’t been able to heal. But we can say that regardless of how long ago your traumatic event happened, if you haven’t taken the time to process your feelings and figure out healthy coping skills, it can be hard to heal.
It’s important that you look at therapy as an investment in yourself. An investment that could lead to less fear, a sense of peace, and the healing you’ve been searching for. As someone once said “Therapy has been the best financial investment I’ve ever made in myself!” That’s how we want you to feel! Like this investment makes complete and total sense because my sense of peace, finding my authentic self, and ridding myself of this damn monster is totally worth it!
While we are not paneled with any insurance companies, we still believe in helping our clients obtain the best possible care. We are Out of Network Providers, which means we can help you submit claims to your insurance so that you can take advantage of your out of network benefits. We take care of that process (if you would like) so you do not have to worry about any of the red tape or paperwork. We also gladly accept vouchers from the Love Land Foundation to help offset the cost of your therapy. Please don’t let cost be your barrier. Give us a call and let’s talk about it.
Are you ready to take the next step and are interested in reaching out to one of our therapists for trauma therapy? If you think Renewed Focus is a good fit, we invite you to contact us today for a free consultation. We look forward to hearing from you.
