Trauma Work

Over the past 10+ years there’s been a huge push for practitioners to become more trauma informed, as evidenced by the number of counselors listing trauma as a specialty on Psychology Today. I think this definition of trauma captures it the best:

“A psychological and emotional response to an event or series of events that are deeply distressing or disturbing, which overwhelms a person’s ability to cope, causes feelings of helplessness, and can lead to lasting negative effects on a person’s mental, emotional, and physical well-being.”

Note that in this definition of trauma is not the event(s) that happened (i.e., a car accident) but the psychological and emotional response to them which were deeply distressing or disturbing. Trauma generally has lifelong effects on a person’s quality of life until it is properly reprocessed. Unlike general mental health, which is usually focused on learning to live with a condition in healthy and productive ways, trauma work seeks to resolve the trauma (psychological and emotional response) completely. What an exciting thought! It requires courage on the part of the person who experienced the trauma and skill in the practitioner helping.

The two forms of counseling I use in trauma work are EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing) and IFS (Internal Family Systems). Both are independently helpful, and many practitioners also combine them. Both treatment types can be successfully done through telehealth. Doing trauma work has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my career! People do change and are freed from their past. I can’t guarantee you will have the same results but I will do what is within my power to help us get there.