Trauma

Trauma is often misunderstood to be solely about abuse or assault. However when we feel overwhelmed and don’t have the support around us we have the potential of being traumatized.

Waterfall

Ordinary life events that may include a dental procedure, surgery, experiencing a fall, terminal illness, a move, the death of a loved one or just growing up in a family can be traumatizing. Counselling helps to renegotiate and resolve trauma bringing increased joy and vitality into daily life.

Trauma is an emotional response to a distressing event. Immediately after the event, shock and denial are typical. Longer term reactions include unpredictable emotions, flashbacks, strained relationships and even physical symptoms like headaches or nausea.

A traumatic event is an experience that causes physical, emotional, psychological distress, or harm. It is an event that is perceived and experienced as a threat to one's safety or to the stability of one's world.

“Trauma is a fact of life but it doesn’t have to be a life sentence.”

Peter Levine; Pioneer in working with the body to resolve trauma

Trauma literally reshapes both body and brain, compromising sufferers' capacities for pleasure, engagement, self-control, and trust. Trauma victims cannot recover until they become familiar with and befriend the sensations in their bodies.

Trauma is specifically an event that overwhelms the central nervous system,altering the way we process and recall memories. Trauma is not the story ofsomething that happened back then, it’s the current imprint of that pain,horror, and fear living inside people. Trauma therapy allows people to be in the present and safely visit the past.

“The single most important issue for traumatized people is to find a sense of safety in their own bodies”

Bessel A. van der Kolk
One of the world's foremost experts on trauma and author of The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma


Susan Hrovat, Registered Social Worker - Psychotherapist