My interest in complex trauma, particularly vicarious trauma, PTSD, compassion fatigue, burnout and moral injury, emerged from my own personal encounters of working in professions that involved what I refer to as “traumatic exposures” – these may include reading about or viewing traumatic materials (such as films, images, online content, transcripts); the impact of a high stress environment where life or death decisions are made as a regular part of the job; or where the person is themselves a direct victim of violence or abuse, sexual, physical, psychological, financial or otherwise. A summary of trauma that rings true for me comes from Judith Lewis Herman, a psychiatrist, teacher, author, and researcher.
“Traumatic events call into question basic human relationships. They breach the attachments of family, friendship, love, and community. They shatter the construction of the self that is formed and sustained in relation to others. They undermine the belief systems that give meaning to human experience. They violate the victim’s faith in a natural or divine order and cast the victim into a state of existential crisis”.
Whatever form trauma takes and however it has affected us, it is vitally important to ensure we work with someone to help process these memories and move towards psychological, emotional and at times, spiritual integration. Integration is not forgetting, suppressing, or filing the memory away in a dark corner of the mind, but working through traumatic experience in a safe, supportive environment to make sense of what happened and find a way to carry these experiences forward as part of who we are.
Integral to this process is understanding that humans are not just their minds and thoughts but are multidimensional beings with a nervous system prewired for staying alert to danger; beings who have somatic (bodily) reactions that sometimes take over, and who emerge from and live within wide social and family networks that influence how we feel about and view ourselves. We hold memory in our bodies as well as our brains. The physical manifestations of trauma are natural responses to unnatural events rather than the inability of an individual to adequately cope. My approach works with the body, mind, soul, and the context of the human client in such a way that all aspects of life are considered, including the existential, the ontological and even the spiritual, if that is of interest to you. My approach is flexible, holistic, and focused on personal growth, development, and psychological expansion as well as integration of experiences which may feel overwhelming, damaging, destructive or limiting. I offer you compassion, non-judgement, validation, and the opportunity to engage in a journey of personal evolution that will move your life forward towards the possibilities of connection, deep growth, and an appreciation of the richness of being human. Working with you as you are, in a holistic sense, is part of my practice and the way we will work together in session.
