Trauma
What is trauma?
Trauma is our psyche’s response to a wide array of stressful events, experiences, and situations in our lives that cause us to feel powerless or out of control. We can experience trauma from childhood experiences like neglect or abuse as well as everyday adult life such as poverty, racism, abusive relationships and mental illness. Trauma can be as big as severe sexual, physical, or emotional abuse or as seemingly small as not being responded to in the subtle everyday ways that we needed as children.
We have all experienced trauma over our lifetimes, and as humans, we can be considered a traumatized species.
In fact, in the case of intergenerational trauma, we are affected by traumatic events that we haven't necessarily experienced ourselves. Trauma can spread through the generations, impacting us in ways we may not expect. Experiences such as war, genocide, colonization, racism, migration and natural disasters can all have an impact on us even if we weren't part of the original event.
We all respond to trauma in different ways. Common signs we might be experiencing a trauma response include feelings of anxiety, depression, isolation, hopelessness or helplessness, avoidance toward a situation or people related to it, an inability or difficulty regulating emotions or responding constructively to conflicts, and heightened awareness or overly alert state. Trauma can be difficult to navigate, however, you don't have to struggle alone - we're here to support you.
How can counselling help?
Therapy can be an invaluable process to help work through trauma.
We're here to help you not only recognize your emotional triggers but also to provide strategies to understand and process them. Counselling can help you gain insight into thoughts, behaviours, and ways of being that may be related to underlying traumas, allowing you to shift old patterns and integrate new ones. You'll learn how to turn towards vulnerable and wounded parts of self with curiosity, shifting how these parts respond to trauma triggers and enabling you to gradually heal. Trauma, whether it's emotional or physical, can manifest in our bodies, your therapist can also help you access sensations, emotions and insights that are held in your body. You’ll have the opportunity to explore and process the trauma using techniques such as mindfulness, body awareness, and somatic focusing. Some of our therapists also offer EMDR.
Counselling helps us to gain greater insight into ourselves…
Develop skills to manage our responses to triggers and learn ways to restore feelings of safety, connectedness and well-being. We recognize that sharing about our traumas can be very vulnerable, this process can take time, and we support you to decide when and how much you share.
Work with our counsellors who specialize in trauma:
