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Healing from the Inside Out
Understanding Trauma
Trauma is not the event itself; it’s how we experience it. While an event is happening that feels traumatic, the area of the brain responsible for storing memories isn’t active, which often leaves us with fragmented memories. The mind may only remember bits and pieces of what happened, while the rest is stored in the body. This is why healing trauma requires more than just understanding the mind—it involves fully integrating the body’s experience.
CPTSD: A Deeper Layer
Complex PTSD (CPTSD) differs from PTSD in that it is not a single traumatic event, but rather ongoing, repeated experiences that shape the nervous system over time. This can lead to prolonged patterns of survival responses, affecting how a person interacts with the world long after the trauma has occurred.
The Role of the Nervous System in Trauma
Our nervous system is shaped by our life experiences, and when we experience trauma or CPTSD, it often gets stuck in survival patterns. Seemingly small triggers can send someone into a heightened state of arousal or shutdown, keeping them stuck in survival mode for hours, days, months, or even years. To an outsider, this may seem confusing, but for the person who has experienced trauma, it is all they have ever known.
The key to healing is understanding that the nervous system is not “wrong” or “broken.” It is doing its best to protect us, and in many ways, it is doing everything right. Rather than simply telling the nervous system that we are safe now, we need to communicate with it in its own language: through emotions and sensations. The process involves working slowly and gently with the nervous system to expand the window of tolerance and re-establish a sense of safety.
Healing Trauma: Moving from Survival to Regulation
Healing trauma isn’t about “fixing” something broken. It’s about reconnecting with the body and re-establishing regulation and balance. Through a combination of awareness, compassion, and guided tools, we can begin to gently move out of survival mode and into a space where healing can take place.
Healing Tools for Trauma and CPTSD
In my work, I use two powerful tools to guide this healing journey: Focusing / Somatic Parts Work and Transforming Touch® (TEB). These tools help you reconnect with your body, expand your window of tolerance, and process trauma in a safe, supportive way.
- Focusing / Somatic Parts Work: This helps individuals connect with the parts of themselves that hold trauma. Focusing allows us to listen to the body’s sensations and emotions, creating a space where we can access deeper truths about ourselves. Through Parts Work, we explore the different “parts” of our experience—these parts may be fragmented or stuck due to trauma. By acknowledging and understanding these parts, we begin to heal and integrate them. This process helps to expand the window of tolerance, allowing us to safely process emotional experiences and move beyond survival states.
- Transforming Touch® (TEB): This is a somatic therapy that focuses on co-regulation and healing pre-verbal trauma. Through gentle, intentional touch, it helps the nervous system feel safe, promoting deep healing where words can’t reach. Transforming Touch® creates the conditions for an earned attachment, allowing individuals to rebuild a sense of safety and connection, especially if they’ve never experienced secure attachment before. This work supports the body’s ability to integrate trauma and restore balance, helping clients move out of survival mode and into a more regulated state.
To learn more about these tools and how they can help you heal, visit the individual pages below:
A Path Toward Healing
Healing from trauma is a gradual process, but it doesn’t have to be done alone. With the right tools and support, you can start to feel safe in your body again, slowly begin to reframe your experience, and move into a life where you are no longer defined by your trauma. Through compassionate and embodied work, you can start to expand your window of tolerance, rediscover your resilience, and heal from the inside out.