Trauma-Informed Therapy

Trauma-informed Therapy Orange County, California

Healing doesn’t mean the damage never existed. It means the damage no longer controls our lives.

Trauma effects us in the deepest ways possible. It’s no surprise that if a person has experienced trauma in their life, they may see various issues that go way beyond the initial event. Behavioral Health issues, relationship harm, emotional turmoil, physical pain, and even substance abuse are potential risks if a person has been through trauma in their life.

How to Help

Trauma informed therapy is therapy that considers the patient’s trauma and how it impacts them. Trauma is a long-lasting mental and emotional response to a distressing event, and in some cases it can severely impact various aspects of a person’s life.

Many different events and experiences can lead to trauma, even ones that are not typically considered traumatic. According to the National Council for Mental Wellbeing, over 70% of adults in the US have experienced at least one traumatic event in their life.

Experience With Trauma

A good trauma informed therapist is someone who has specialized training and experience in working with individuals who have experienced trauma. They are compassionate and aware that any patient may have a history of trauma, and that this history could have significant and wide-ranging effects on them in the present time. This can be true even when the patient is unable to see the link between traumatic events from their past and any issues they are experiencing currently.

When working with any patient, a trauma-informed therapist will always assume that there is a possibility the patient has experienced trauma. This means that they will be careful to ensure they do not act in a way that could trigger a trauma response. Whilst this can make the therapy feel like it is progressing at a slower rate, it allows time to build a strong therapeutic relationship with a high level of trust, which can improve outcomes in the longer term.

Trauma Informed Therapy: What to Expect

The trauma-informed therapist will initially work to make sure their patient feels physically and emotionally safe in their session, before assisting them in a collaborative manner which empowers the patient to take an active role in the process. Through this process, they will work with the patient to identify how any trauma has impacted them and how it continues to affect their mental health and behavior. By working through this trauma, they can also begin to heal mentally and deal with negative or harmful patterns of behavior.

Given the high prevalence of trauma, and the fact there is no risk of harm to those without trauma, using trauma informed therapy as the default treatment modality can be highly beneficial. Research shows that the implementation of trauma informed care can increase how satisfied both staff and patients feel with the treatment process, as well as improving the rate of discharges from residential treatment facilities.