Trauma-Informed Blog
New content weekly! Survivor Stories, Research Articles, Poetry, and more written by clinicians, coaches, survivors, and mental health professionals.
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Remember...
CPTSD Foundation is not crisis care. If you ever feel you are in crisis please reach out to an online or local crisis resource, or contact your mental health or medical provider. CPTSD Foundation provides a tertiary means of support; adjunctive care. Our industry-leading ancillary products and services are intended to supplement individual therapy. Nothing on this website or any associated CPTSD Foundation websites, is a replacement for or supersedes the direction of your medical or mental health provider, nor is anything on this or any associated CPTSD Foundation website a diagnosis, treatment plan, advice, or care for any medical or mental health illness, condition, or disease.
Meeting the Bear: What Nervous-System Healing Looks Like in Real Time
I am a mountain climber at heart, and I live in California, home to the Sierra Nevadas. I’ve spent much of my life moving through the backcountry with a pack on my shoulders. Over time, I learned...
My Skin Knows I’m a Survivor
One sweltering July when I was fifteen, I was camped out on a shaded picnic bench at nerd camp. While furiously pushing the buttons on my calculator and drilling exercises for my upcoming exam, I...
How to Set Therapy Up for Success — Especially for Trauma Survivors: 5 Ways to Create a Strong Foundation for Healing
Therapy can be life-changing — especially when it’s set up with intention, structure, and the right support. For trauma survivors in particular, creating the right conditions for healing is...
What are Trauma Triggers?
***TRIGGER WARNING*** This article discusses trauma, including sexual references that may not be appropriate for all. My name is Lizzy, and I am a survivor of unimaginable trauma. I have lived...
Staying Connected When You Disagree: A Trauma-Informed Approach to Navigating Political Differences with Loved Ones
In today’s polarized world, it can feel especially painful when the people we love hold political beliefs that contradict our values—especially when those beliefs impact our identity, rights, or...
Rewriting the Script: Changing the Song and Scenery of Our Now
Part I: As I listen to Elton John’s “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me” on a loop, I mentally counter the lyrics with the fantasy that the sun will just fall from the sky. Can’t it do me the...
Understanding the Spectrum of Spiritual Trauma
As a complex trauma clinician, survivor, and interfaith minister, I’ve come to understand that true recovery is incomplete without addressing the wounds of spiritual trauma. By spiritual trauma,...
Abuse Happens – Even During the Holidays
It is almost Christmas. A season for families to get together and spend quality time catching up on the year that has been. Most families have relatives who travel home from out of the State or...
The Split-Second Sense of Danger
The science of micro-perception in complex trauma, and why some survivors register a driver’s intention before the vehicle moves.
The Incredible Perspective of Trauma Survivors
What perspective are you viewing life through today? This is a discussion point I often have with my clients—and one I encourage you to sit with as you read. As a therapist who specializes in...
When Christmas Hurts: Why the Holidays Trigger Trauma
When Christmas Hurts: Why the Holidays Trigger Trauma — and How Survivors Can Find Peace I had made it all the way from Europe to the United States, landing at JFK International Airport in New...
When Healing Hits Hard: CPTSD Truths
The Whiplash of Healing (And Why It Still Catches Me Off Guard) If you’ve read my blog for more than five minutes, you already know I’ve been on this healing ride for a long while. Long enough to...
What is Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder?
“Complex PTSD comes in response to chronic traumatization over the course of months or, more often, years. This can include emotional, physical, and/or sexual abuses, domestic violence, living in a war zone, being held captive, human trafficking, and other organized rings of abuse, and more. While there are exceptional circumstances where adults develop C-PTSD, it is most often seen in those whose trauma occurred in childhood”.
