by Rebekah Brown | Aug 28, 2025 | ACEs, CPTSD, CPTSD and PTSD, Guest Contributor, Mental Health Professional, Narcissistic Abuse, Narcissistic Personality Disorder, Parental Alienation
Narcissistic Behavior I watched as the rage my father always carried washed over his face. Turing red, he stared at me with threatening eyes. I immediately looked for a way to back down. I had stepped over the boundary and committed the unpardonable sin—I had...
by Morrene Hauser | Aug 27, 2025 | ACEs, CPTSD and PTSD, Guest Contributor, Symptoms of CPTSD
TRIGGER WARNING: This article discusses child abuse and suicidal ideation, which may be triggering for some readers. When I reflect on the earliest parts of my childhood, from approximately the ages of four to eight, the thing that stands out to me the most is how...
by Jesse Donahue | Aug 26, 2025 | Brain Chemistry, CPTSD, Guest Contributor, OCD
The Smoldering Embers of Complex PTSDBy Jesse B. Donahue 2024 ©The metaphor of smoldering embers nicely depicts my experience of day-to-day life. No smoke is coming from my ears, but hiding and avoiding social experiences are efforts to control a threatening fire....
by Rachel Grant | Aug 25, 2025 | CPTSD, CPTSD and PTSD, Guest Contributor
Have you ever stared at an email, felt a tightness in your chest, and thought, “I’m not ready for this”? You’re not alone. As someone who works with trauma survivors every day, I hear it all the time: “I saw your email and meant to open it… But I couldn’t.”“I’ve had...
by Cyndi Bennett | Aug 21, 2025 | CPTSD, Occupational Mental Health & CPTSD, PTSD, Workplace Trauma
As trauma survivors navigating the professional world, many of us have experienced those moments when work feels utterly overwhelming or, conversely, when we feel disconnected and numb. These experiences are often related to our “window of tolerance,” a concept that’s...
by Dr. Mozelle Martin | Aug 20, 2025 | Brain Chemistry, CPTSD, Guest Contributor, Mental Health Professional
So, you don’t flinch anymore. The song that used to destroy you? Doesn’t even register now.You can talk about what happened—maybe even crack a joke. No lump in your throat. No tears. No panic. But here’s the thing: that doesn’t automatically mean you’re healed. It...
by Elizabeth Woods | Aug 19, 2025 | CPTSD, Depression, Guest Contributor, Nature, Self Care, Trauma
Are you having a bad day, or week? Maybe the whole month hasn’t gone as well as you were expecting it to? Consider the fireflies shining into the darkness in the picture above. Let their lights shine the way throughout this reading. In today’s post, I’m going to...
by Heather Jurvelin | Aug 18, 2025 | ACEs, CPTSD, CPTSD and PTSD, Guest Contributor
How many times have you dismissed your past experiences because “others had it worse” or “it wasn’t really that bad?” Too many to count? Yeah, me too. Welcome to the club we somehow became a part of without ever signing on the dotted line. We didn’t agree to...
by Cyndi Bennett | Aug 14, 2025 | CPTSD, Guest Contributor, Occupational Mental Health & CPTSD, Workplace Trauma
For trauma survivors in the workplace, moments of overwhelming stress can suddenly render even routine tasks daunting. These instances often indicate that we’ve exceeded our emotional capacity — what experts call our “window of tolerance.” Recognizing the early...
by Dr. Mozelle Martin | Aug 13, 2025 | CPTSD, CPTSD and PTSD, Guest Contributor, Mental Health Professional
For many living with PTSD or complex PTSD, there are two leading yet quiet and relentless questions: What if they had truly felt what I felt? Would they still have done it? It isn’t about revenge. It’s about justice that prevents, not justice that destroys. It’s about...
