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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The Re-Emerging of Cara
It’s been years since she broke free from being either goddess of the universe or scum of the earth – usually the latter more than the former. On one hand, she was bestowed extravagant devotion...
Can I Have Childhood Trauma If I Had a Happy Childhood?
Yes, yes you can. It took me a really long time to accept this, but it’s true. You can have all kinds of happy memories from your childhood, you can recognize that you always had enough to eat,...
Life is Beautiful
In the early morning hours of a winter’s day in 1944, Corrie Ten Boom stood in line for roll call at Ravensbruck Concentration Camp. A middle-aged woman, she and her family had been arrested by...
Meredith Grey and the Monkey Bars
When I was little, I used to love swinging across the monkey bars. I found a consistent fluidity, allowing for an area of growth and movement, but a sense of security the next rung would always...
Overcoming Emotional Flashbacks with Self-Compassion
Emotional flashbacks take a horrendous toll on those who experience them. To feel like you are in danger with all the emotions that accompany it, fear, anxiety, startle, and a myriad of other...
The Little Big Things that Childhood Trauma Keeps us from Doing.
It’s been 13 years since I have been to the dentist. While I finally have insurance now, I fear going. How does someone explain to a doctor their reason for not going to the dentist for 13 years...
Rescuing My Inner Child
I distinctly remember the first time I met my inner child. It was the fall of 2019, and I had just started grappling with the realization that the things I went through with my parents did and...
A scientific retreat from triggers
The coronavirus pandemic has forced me (like far too many others) to think further about the world around me in a more precise, exact way. And, I know I am not alone in this. Every detail, all...
A Compassionate Guide to Talking about LBGTQ Issues
On November 7, 2017, Virginia voters elected Danica Roem to the Virginia House of Delegates. Roem is the first openly transgender state legislator in America. Her campaign focused on local...
The Human Autonomic Nervous System and Emotional Flashbacks
Emotional flashbacks are troubling and often disabling events that cause a person to experience alarming and crippling bursts of strong emotions. Emotional flashbacks are experienced without the...
Death of an Abusive Parent
Before you gather up unsent letters, just consider how quickly life can change. How little you might understand the person who has scarred you. How little they probably understand themselves.
The Email My Ex-Therapist Never Sent.
To those who have ever been harmed in therapy, I am sorry. To those who continue to ruminate over what happened and are unable to move past it, I can relate. We may never receive the answer we...
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”.
