Therapy for Childhood Trauma:
Healing Childhood Wounds
The powerful process of healing from physical, emotional or sexual abuse that happened to us in childhood allows us to understand why we have been holding ourselves back in life. The work gives us access to our deepest sense of self and loving ways to step into our lives in new and important ways.
Many of the people I work with come to therapy because they feel stuck in their lives and do not know why. They express feeling anxious and unsafe, and are overwhelmed by change. They find it hard to relate to other people and overreact in social situations as if they were in danger. The powerful process of healing from childhood trauma, including physical, emotional or sexual abuse allows us to understand why we have been holding ourselves back in life. The work of childhood trauma therapy gives us access to our deepest sense of self and loving ways to step into our lives in new and important ways. When we heal childhood wounds we remove internal blocks and experience long lasting life changes.
The effects of childhood trauma on our adult lives
As children, if there is no one to help us make sense of our physical, emotional or sexual abuse, the traumatized part of us becomes paralyzed. We are overwhelmed with feelings of fear, worry, anxiety, depression, and unsafety. This deeply hurt part of ourselves is unable to form a realistic view of ourselves, and affects the way we connect with others as adults. This part of us cannot find its way, and remains stuck in beliefs about ourselves and the world that come from a child’s perspective, and are not updated when we mature into our adult lives.
As adults we carry this hurt inside, which can make it difficult for us to connect with our life spark, our passions, our vocation, and our relationships. This is because our wounds make it hard for us to trust others and get close. It also makes it difficult to trust our instincts and make decisions that feel right.
Therapy supports you to heal from childhood trauma
In childhood trauma therapy we work together to create a safe and trusting space where the hurt and undeveloped part of yourself can grow. We work together to bring comfort to the hurting child within so that you feel safe, strong, curious, creative and passionate in the world. From a secure and solid foundation we meet your internal blocks with warm care, sustained curiosity and fierce compassion.
Because trauma affects us physically, as well as emotionally, as a therapist I use a mind-body approach for the treatment of trauma. I also invite you to use painting, drawing, clay, mediation, dream work and writing with me in our therapy sessions. All of these techniques help reassess the old ways of being in the world and reinvigorate you to reconnect with joy, creativity, pleasure and a secure and loving sense of self.
There are a number of areas we might work on together in therapy depending on your needs. These may include:
Developing a trusted internal sense of safety.
Learning what triggers your internal fear and anxiety responses.
Learning to calm yourself when you feel overwhelmed by emotions.
Learning to slow down and assess a situation before reacting.
Learning to feel your feelings and share them with others.
Being clear with others about your needs and asking for help.
Learning to tolerate distress and not get overwhelmed.
Learning to live from a place of abundance instead of scarcity.
Creating appropriate emotional boundaries between yourself and others.
Learning what nurtures your creativity and experience of pleasure.
Deepening spirituality.
I can be reached at 415.721.3355 or by email to discuss how therapy can help you recover from your childhood wounds. To learn more about my thoughts and approach to psychotherapy, you can read the articles on my psychotherapy blog.