Beyond Trauma

We live in a wildly unpredictable environment, and trauma, defined as extreme or life threatening stress, is par for the course. Over a lifetime, few of us are able to look back and declare a trauma-free existance. However, not all of us will wind up "traumatized" by such life experiences. A child who falls out of a tree and breaks his or her arm could be described as suffering from a "trauma," but that child may be back in that tree the next day (or after the arm heals) without a second thought while another, who suffers the same injury, will avoid climbing trees for the rest of his or her childhood, perhaps even for life.

It is important not to assume that what traumatizes one person will have the same effect on another. The degree of traumatization experienced after a traumatic event, is very subjective and depends a great deal on the amount of resiliency present in that individual. Resiliency can be defined as our ability to cope with and adapt to adverse situations. As a clinician specializing in trauma recovery for people from all walks of life who have experienced various and often multiple traumatic events including combat, sexual assault, domestic violence, severe car accidents, and natural disasters, a big part of my work includes helping the client access their own unique resiliency resources. These resources may be intrinsic (faith, determination, sense of humor) or extrinsic (presence of loved ones, community support, nature). They may be long standing or recently acquired. Regardless, I have found that an individual's ability to harness and access that which supports, empowers, and heals is what allows movement beyond trauma and a return to wholeness.

To that end, it is of vital importance that we spend time each day taking care of ourselves by doing something we love. Whether you've already experienced a great deal or trauma or have managed to live a charmed life thus far, the practice of self care and self healing keeps our resiliency reservoirs full, so that if by chance (since traumas are not usually planned), we happen to meet up with unfortunate circumstances and wind up experiencing a trauma, we do not face the situation from a place of depletion or scarcity, but a place of strength, ability, and indominable spirit.