The 3 phases of trauma healing

If you have suffered through trauma in your life you have probably wondered what trauma healing could look like for you. Maybe you struggle to imagine that you could ever heal from your trauma, or maybe it’s a distant idea that you know you will address one day but can’t imagine how.

Healing from trauma is not an easy task. Trauma affects people at very core levels, and its effects can be far reaching. If you have suffered from trauma, the idea of addressing it can feel completely overwhelming. However, healing is possible, and there are three common steps in trauma healing which often follow a similar pattern.

1 - Resourcing and safety

The first and most important part of any trauma healing journey is making sure you have the resources and support so you don’t get overwhelmed when telling about your story. Trauma can manifest as strong emotions triggered by specific memories or feelings. Before you access the pain of the past in this way, it is extremely important that you feel safe and that you have the tools to navigate overwhelm and triggers when they emerge. It’s sort of like preparing for a SCUBA dive. Before you learn to swim, or even think about getting in the water, you need to make sure your air supply is 100% secure.

“Resourcing” is a term therapists use to talk about what support systems you have available to you. Often, this step in trauma healing involves both surveying to see what resources you already have, and bringing in new resources to shore up your support. Resources are often divided into internal and external categories. Here are some common internal and external resources that can be helpful for trauma healing:

Internal Resources
- Breathing
- Grounding meditations
- Positive memories
- Images or memories of protector figures
- Calming visualizations

External Resources
- Supportive relationships
- Favorite movies
- Support groups
- Animals
- Your favorite spot in nature

Think about your own life and what resources you have or would like to have to support you in your healing.

2 - Accessing and releasing the past

Once you have worked with your therapist to fully feel safe and resourced in your body and mind, the next step of trauma healing is to access the painful memories of the past that remind you of your trauma. What happens with trauma is the uncomfortable memories or feelings that are triggered by the traumatic event get “stuck” in a suspended state and that’s what keeps them continuously emerging and causing you pain. In order to truly heal, you need to find a way to access these memories and express them fully to yourself and to a compassionate listener.

By telling your story in a safe and supportive environment, you allow yourself to release the old painful memories. Through this experience you learn that you are safe, and you don’t have to protect yourself from the pain of the past in order to get by. The trauma that happened in the past is no longer happening to you, and your body and mind can learn that it is safe to relax and release in the present moment

This process of accessing and releasing old hurts can take many rounds of therapy or many years of internal work to fully realize. With sustained attention and care, your trauma can find ways to release and you can finally put the past to rest.

3 - Integration

Once you have established safety and released the memories of the past, you need to find a way to integrate your experiences. Moving on from trauma means that you have a new outlook on life and a new way to engage in the world around you. Integration is the process of taking what you learned from your trauma experiences and from your trauma healing, and putting it all together to form a new way to relate to your life. In the integration phase, you will learn to have new reactions to situations that would have triggered you in the past. You will take everything you have learned and apply it to your life in a new and productive way.

Experiencing trauma is one of the most difficult things you can go through in your life. Unfortunately, trauma is incredibly common for many people. Finding ways to release the past and heal is extremely important for you to feel like yourself again and live your life to its fullest potential. Although trauma healing can be a difficult undertaking, it is possible to feel safe again and put the past to rest.

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If you are suffering from the effects of past trauma, you aren’t alone. You also don’t have to be alone in your healing journey. I offer compassionate and effective trauma therapy in Santa Cruz. If you’re curious about trauma healing, reach out today to schedule a free and confidential 20 minute phone consultation to see if I could be a good fit to support you.