The team at Image & Likeness Counseling wants to emphasize a crucial point: every individual processes and reacts to distressing or potentially harmful situations in their own unique way. This is why therapy for trauma and trauma counseling are tailored to meet each person’s specific needs and experiences. That means what one person may register as a traumatic experience may not adversely impact another person at all, and that’s okay. We are all very different. Every situation we enter is colored by our past experiences, resiliency skills, and other factors that are unique to us. If you’ve had an upsetting experience and can’t seem to shake the effect it has on you, therapy for trauma recovery may be beneficial. You can learn more about the ways that trauma may impact you and how therapy can help on this page.
Do I Need Therapy for Trauma or Is My Response Healthy?
It bears repeating that if you experienced something that you perceived as traumatic and it’s having negative effects on you, it is traumatic. It doesn’t matter if other people think it’s traumatic or if anyone else involved seems okay. All of us respond to upsetting situations differently. You will never be shamed when you visit the Image & Likeness Counseling team. We will never say you don’t have anything to be traumatized by. If you are experiencing side effects of trauma, we are here to help. If you believe your response to trauma is just a natural, healthy emotional and behavioral response to something upsetting, you may be right. However, this natural response to trauma may still be difficult to manage in your dayto-day life. You could notice that you are feeling hypervigilant, you find yourself re-living the experience, you start avoiding things because they trigger a negative response, or you are generally unable to overcome the ways that the traumatic experience impacts you. If this occurs, it may be beneficial to consider therapy.
Can Therapy Help with Trauma?
Many of my clients who have a traumatic experience don’t seek out therapy right away. There are numerous reasons for this. Some think it’s not necessary. They’ll get over it on their own eventually. Others think they shouldn’t be struggling anymore because other people who had similar experiences were fine. Whatever the reason, it’s important to understand that therapy isn’t just for people who have no other choice or those who are experiencing severe crisis. We do help people in these situations, but I also work with people who simply want to begin alleviating negative symptoms of trauma. Even if you think you can manage the impact of trauma on your own, remember you don’t have to. Therapy allows you to create space to process the way that trauma is impacting you. By recognizing the effects of trauma, you take the first steps to resolving and healing from traumatic experiences. During therapy sessions, your therapist can help you develop strategies to manage the effects of trauma as they arise as well as working to heal from traumatic experiences. It’s not easy, but working together with your counselor, you can develop new skills and strategies to increase resilience and heal the effects of trauma.
What Do I Do to Get Started?
Trauma’s negative impact on day-to-day life may be easy to ignore, at least at first. However, when the effects don’t diminish with time, they can truly be detrimental to your wellbeing. If you’re ready to start healing, we hope you’ll reach out to schedule a therapy session at Image & Likeness Counseling. Our knowledgeable therapists look forward to supporting you on your therapy journey.