Healing is a journey best travelled with a faithful companion for support

Trauma work is often similar to a readdressing a previously broken bone. If someone breaks a bone and does get the right medical attention, it will heal, though it is often crooked, painful and has reduced capabilities of functioning.

If we are able to eventually seek medical attention, it is often necessary for the doctor to “re-break” the bone first to reset it for healing. This can seem like the opposite of what any rational person would “want” to do in order to heal and requires a great deal of initial pain and discomfort.

In many ways, addressing our trauma can feel like the same process. If we have spent years struggling with being overwhelmed by our emotions or if we have done the opposite and “numbed” our emotions, starting the process of confronting them can be uncomfortable. Because of this, it is easy to empathize with why many clients may arrive to treatment and feel afraid, intimidated, uncomfortable, or even desire to leave during the first few days.

For other clients, they may be relieved at having the structure they are lacking in their lives and may experience these feelings later  once they start addressing their feelings about the trauma. Both scenarios can result in a person “sabotaging” their recovery by leaving therapy before they are able to experience the relief that comes when their symptoms begin to improve. This is why support and encouragement not just from therapists, but from everyone in a clientʼs support network is often crucial to a clientʼs recovery.