Trauma

It’s a strange thing that commercial properties still designate areas for smoking and offices provide kitchens, but even though 70% of people have experienced trauma, if we find ourselves on the brink of bursting into tears at work or school, often a bathroom is the only place to retreat to. What if we carved out space- both physically and culturally- to take mental health breaks? In this post, I share step by step instructions for creating a mental health retreat in your home, workplace, or classroom to help people who are triggered or Very Upset to mindfully ground in order to reengage.

Research is exploding in the field of PTSD recovery and traumatic stress. In this section we’ve collected a number of resources about trauma and trauma …

It’s normal to feel upset, anxious, or extremely uncomfortable when we encounter difficult content. Having a strong reaction to information that is generally considered troubling …

Trauma Therapy Even as someone who has studied trauma therapy for years, I often find it difficult to describe just how trauma therapy works and …

None of us really know what it looks like to survive and thrive beyond a global pandemic. Thankfully, past government funding for research about disaster …

  Instead of questioning (“How could you?”) or punishing (“How dare you!”) look for the entry point for empathy (“Oh, of course you…”). When someone …

Trauma and trauma recovery look different for everyone, but generally, there’s a deep, hardened core and a bunch of squishy stuff, all held together by …

Perfect for parents, teachers, and those in the mental health field, this simple card game is designed to be a fun and engaging way to …

Dismantling mental health triggers often involves a little detective work. Although awareness of “being triggered” can be very obvious, for many people, figuring out specific …

The nature of crisis is that it is (1) overwhelming, and (2) inevitable. Whether you are a clinician in the helping professions or a person …

In a culture where “vulnerability” can sometimes feel like relational currency, it’s easy to fall into a trap of telling someone about our trauma stories …

For a while now, the terminology of both “victim” and “survivor” has sat uneasily with me. Both terms center the traumatic experience as part of …

When brains experience trauma, they struggle to cope with it. It’s normal – and part of the healing process – to have flashbacks, nightmares, or …