Trauma Recovery Avocado Model

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 a peel juuuust thick enough to keep us composed unless something comes along to smash us. Sound familiar? I thought an avocado was a great metaphor for the way trauma affects us- so I illustrated it!

See, a lot of times, we think the “pit” is in the past, and the “problem” is all the squishy green goop, but I believe that care for the green goop is only palliative: it provides some comfort but not the deep healing we ache for.

Do you have a safe place to plop out your pit? Working with the core (in the context of a therapist or provider who has shown they deserve your trust and have helped you work up to it) can be a path to deep recovery.

Trauma & Trauma Recovery

Before we can talk about trauma recovery, it’s important to understand what the word “trauma” means. According to the Trauma-Informed Care Implementation Resource Center, trauma “…results from exposure to an incident or series of events that are emotionally disturbing or life-threatening with lasting adverse effects on the individual’s functioning and mental, physical, social, emotional, and/or spiritual well-being.”

This is a functional definition of trauma, describing what trauma is at a basic level. A deeper understanding of trauma reveals that there are different types: childhood trauma, intergenerational trauma, single-incident trauma (often called “Big T trauma”), vicarious trauma (or second-hand trauma), and “little t trauma” (very difficult but normal things like moving, losing a job, or the death of someone close to you).

Trauma therapy addresses all of these types of trauma.  How trauma therapy works can feel a bit mysterious, mostly because trauma recovery is complex. It involves slowly learning how to integrate experiences, finding a way to make meaning from the experiences, developing coping skills, and building internal resilience. It also involves reframing how we think and talk – literally the language we use – about trauma.

To dig deeper into my resources on trauma, trauma treatment, and trauma recovery, click here.

Digital downloads of this strange little metaphor can be purchased below – or you can get a printed poster sized version for your home or office via this link. Let me know if you’d like to see it in any other formats!

Or get All-Access as a $5/mo Patron

Image Description for Screen Reader Accessibility:

[Description of image#1] on a light yellow background, a headline reads: trauma recovery (as illustrated by an avocado). The image shows a hand-drawn avocado on the left side of the image.

A line connects the peel of the hand-drawn avocado to text reading: Outer peel: what people on the outside see. (Often has some bumps but is otherwise “fine.”)

A line connects the soft inner portion of the hand-drawn avocado to text that reads: Squishy goo. Feelings. All the feelings + mental health symptoms, somatic symptoms, triggers, dissociation, etc.

A line connects the pit of the hand-drawn avocado to text that reads: The pit. Traumatic memories + beliefs about self or world that are based in trauma and shame.

[image description of second image] also on a light yellow background. Headline text also reads: trauma recovery as illustrated by an avocado.

A hand-drawn avocado is on the left side of the image. A line connects the outer skin of the hand-drawn avocado to text that reads: part you share with the outside world.

A second line connects the soft inner portion of the hand-drawn avocado to text that reads: part you share with your support network (friends and family) for emotional support, and

A third line connects the pit of the hand-drawn avocado to text that reads: part you share in a safe, therapeutic, environment for recovery.

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