Why choose trauma informed treatment?

Did you know that Regenerative Psychology’s treatment is trauma informed? This means that we are dedicated to creating a safe and supportive environment for our clients to explore their trauma, and receive qualified, trauma informed care.

What is trauma?

Trauma may be the result of a single event, or repeated exposure to distressing events across the lifespan. It mayTrauma is more than just “PTSD”. Diagnostically, trauma in the DSM-5-TR is quite limited, requiring specific events to meet criteria. We recognise that the experience of trauma is a lot more than this.

Trauma may exist as a “Big T” trauma or a “Little t” trauma – lets look at what that means.

Big T Trauma

Big T trauma may include PTSD experiences, it is generally the result of a event that significantly threatens the individual. This may be the result of a life threatening event, sexual assault (including child sexual abuse), natural disaster, car accidents, combat, etc.

Little t Trauma

Little t trauma is often considered in the space of relational trauma, this might include interpersonal conflicts (including bullying), infidelity, divorce. Little t traumas may also include legal stressors, financial stress, and housing instability.

All traumas are valid and all people going through trauma deserve support and care. Trauma can significantly impact on your life, AND it can be managed / treated.

But what does it mean to be trauma informed?

The Blue Knot Foundation developed a set of principles to guide trauma informed practice. We have adopted these in our practice as we recognise that most of our clients, in fact, most people, have experienced some form of trauma in their lives, and this needs to be respected, understood and supported in our approach.

Safety

Trauma informed practice focuses heavily on creating a safe space. This is both in the sense of physical space and emotional space. Trauma is rooted in a sense of feeling unsafe and a sense of safety is the first step in addressing the traumatic experience. Our first priority in working with clients experiencing trauma is to create safety – we do this using the other principles listed below.

Trustworthiness

You need to be able to trust your treating practitioner when exploring trauma. If you don’t feel the trust, you likely don’t feel safe, if that’s the case, let’s roll back to the safety principle! We cultivate trust by listening to our clients, we like to be as responsive to your needs as is possible, this means, paying attention to unspoken cues that you may feel uncomfortable, creating space for you to express your needs and giving you choice through the process…

Choice & Collaboration

We’re going to talk about choice and collaboration together, this is because at Regenerative Psychology we work closely with our clients to tailor treatment to them.

As part of our treatment program, we will discuss the options for treatment, for example, Lauren is trained in Trauma Focused CBT and will discuss the general course of this program up front with clients that this may be suitable for. This is to ensure that you are able to make an informed choice about whether you want to engage in this treatment. From this, we then collaborate about what treatment will focus on, what you are ready to address vs not ready to address. We also have a blanket rule that if you’re not comfortable discussing something – we don’t discuss it, at least not until you’re ready.

Empowerment

Collaboration and choice help to empower our clients, and we also focus on re-establishing self-esteem, building confidence and competence in day to day life. Because trauma strips away a lot of these things, people are often not living life in line with their values, and often have a general sense of unhappiness which often becomes a focus of treatment. We value helping our clients live their best life, a life worth living, and to do so on their terms.

If you’re looking for trauma informed care, from knowledgeable and responsive professionals, please contact us to discuss your needs…