Recently a teenage client asked me a question that threw me, unexpectedly. (Over the years, I\u2019ve amassed a considerable anthology of examples on what makes them famous for this gift, so it\u2019s not an easy thing to do these days!)<\/p>\n
I attended an engaging group session on characteristics of community and racial trauma, after which the group\u2019s therapist allotted time for a \u201cQ and A\u201d between her adolescent clients and me, their guest. One member asked me, \u201cHow do you deal with trauma?\u201d<\/p>\n
I started to summarize the vast nature of trauma, and the equally vast approaches to treating it \u2013 then asked him for an example of the type of trauma he was referring to. He repeated his question, \u201cNo \u2013 how do\u00a0you\u00a0<\/em>deal with trauma?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHow do\u00a0I<\/em>?\u201d I asked, taken aback.<\/p>\n \u201cYes,\u201d he replied. \u201cYou hear about other people\u2019s trauma every day, so how do\u00a0you\u00a0<\/em>deal with it?\u201d<\/p>\n I was struck by the sophistication of his question, especially when I realized what he was really asking. He wasn\u2019t asking me about\u00a0my\u00a0<\/em>trauma, or how I\u2019m impacted by\u00a0other\u00a0<\/em>people\u2019s trauma. He was asking me about my resilience! I paused to evaluate why I felt so caught off guard, and was reminded:\u00a0As helpers, this is something we don\u2019t discuss often enough.<\/em><\/p>\n I started listing some of my self-care practices: yoga, meditation, playing in an ensemble, spending time with loved ones and reflective consulting with supervisors. (Heads nodded as they recognized some of these as the very techniques they\u2019re encouraged to adopt.) I summed up by echoing their therapist\u2019s message on the universal requirement for dealing with trauma: \u201cJust like you,\u00a0I don\u2019t do it alone.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n [Re]charging toward resilience.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n The helper bears significant weight in leading this complicated, and often painful, journey with clients. Sensory-based interventions assist us with helping clients access, activate, integrate and heal their body, mind and spirit \u2013 and the therapeutic relationship navigates this path, as we work to\u00a0know\u00a0<\/em>our client\u2019s trauma as\u00a0they\u00a0<\/em>know it. The interventions offered through Starr Commonwealth (Zero to Three: Trauma Interventions, SITCAP\u00ae, Mind Body Skills, Expressive Arts Therapy, etc.) provide the tools to treat the psychophysiology of child trauma with activities that are:<\/p>\n The attunement we establish with the client can put us closer in touch with our own vulnerability, as we become proximate to theirs \u2013 while also providing the opportunity to connect with our own resiliency, as we help them build theirs. In doing so, we charge toward the horizon of resiliency, as our clients reclaim their power from a place of wholeness.<\/p>\n What charges the charge?<\/em><\/p>\n We know that self-care is essential to maintaining health and wellness, and defending against the perils of secondary traumatic stress and vicarious trauma. Part of maintaining personal well-being includes solitary space to reflect. Whether on our yoga mat, steeped in a hot bath, sprawled on the masseuse\u2019s table, napping, walking, running or cycling to achieve that meditative hum in perpetual motion, physical care is essential to a healthy mind, body and spirit. But how much of our self care are we doing alone?<\/p>\n A barrage of solitary self-care routines\u00a0<\/em>do not\u00a0<\/strong>make a complete self-care practice.<\/em><\/p>\n Without relationship, connection and support in spaces where reflective processing occurs, our self-care practices leave us\u2026 alone. Staying healthy, staving off symptoms of secondary traumatic stress and avoiding compassion fatigue are all critical aims, of course. But, the act of being reflective\u00a0within\u00a0<\/em>a relationship is critical, whether through individual or group supervision\/consultation. Our dear friend, Dr. Jeree Pawl, PhD, offers us a wise navigational compass toward the parallel process, in\u00a0The\u00a0<\/em>Platinum Rule<\/em>:<\/p>\n \u201c<\/em>Do unto others as you would have others do unto others.<\/em><\/strong>\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n We draw upon on the tenets of Polyvagal and Attachment Theories to provide sensory-based, integrated approaches to healing the individual and interpersonal wounds of trauma. We engage the fields of the brain and nervous systems to help our clients heal and achieve resiliency \u2013 and how\u00a0we\u00a0<\/em>restore our\u00a0own\u00a0<\/em>depleted systems informs our capacity to do so. As helpers, it\u2019s our charge to sustain\u00a0and\u00a0<\/em>advance this capacity. We require a space where we\u2019re held with what we hold, seen with what we see, and can be shown what has not yet been revealed while reflecting on our own. Maintaining a reflective practice in a relationship helps\u00a0elevate\u00a0<\/em>our ability to hold that crucial space for clients through the parallel process. Thinking about self-care as a means of advancing our efficacy as helpers prompts us to consider it as a key to simultaneously putting ourselves and our clients first. When we take better care of us, we take better care of them.<\/p>\n Pawl, J. H., & St John, M. (1998).\u00a0How You Are Is as Important as What You Do… in Making a Positive Difference for Infants, Toddlers and Their Families<\/em>. Zero to Three, 734 15th Street, NW, Suite 1000, Washington, DC 20005-1013<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Recently a teenage client asked me a question that threw me, unexpectedly. (Over the years, I\u2019ve amassed a considerable anthology of examples on what makes them famous for this gift, so it\u2019s not an easy thing to do these days!) I attended an engaging group session on characteristics of community and racial trauma, after which […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":108,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[8,9],"coauthors":[10],"class_list":["post-105","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles","tag-resilience","tag-self-care"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n\n