Healing, both on a macro and micro scale, constitutes a nuanced journey that traverses both internal and external realms. Understanding its intersectionality is paramount as individuals or groups embark on a process that recognizes the diverse factors shaping their wounds. Acknowledging the nonlinear nature of healing, it becomes evident that this transformative journey unfolds in waves, unique to each person. In our exploration of the healing process, we advocate for a multi-step approach that respects the individuality of this profound endeavour.
Healing, an inherently intimidating prospect, requires individuals to confront the most vulnerable aspects of themselves without any veils of protection. The haunting memories of grief can compel us to seek refuge, fostering a fear of confronting the intensity of our pain. Trauma, embedded in the recesses of our minds and bodies, becomes particularly palpable during quieter moments — when safety, calmness, and emotional tranquillity prevail. Our philosophy is rooted in transforming these serene moments into safe havens, aligning internal realities with external environments to foster a peace that transcends grief.
The Complex Nature of Trauma
Traumas, intricate and multi-layered, extend their influence across various facets of our lives. While we may hold the keys to certain doors, symbolising our ability to navigate and manage specific traumas, others can permeate through walls, surprising us in moments of confidence and unexpectedly rekindling past wounds. Traumas are not confined to personal spaces; they permeate our interactions, associations, and recollections. The impact is profound, triggering unsettling memories through phrases or subtle reminders, bridging the gap between past and present.
This intrusion challenges our sense of self, disrupting routines and rituals aimed at mitigating its effects. Swiftly and unexpectedly, it can destabilise us, underscoring the importance of recognizing and addressing this fluid relationship with trauma. Time, patience, and an openness to follow where it leads are crucial, creating a space for the trauma to be heard, acknowledged, and ultimately find solace in the silence of our unawareness. This process requires us to navigate the complex web of emotions, memories, and societal influences that contribute to the intricate tapestry of our individual healing journeys.
The Subliminal Relationship of Trauma and Healing
In our understanding, healing is an ongoing, cyclical process—an ever-present safeguard rather than a definitive goal. Trauma, akin to elusive dreams, inhabits the subliminal spaces of the mind, weaving its way from the attic to the basement. We recognize its malleable nature, coiling around our personalities and reinforcing itself with every glimpse we catch in the mirror. It’s crucial to acknowledge that this reflection can be misleading, distorted, and divergent from our familiar self-perception.
Trauma, we believe, does not exist in isolation; rather, it interweaves with the spectrum of neurodivergence and individual mental makeup, adapting and presenting itself in tandem with the unique nuances of each person’s psyche. It infiltrates our words and actions, becoming an integral part of our emotional and cognitive responses.
Moreover, trauma triggers protective reactions within us. It can compel the body to freeze, becoming a silent witness to its re-enactment. Alternatively, it may prompt the mind to flee to a distant place, far removed from the haunting echoes of the past. It can incite instinctive or conscious fights, compelling us to react in ways that mitigate its intensity, allowing us a momentary respite.
For us, healing involves unravelling the complexities of trauma across various reactions—whether manifested in actions, places, times, people, situations, or facets. It’s a convoluted, layered, and sometimes confusing process, but at its core, it yearns to be understood as a whole composed of parts that are hurting.
Whatever form it takes—be it expressed through anger, sadness, escapism, or dissociation—we approach trauma with the sensitivity and respect it deserves. Recognizing and addressing its multifaceted manifestations is paramount, acknowledging that each reaction is a unique expression of the pain within. By navigating this intricate landscape, we strive to cultivate healing that is profound, holistic, and attuned to the diverse ways trauma chooses to make itself known.
How Healing Acts Through Movement
Trauma, an experience that can anchor us in place against our will, forces us to watch time slip away uncontrollably into an uncertain future. In contrast, healing becomes the art of rowing the boat in harmony with the undercurrent, a dance with the streams that allow us to witness trauma without relinquishing control of the oars.
Healing, akin to a cohesive sports team, engages every part of our mind and body in unison. It is a strategic process that comprehensively addresses each facet, ensuring that they are well-informed, well-prepared, well-equipped, and well-taken care of. This comprehensive strategy breaks down the work into manageable plays, halves, quarters, and minutes, grounding each part as it takes action across the field. It involves placing them in formations where they feel most comfortable, natural, and confident.
Healing as a collective endeavour means moving backward to go forward, infusing our present with joy and youthfulness, liberating ourselves from the shackles that hinder progress. This daily, monthly, seasonal, and yearly process requires us to occupy the spaces we traverse, addressing each one until every facet finds comfort, regardless of potential triggers that might unbalance them.
The essence of healing lies in recognizing the absence of energy, locating it within the body, and filling the body with the vitality to move with time, to be present without the conscious awareness of its passage. Healing entails reclaiming energy as a vital resource, an act of replenishment that avoids straining in its pursuit. It is an ongoing practice that transforms our relationship with time, enabling us to navigate life’s currents with a newfound sense of agency and resilience.
The Inner Experience of Healing
Trauma manifests as a complex inner experience that often contradicts the simplicity of our external reality. Externally, it may appear momentary, finite, and confined, but internally, it assumes an unlimited and infinite nature, even if it resides in the unexplored recesses of our being.
Deep within, our core sense of self persists, independent of trauma—an unwavering master of the internal landscape, an architect crafting our inner world under our control. It is within this sacred space that healing thrives, taking myriad forms, manifesting through stories woven from cherished memories, the delight derived from passions, and the enjoyment of things we hold dear.
While trauma may erode the wooded spaces of our mind, healing works as a nurturing force, cultivating these mental landscapes. It plants seeds of safety that grow into steadfast trunks and confident branches, blossoming into a canopy of hope. The fruits of this growth, sweet and nourishing, feed our spirits and replenish what trauma may have depleted.
From the core of our self, we grant healing permission to expand across every nook and cranny, reclaiming the parts that have long been starved of our affection. This process involves deliberate cultivation, a conscious effort to foster an environment where the roots of healing penetrate even the most neglected corners of our inner world. By embracing this inner experience, we not only acknowledge the trauma but also empower ourselves to weave a tapestry of healing that extends to the farthest reaches of our being.
How Healing Reflects on the Inner Child
Internally, the flow of our sense of self remains distinct from the one-directional changes we undergo physically. The lens through which our inner child perceives trauma diverges from the perspective of our ageing selves, introducing a nuanced layer that can be both revealing and unsettling. Navigating this dynamic is a profound task, particularly as the inner child seeks safety, reassurance, comfort, and a tender embrace in the face of trauma. Healing our inner children transcends the realm of intellectuality, terminology, and explanations—it is a simpler, more instinctive language of kindness that allows them to find solace.
The relentless ebbs and flows of life are unavoidable, often preventing our inner children from experiencing the independence and relaxation necessary for healing. We recognize the imperative to create both external and internal spaces where our inner children can simply be and grow, intertwining with our reality, moment by moment.
Understanding that the usual tumult of life can impede the healing journey, we strive to foster an environment that prioritises the needs of our inner children. This involves consciously carving out moments of respite, where the inner child feels secure enough to unfurl, explore, and heal. In doing so, we acknowledge the intricacies of our inner world and the significance of addressing the unique vulnerabilities of our inner child, allowing for a more holistic and compassionate approach to the healing process.
How Healing Changes Us Together
When we talk about healing, we mean coming together and letting go of shame. Shame can be like a harmful acid, eroding the progress we make in growing as individuals. Even though it’s not a true reflection of who we are, it’s a sign that something needs our attention. To truly heal from our traumas, we have to face the parts of ourselves that make us feel ashamed, understand why they’re there, and how they connect to our past struggles.
In the journey of healing, we believe it’s essential to focus on every aspect and every step, breaking free from the grip of shame. By dealing with and understanding the things that make us feel ashamed, we open the door to a transformation that lets us be our true selves—embracing all our parts, old and new, inside and out. We see everyone as unique ecosystems that require careful care, and we’re here to help you let yourself heal and grow. The key is creating a supportive space where every part of you is acknowledged, accepted, and given the chance to heal, contributing to your overall transformation and well-being.
How This Impacts Our Services At Transform Together
In our daily work with people, families, and communities, we often uncover some form of hurt, loss or trauma. Without even being aware, many of our clients get through their daily lives feeling stressed, while not understanding the cause or source of the underlying response to hurt, loss and trauma.
As a multidisciplinary group of practitioners, we are constantly looking to find ways to uncover these stressors or blocks in our clients’ lives, so they can lean into their true selves, family and community.
At Transform Together, it is crucial that we be both trauma informed and healing centred. Let’s unpack why this is important to us.
For us, trauma-informed means being knowledgeable and experienced about the effects of causes and effects of trauma and its underlying influence on our daily functioning. It truly is a shift from, “what’s wrong with me” to “what happened to me”, and “how is my body and mindset affected by what happened”. This can be a tremendous source of relief and revelation for our clients because it removes the shame element from our clients’ experience.
And we like to go further with this. We think that a healing centred approach shifts from “what happened to me” to “what is right with me”. In other words, we see people as more than just their trauma, diagnosis, or label, but rather as a whole human being, with strengths, challenges, and realities. Further, we truly believe that healing is a collective experience, that it cannot fully be done by oneself. To really heal, we as humans need acknowledgement, support, and connection from other people.
This urges us to look at healing from a social and environmental context, highlighting the systemic barriers and the toxicity of environments, which often cause and/or exacerbate our clients’ experience of hurt, and really get in the way of timely learning, progressing, and healing.
Using a healing centred approach allows us to see our clients as more than just their trauma. We look to not only individual strengths, but collective, community strengths as well, to support the client on their healing journey.
This is why it is important to us to be trauma informed using a healing centred approach.
