Journey to Healing:

When we internalize these messages, we carry them forward—not because we want to, but because at one point, they helped us stay safe or avoid conflict.

Ignoring these bodily signals can worsen both physical and emotional health. Recognizing how people-pleasing manifests physically is the first step to healing. Learning to listen to your body and respond with self-compassion is crucial.

Feeling unsafe to express your feelings is often rooted in past experiences. Maybe you were told to “stop being so sensitive,” or that your emotions made others uncomfortable. These messages become internalized beliefs that speaking up will lead to rejection or harm.

Trauma can lead to a dysregulated nervous system, where we either become hypervigilant (anxious, on edge) or hypo-aroused (numb, shut down). These aren’t signs of weakness. They’re your body’s way of keeping you safe.

These aren’t personality flaws. They’re coping mechanisms that may have once protected you—especially if you experienced emotional neglect, high-conflict homes, or environments where safety, approval, or worth were conditional.

Healing from trauma isn’t one-size-fits-all. Our backgrounds, traditions, and communities shape the way we make meaning from pain—and how we recover from it. Western psychology often focuses on individual healing. But many cultures emphasize collective care, ancestral wisdom, and spiritual practices.

What Is the Fawn Response? It’s a lesser-known trauma response where someone copes by appeasing others to avoid danger, conflict, or rejection. It’s rooted in the belief: If I’m helpful, quiet, and agreeable, I’ll stay safe.

Healing from trauma isn’t always about talking it out. Sometimes, healing speaks through images, movement, rhythm, or color. Creativity offers a path to access emotions and memories that words alone can’t reach.

You don’t need a huge circle—just a few safe, present people who hold space for your healing. Trauma may have taught you that you had to go it alone. Healing reminds you: you don't.

Healing from trauma requires care for both your emotional and physical well-being. While therapy and support are essential, nutrition can also play a surprisingly powerful role in your recovery process. Trauma doesn’t just impact your thoughts—it affects your body, especially your nervous system, immune function, and gut health.

Flashbacks are involuntary, intrusive experiences where past trauma resurfaces in a way that feels like it's happening all over again. For some, it's visual—seeing scenes from a traumatic event. For others, it's more emotional or sensory—smelling something familiar, feeling panic without explanation, or noticing your body stiffen or freeze.

If you’re a trauma survivor raising children, you may feel the weight of wanting to do things differently—wanting to break generational cycles, show up with more patience, and build a safe and nurturing environment for your child. And yet, old wounds can sneak in. Your nervous system may feel constantly on high alert. You may second-guess yourself often. You may feel overwhelmed by your child’s emotions—especially if you were never taught how to handle your own.

Trauma can challenge core beliefs about safety, trust, and the world’s fairness. It may leave survivors feeling lost, abandoned, or disconnected—not only from themselves and others but also from their spiritual beliefs. Some may question their faith or feel anger toward a higher power. Others might find new or renewed spiritual meaning that helps them rebuild and find peace.

Trauma survivors often experience grief not only for what was lost but also for the ways trauma has changed their lives, relationships, and sense of self. Understanding these complexities is an important step toward healing and reclaiming hope.

EMDR is a therapeutic approach developed to help individuals process traumatic memories by using bilateral stimulation. The goal of EMDR is to desensitize the emotional charge attached to these memories, allowing them to be processed and integrated in a healthier way. While it was initially developed for PTSD, EMDR has proven effective for many types of trauma, including complex trauma. By reprocessing distressing memories, EMDR helps individuals reduce the emotional intensit

At the core of CPT is the idea that trauma can distort our thinking patterns, leading to negative beliefs about ourselves, others, and the world. These distorted thoughts, also known as "stuck points," can prevent healing and cause individuals to feel trapped in the trauma’s grip. Through CPT, clients work to identify these stuck points, challenge them, and replace them with healthier, more balanced perspectives.

At its core, dissociation is a protective response. It’s the mind’s way of disconnecting from something too painful, overwhelming, or threatening to fully process at the time. Dissociation can show up in many different ways, such as: Feeling numb or emotionally "shut off" Losing chunks of time (memory gaps) Feeling like you’re outside of your body Detaching from your surroundings (feeling like the world isn’t real) Zoning out during stressful situations

In IFS, "parts" are inner voices or subpersonalities that each carry their own perspective and role. You might recognize some of your parts without even realizing it—like the part of you that gets super anxious before a big event, the part that criticizes you when you make a mistake, or the part that pushes you to achieve and succeed.

One of the most important truths I want you to hear is this: You are not broken. Your people-pleasing isn’t a flaw—it’s a brilliant protective strategy that helped you survive. But patterns that kept us safe in the past can hold us back in the present. Healing begins when we can approach these parts of ourselves with compassion. We can start learning that our needs matter too. That saying “no” doesn’t make us selfish. That we are allowed to take up space, have boundaries, & p

When you've been hurt in the past, especially by people you trusted, it changes the way you view the world. Trauma can plant deep-seated beliefs like, “I’m not safe,” “I can’t trust anyone,” or “I’m not good enough.” Even when you consciously know a relationship is safe, your nervous system might still stay on high alert, scanning for signs of danger. It’s not about being "too sensitive" or "overreacting." It's your brain and body doing their best to protect you based on p