A MODEL OF TRAUMA

When faced with perceived or imagined danger the brain automatically turns on an adrenaline stress system  – our thinking brain shuts down and we go into survival mode. Sometimes we can put this experience behind us. Other times, if the experiences have been repetitive, we can be left with intense symptoms that tell our story without words and without the understanding that we are remembering events and feelings from long ago. The activation of survival response can also become a habit, for example withdrawing or hiding may have originally been adaptive but later in life it may contribute to excessive isolation and sadness.

SENSORIMOTOR PSYCHOTHERAPY

Developed by Pat Odgen PhD, Sensorimotor Psychotherapy offers the possibility to mindfully study, together, the way our bodies organise experience around health and wellness, our emotional/attachment wounds and symptoms of traumatisation. Experiential in nature, the process begins, with mindful awareness, to notice and report immediate bodily sensations/experiences in relation to a theme or memory.

IFS

The IFS model of therapy is rooted in systems thinking and the multiplicity of the mind. It believes that all individuals have what they called a Self (core, soul or internal leader), which doesn’t need to be culivated or developed; we are born with it. It also acknowledges we have parts or aspects of our personality that we are born with too, which have positive intentions and are not a sign of pathology. With trauma, parts are often forced to take on extreme protective roles or to carry the painful experiences. The IFS guided process can help release parts from their extreme roles and repair the chasm created between parts and the Self as a result of trauma or wounding. Parts are then able to restore trust in self-leadership and fluidly integrate back into the whole system.

BODY, BREATH PRACTICE

Buddhist and yoga traditions have known for more than 2600 years that awareness of breath and body sensation helps calm our nervous system and bring us back into our bodies (present time). Particular mindfulness-somatic practices help our bodies/mind remember it's natural state of ease and wellness.  Containment exercises can work well when we’ve lost connection with our core and feel overwhelmed. That sense inside if our cup is too full or spilling over. Feeling into our feet and the earth can help when we lose our connection to ground. Feeling into, and lengthening, our spine can help to feel more solid and present. 

Supervision

Somatic and trauma informed clinical supervision and case consultation is available for health and welfare practitioners including social workers, psychologists, psychiatrists, counsellors, psychotherapists, yoga teachers and body-oriented psychotherapists.

 Facilitated group supervision is also available online.  

Ethos & intention of group supervision is (a) to offer somatic resources to practitioners working, or interested in working, with trauma (b) to offer feedback on case study presentations (c) to offer learning opportunities by experiencing, or re-experiencing, a somatic IFS/SMP process from the inside – in the roles of supported learning therapist, ‘client’ or being a mindful witness to the process (d) to integrate learnings from demonstrations (e) to participate in creating a sense of community for healers working in the field of trauma.

In the spirit of learning, we invite qualities of opennes, practice & curiousity to the practice demonstrations!

"No ray of sunlight is ever lost, but the green which it wakes into existence needs time to sprout, and it is not always granted the power to live to see the harvest. All work that is worth anything is done in faith"
Albert Schweitzer