People will also experience traumatic events differently – and not everyone will carry lasting trauma from a certain event.

The general definition of trauma is along the lines of “exposure to a real or threatened event involving death, serious injury, or sexual violation.” These events come in several general forms, including:

• Directly experiencing the threat or event
• Witnessing an event as it happens to someone else
• Learning of events that happened to close family members or friends
• Being repeatedly exposed to the details of the traumatic event

Traumatic events can happen to anyone at any age, leaving lasting effects that can be detrimental for years. The effects of trauma can manifest in so many different ways, but the following are some of the most common effects and symptoms:

• It can make you more susceptible to mental health problems
• It can cause post-traumatic stress disorder
• It can lead to the misuse and abuse of substances like drugs and alcohol
• It can lead to instances of self-harm as a coping mechanism for difficult situations and emotions
• It can increase your risk of developing long-term diseases and illnesses
• It can make it harder to cope with everyday stressors
• It can leave you with feelings of guilt, shame, and hopelessness
• It can cause difficulties with memory and focus
• It can cause hypervigilance, causing you to react more strongly to everything around you
• Difficulty regulating emotions and behavioural responses
• You may experience relationship issues and struggle to trust people

Many of these things can be treated and reversed, but some illnesses can become permanent. This is why it’s so important to not only deal with your trauma as soon as possible but to seek trauma informed therapy for things like addiction and mental health.

A trauma-informed therapist is well-versed in the area of trauma and they understand the various effects it can have. They know what questions to ask you and they’ll determine how your trauma affects you.

A trauma-informed approach to therapy and counseling follows six core principles. These things are followed and maintained no matter what as they are crucial to fostering a safe, healthy, trauma-informed space:

• All necessary steps are taken to ensure both staff and clients feel physically, mentally, and emotionally safe throughout the entire facility and organization.
• Transparency and trustworthiness. Every decision is made with transparency and discussion. This is meant to build and maintain trust between the client and therapist.
• Peer support. Those with similar and shared experiences are put together and group discussion and learning can take place.
• Collaboration. Staff, therapists, and clients work together and power differences are not leveraged. Decisions are made together and with everyone’s input.
• Empowerment. Everyone’s strengths are acknowledged, built up, and validated at all stages. This fosters resilience and the belief that you can heal from trauma.
• Humility and responsiveness. Therapists remain committed to inclusivity and humility – recognizing and addressing the effects of biases, stereotypes, and historical trauma.

There are many ways trauma-informed counseling for women can be approached. Your therapist may use a variety of methods as they figure out what works best for you. Some of the most common trauma-informed approaches include:

• This method uses guided exercises that help you learn to manage your addiction. These exercises include things like role reversal, mirroring, future projection, and more. These can also help you learn to better manage stress and create healthy coping mechanisms.
• Breathwork. Breathwork is a helpful component in many therapies as it can help you clear your mind and remove mental and spiritual obstacles to your recovery.
• Brainspotting. This method focuses on identifying, processing, and releasing various sources of trauma, pain, and dissociation. This therapy can help identify which areas of the brain are holding trauma and emotion.
• This form of trauma therapy involves using activities, actions, and movements throughout your sessions that bring a more physical element into the session. This can help you relax, focus, and open up more about your addiction and trauma. It can also help improve your problem-solving skills and contribute to personal growth.

These are only some of the methods our therapists might use at our centre for trauma therapy. Every trauma centre for women is different, but we strive to offer a varied approach that caters to everyone individually.

You’ll work with a trauma counsellor for women who is highly trained in dealing with trauma and above all else, they’ll know how to avoid triggers that will make treatment harder.