Healing The Wounds: The Vital Role of A Trauma Counsellor

Trauma can turn your world upside down, meaning you have no joy and no connection with others. People with trauma often feel broken. If you have experienced trauma, you do not have to stay like this. Seeing a trauma counsellor can help you address past events so you feel alive and free from emotional stress.

If you would like to speak with a professional who can help you address your trauma with patience and compassion, contact Samarpan Health today.

What Is Trauma?

Trauma is an emotional response resulting from exposure to an event or series of events that were severely disturbing or life-threatening. The effects of trauma are often felt in the long term and can affect mental, physical, social, emotional and spiritual well-being.

Trauma can be treated with a skilled trauma counsellor who can help you to recover from trauma by providing you with support, guidance and therapeutic interventions that will reduce or cease your traumatic symptoms.

Understanding The Impact Of Trauma

Sometimes we experience mild traumas that shake us a little, but we are able to get back on our feet reasonably quickly. You may witness a physical altercation and feel a little “off” for a few hours, but after speaking about it with a friend or family member, you regain equilibrium.

But not everyone responds the same way to trauma. Someone else may have been present at the same event and feel as though their entire sense of safety has been shattered. So we can see that it is not the situation that causes trauma, it is what happens inside us following the event.

However, there is a higher likelihood that more violent or overwhelming scenarios cause trauma. If you were the victim of child abuse as a child or you witnessed a terrible act of violence, it is far more likely that you will experience persistent trauma.

These types of trauma have a greater risk of causing Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. This condition can cause a range of often disturbing symptoms. These include:

• Flashbacks. It is common for people with PTSD to have flashbacks. These are often triggered by sights, smells and sounds that remind you of the traumatic event.
• Nightmares. If you have PTSD, you are far more likely to have nightmares than the average person. These may involve traumatic events.
• Sadness. PTSD can make you feel sad or depressed much of the time, even if you didn’t often feel these feelings before PTSD.
• Fear. Your feeling of safety may be taken from you if you experience traumatic events. You may feel like it is likely that the traumatic event will happen again.
• Anger. People with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder may feel angry at the person or people who perpetrated the traumatic event, or they may feel angry at another person or situation entirely.
• Emotional Detachment. If you have PTSD, you may feel like you cannot connect with other people. Those around you may feel that you have become distant.

The Role Of A Trauma Counsellor

Trauma counsellors help you to address your trauma by changing your relationship with it. counsellors also encourage you to talk about your trauma so trauma symptoms are reduced or even resolved entirely.

The first goal of a trauma counsellor is creating a safe space so that you can feel comfortable. They will establish a rapport with you by being on time, showing you respect and revealing a little about themselves.

Some counsellors have had trauma that they have had to overcome in the past, and may share something about this during your sessions, if they feel like it may benefit the healing process.

Once trust has been established, trauma therapists will help you to confront some of the beliefs you have around the trauma. A trauma counsellor guides you to do something called “cognitive restructuring”, where you will be helped to think differently about your trauma and gain a new understanding of it.

Trauma counsellors may also use exposure as part of their methodology. In therapy, this usually means that your counsellor will guide you to visualize a situation that you are fearful about. In the case of trauma work, you will be asked to visualize your trauma. As this can often be challenging, trauma counsellors are likely to ease you into this work slowly.

For example, if your trauma involves a car accident and it has left you unable to get in a car, the first step would involve visualizing a car from a distance. In a subsequent session, you may imagine the car closer to you, and so on, until you actually sit in the car.

In this way, you will not feel overwhelmed by this process, and having built a good relationship with your trauma counsellor, you will have far more faith that the process will benefit you and not cause you harm.

How Will I Feel After Trauma Treatment?

Immediately following sessions, you may feel your trauma symptoms worsen as old feelings come to the surface. Any good trauma therapist will help you to address these, so you do not feel overwhelmed by them.

As the weeks of your therapy progress, you should begin to feel less afflicted by your trauma. You may:

• Feel less jumpy
• Have fewer nightmares
• Experience fewer flashbacks
• Find it easier to connect with people
• Notice less anxiety and less depression

Overall, it is possible to live freely and joyfully, away from the pain that you were once afflicted with. Some people with trauma find that they have little to no symptoms after going through trauma treatment. This is fantastic news for people who have severe trauma, who often feel like they are indelibly broken. This is not the case.

Connect With A Trauma Counsellor At Samarpan Health

If you have trauma, the best way to restore your peace, vitality and sense of safety is to see a mental health professional. A good trauma counsellor can help you see the light again.

At Samarpan Health, all our esteemed staff have years of experience treating trauma, combined with qualifications from leading educational centres. This, combined with their compassion, dedication and patience, is what we believe makes our team so effective at treating trauma.

If you would like to hear more about our approach to trauma treatment, or would like to schedule an appointment, please feel free to contact us today.