What is Trauma?
Trauma can have a profound impact on a person’s psychological wellbeing and every day functioning. Trauma counselling is a specialist field of counselling that aims to help those who have suffered a traumatic life event.
Trauma counselling involves a long but rewarding process of self-exploration to discover the inner resources you need to start building a future.
But it doesn’t happen all at once. In fact, facing your trauma abruptly generates an overwhelming sense of distress which can increase the risk of suicide.
That’s why trauma counsellors focus on building a solid therapeutic alliance before addressing the core problem.
Through guidance and emotional support, a trained professional can help you cultivate post-traumatic growth. In other words, you will have the opportunity to find constructive ways to manage painful emotions and move forward in life.
With the help of our counsellors and expressive arts therapists you can:
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Regain clarity and feel supported in processing your trauma
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Reframe life events and regain a sense of meaning
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Rebuild your self-confidence
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Learn effective coping strategies to deal with anxiety, depression, and stress
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Adjust to your new circumstances
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Accept the past and plan for a better future.
Always remember that no matter how much trauma we might be forced to endure, the human mind will always find a way to adjust.
You just need someone who can validate your feelings , witness your pain and help you see the light at the end of the tunnel.
"Neurobiology has taught us that we need to “come to our senses” in developing effective components for addressing trauma...Expressive arts therapy releases the potential of the senses to “tell the story” of traumatic experiences via nonverbal, implicit forms of communication."
"Expressive arts help people discover just what forms of expression will be self-regulating, communicate their experiences in reparative ways, imagine restorative narratives, and ultimately support recovery."
"The expressive arts have a unique role in restoring a sense of vitality and joy in traumatized individuals because aliveness is not something we can be “talked into.” Instead, it is experienced in both mind and body and particularly on a somatosensory level."
Neurobiology of Trauma
Trauma Informed Expressive Arts Therapy
Trauma-informed expressive arts therapy is a model for arts-based approaches that integrates current best practices in trauma-informed care with what is known about how the expressive arts and play assist in trauma reparation and integration. Based on the concepts of trauma-informed practice and the characteristics of expressive arts therapy, the following seven points summarize the major components of trauma-informed expressive arts therapy (for more detailed information, see Malchiodi, 2020).
1. Neurodevelopment and neurobiology inform the application of expressive arts therapy to trauma-informed intervention. As previously stated, trauma is not just a psychological experience; it is also a mind–body experience. The role of neurodevelopment and neurobiology is central to using the expressive arts to address trauma reactions and to assist individuals in reconnecting implicit (sensory) and explicit (declarative) memories of trauma. In particular, neurodevelopment provides a framework for determining how to apply expressive arts interventions to various goalsof treatment, including when and how to support self- regulation and self-efficacy, positive attachment, and resilience-building.
2. Expressive arts therapy is focused on supporting self-regulation and co-regulation. Overactivation, hyperarousal, and general anxiety are common manifestations of not only post-traumatic stress, but also other trauma-related challenges. Expressive arts interventions are used not only to support individuals’ own internal resources, but also to provide various creative, action-oriented approaches to self-regulation and co-regulation.
3. Expressive arts therapy is used to help identify and ameliorate the body’s experience of distress. Individuals who are experiencing trauma-related reactions typically experience the impact of these reactions not only in altered thinking, but also in various somatic experiences. Because the expressive arts are “embodied” experiences, they are helpful in identifying and repairing the body’s responses to trauma. In particular, key trauma- informed practices are (a) using expressive arts to support individuals’ bodies as resources (Levine, 1997, 2015) and (b) normalising the body’s reactions to trauma as adaptive coping rather than pathology.
4. Expressive arts therapy is used to establish and support a sense of safety, positive attachment, and prosocial relationships. Reconnecting with a sense of safety is central to trauma-informed practice. In particular, expressive arts approaches are used to help individuals recover a sense of well-being internally and in relationships with others. This also includes providing various opportunities for the individual to engage in creative experimentation that integrates experiences of unconditional appreciation, guidance, and support, experiences found in families with secure attachment relationships.
5. Expressive arts therapy is used to support strengths and enhance resilience. Trauma-informed practice encourages helping professionals to see all individuals as capable of growth and reparation. It also holds the concept of resiliency as central to recovery. Expressive arts interventions are life-affirming and honor individuals’ capacity for resilience and personal strength by encouraging mastery, with a goal of moving individuals’ self-perceptions from victim to survivor to “thriver.”
6. Expressive arts therapy respects the individual’s preferences for self-expression, particularly of trauma narratives. Trauma-informed practice emphasizes the role of individuals in their own treatment and their preferences for participation. These preferences are determined by culture, previous experiences, world views, values, and other dynamics. Arts-based approaches offer a variety of ways for expressing “what happened,” dependent on the individual’s comfort level with self-expression. These therapies also respect the use of personal metaphors and symbols that allow individuals to control how they communicate sensitive experiences.
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7. Expressive arts therapy provides meaning-making experiences and ways to imagine new narratives post-trauma. As previously stated, expressive arts in particular allow individuals to convey what is often unspeakable. They also allow survivors to explore, restructure, reframe, and re-story trauma and loss through nonverbal, asset-driven, participatory, and self-empowering ways.
