-
VIDEO: The Self-Compassion Approach to Trauma Treatment
Creative Strategies That Dig Deeper
-
It’s important to honor all of your client’s inner parts in therapy. But accessing them to fully engage in healing work isn’t always easy, especially when they've been through unimaginable trauma and feel lingering shame, as is especially common with trauma survivors.
As therapist Lisa Ferentz explains in the short video below, since trauma is stored in the visual parts of the brain, and the body, the therapist's best bet is to use creative, body-oriented strategies that counteract this shame. Here's what this looks like in practice:
As Lisa mentions in her Networker article, working creatively energizes many of her traumatized clients, "in part because they were already creative, having invented all kinds of strategies for safety and survival." Working with a sexual assault survivor, Melissa, she explains how she used journaling to help her move beyond her pain and even find ways to make meaning from the horror she experienced.
