Essay On Healing Trauma

Healing Trauma: Simple, Not Easy

As the recognition of the effects of trauma have increased over the years, it seems like more and more well-intentioned, professional caregivers are attempting to help survivors of trauma. Unfortunately, many professionals trying to treat a survivor have little to no trauma-informed care or evidenced-based trauma-focused treatment training, and as a result may be unethically practicing outside of the scope of their competency. Even though a professional caregiver may have the best of intentions, it’s important that they understand that without the proper training, more harm can result than good.

The exemplum of a Tanzanian folktale about how two monkeys saved a fish helps to illustrate how good intentions,

This diminishing of hope begins to dim the brightness of the future, leaving the traveler in a tumultuous world of growing darkness. Many people who’ve experienced developmental trauma—the interference or interruption of normal relational, emotional, and cognitive milestones of a human being—feel unsafe in their daily lives. For them, the thought of letting go of this darkness becomes both fear provoking and anxiety-ridden, and the changes they’re required to make to brighten their future and heal from the wounds of traumatic stress often require the assistance of a trained caregiver.

The role of the caregiver is not to “heal,” but rather to facilitate healing. These professionals must first and foremost become aware of the trauma in their own lives, and then through acts of love, encouragement, and kindness, can support others in doing the same. Caregivers are the catalyst for change by modeling self-regulation behaviors for their clients. This requires a mastery of self-regulation skills, and can only be accomplished through rigorous, deliberate

As professional caregivers we follow the Patient’s Bill of Rights, which dictates “the patient is entitled to relief from pain, anxiety, and depression…with the least intrusive interventions” (Cummings and Sayama, 1995, p. 1). In order to provide the survivor with this level of care, the caregiver needs to become competent in the specialty of trauma-informed treatment.

The action of the healer cannot be superficial, impulsive, or temporary—their determination to help a survivor build a brighter future needs to be heartfelt, unwavering, and permanent. The healer working with trauma survivors must in many ways embrace this concept expressed by Thomas A. Edison: “If we all did the things we are really capable of doing, we would literally astound ourselves.” If we believe in the capacity of those who’ve been living their lives in pain due to trauma, we are likely to be astounded by what they’re capable of doing. Conversely, we’ll astound ourselves with our own capacities as