what is trauma?

Trauma happens when you experience too much, too soon, and your system is unable to fully process what occurred. In truth, any event or experience can be traumatic depending on how the brain interprets it, which is primarily an unconscious process. Many people who have experienced or who are close to someone who has experienced adverse childhood experiences, neglect, abuse, assault, physical injuries, divorce, heartbreak, addiction, loss/death, relocation, and systemic oppression, are just some examples of common experiences that can result in trauma.

In the brain, unprocessed trauma means your system has not fully integrated that past experience and will replay itself, often unconsciously, in the present through your thoughts, emotional reactions, bodily sensations, and/or behaviors. We help your brain literally rewire itself so that the trauma is properly integrated into the past and you can be more fully present.

Depending on the severity and duration of unprocessed trauma in one’s system, results are various adverse symptoms such as irritability, mood instability, anxiety, depression, impairment in appetite and digestion, weight loss or gain, disordered eating, sleep impairment, chronic pain, difficulty focusing or completing tasks, difficulties in relationships, challenges in communication, substance use issues, addictions, as well as a long list of medical issues such as heart disease, diabetes, cancer, auto-immune disorders, and early death.

When you heal your trauma, you are not only rewiring your brain and behavior, you are shifting your physiology and engaging in preventative health care measures. Furthermore, you are impacting the health of everyone you are in community with because we are all deeply interconnected!