Trauma therapy includes confronting fears and going back to the source of your pain.
These days, mental health counselors and psychologists have many tools to work with when helping people through traumatic experiences or episodes, or a chronic crisis state. From extreme weather disasters to school shootings, earthquakes to being victimized by family violence, to reaching out to help people injured or exposed to a trauma at the Oklahoma City bombing to the Boston Marathon bombings, there are certain emotional health strategies that can help in healing trauma and related depression and mood disorders.
Nevin G. Alderman, MA, CMHC, Clinical Director at New Haven Residential Treatment Center in Provo, Utah, said his team has used many trauma healing rituals and exercises to help troubled teenage girls in treatment and their families. The program offers a unique residential treatment program that helps adolescent girls achieve positive change and growth but these approaches are applicable for anyone who has experienced prolonged stress, heightened anxiety, and significant crises-related trauma.
The objective of these healing exercises, said Alderman, is restoring hope. They are also meant to help awaken people from the hold of the trauma and reclaim a lost part of themselves. While some of these healing approaches can be done on your own, it is helpful to work with a trained mental health professional whenever possible. Alderman said the best forms of therapy balances visual, auditory and kinesthetic aspects — meaning they can reach people who learn and heal best through visual stimulus, auditory stimulus, or feelings.
1. Family Revisiting of Trauma Sites. One of the ways of healing that has become more commonplace in our culture is revisiting the site of the trauma. We’ve witnessed and heard about this many times on the news. For example, when Gabrielle Giffords returned to the site of the violent rampage that wounded her and killed six people in 2011, she had a moment of reflecting and making a statement, and she left a bouquet of flowers at a memorial honoring the victims. We also witness this each year on September 11th as family members of those killed pour into the former World Trade Center site (and, now, the official 911 Memorial) bearing flowers, wreaths, and photos of their loved ones. The idea with revisiting a trauma site is that the traumatized person or family can begin to process the pain, grief, sadness, and hurt that happened there.
“A revisiting is really exposure therapy,” said Alderman. “There are levels and steps you will take. It allows the emotions to be more vivid and more in line with the emotional experiences at the time of the trauma. It lets people reprocess the information in a safe space — rather than a threat to their mortality.” They may draw a happy face with chalk, or bring some other symbol of healing. Alderman recalled bringing a mother and her two daughters to a home they lived in right after leaving an abusive father. Once there, the sisters were able to share memories and their mother was able to sing a song from their childhood. Alderman said they gathered a few symbols, like leafs and twigs, as keepsakes. Whether it's a flood, a tornado, the loss of a home, the idea is to “go back, revisit, and honor and take that and use that for the soil for that future.”
2. Healing the Home. When trauma occurs in the home, or is in some way associated with the home, a therapist can accompany the family for a “walk through” of their homes to reclaim the environment as a safe space. If there has been a crime, abuse, or self-harm in a home, the house becomes a symbol of that pain. To heal the home is to go to various locations and try to create a new meaning in that area. “It’s the actually space they sleep in, eat in, living in,” said Danna Olinick, MSA, CMHC, Assistant Clinical Director and counselor at New Haven. “In order to have peace and refuge, it must be safe," she stresses. Alderman added that part of the process is to bring in things that make people feel relaxed and safe, such as symbols and art on the walls.
3. Symbolic Transformation. In this approach, an individual and family or support system is challenged to identify ways they can transform unhealthy, painful, and self-destructive aspects of their lives by selecting new, empowering, positive symbols. “This could mean changing the look or design of a room,” says Alderman, “or ridding themselves of something from the past.” It may be cleaning out the closet, letting go of memorabilia associated with the trauma, and perhaps buying a new outfit to represent a fresh start.
4. Masks. Creating paper mache masks is a way to help individuals and families express both the internal and external impacts of the trauma. Inside of the masks, people paint what they were feeling inside while going through a traumatic event. On the outside, they paint the face they showed the world. Perhaps it was a brave face, even though they were terrified; or perhaps it was a mean face that covered up being scared. “We try to use symbols, words, and colors,” said Alderman. “In traumatic experience, we automatically think our experience was the same as the other persons. While there is a shared meaning for a family, there are also individual meanings for each. Being able to honor and witness both of those is important.” Another part of the process is to create a new mask that represents hope — and what a hopeful future will look like.
5. Sand Tray Therapy. This is a non-verbal approach to trauma recovery that involves using a simple container with a variety of figurines and objects. The sand tray allows people to express themselves on conscious and subconscious levels and express their internal experience. And gives them a chance to explore, express feelings and have them be silently witnessed by others who love them. It is a chance for them to recreate their internal experience. Participants buy sand and small objects that represent different things to them, and also a container to hold them. Then they are given a chance to place items around the sand box in various formations and it is a form of therapy. “The point there is you are creating a world,” said clinical psychologist Rick Biesinger, MA, PsyD. NCC, who is a specialist in psychological evaluation.“But you never assume a label. They may put a monster in there but you don’t call it a monster. You let them explain what it is to them personally because it may have a different meaning,”
6. Music as a Trauma Medium. Music therapy has been shown to help in a number of ways. Music can be selected by individuals and families, or by the therapist. This brings a deeper therapeutic level of work. “Songs that express, heal, or replace emotions,” are powerful, said Alderman. Some families, together, have a song. He says one father and daughter he worked with were able to speak to each other through the music they selected when they were unable to find their own words.
7. Family Symbol. A therapist will support the family in choosing or creating a symbol that represents their trauma recovery. It is something that they then keep in a prominent place in the house or on the person. “I worked with a family that was trying to regain trust and peace in the house,” said Olinick. “For them that was symbolized by the ocean and the sand because it is always there; it is constant. They went and took a picture of a place they liked and framed it in their house. So when they walked by, it reminded them of good times. It also symbolized that they are building trust and peace again.” Some families choose symbols they can carry or wear, such as a bracelet or trinket. They may also choose a mantra, such as: “we are strong, we are survivors, and together we can be stronger.”
8. Laughter and humor. Humor and uplifting experiences of laughter are an important part of healing. It helps people feel more positive and hopeful. “I think it’s incredibly important,” said Biesinger. “It is psychologically and physiologically impossible to feel humor and stress at the same time. There’s no medication that can replace a good laugh to help a family heal.”