Trauma

Often when we are struggling with trauma and PTSD it can be so all consuming that it is all we can see. My fictional writing course is designed to help you explore aspects of the trauma, blocks and stuck points you may be facing, thoughts and emotions you may be struggling with etc., in a way that allows you to step outside of the trauma and view it through a different lens. This can lead to new realizations, breakthroughs and a renewed sense of hope and healing.

When we use art we open new pathways in our brain and view situations from new perspectives. Art can be extremely helpful for trauma survivors in helping you look at aspects of your trauma that you are struggling with, stuck points, emotions and the impact trauma has had on your life, through a different lens. 

Trauma survivors face unique challenges within the workplace and/or at school. This course focuses on those challenges and through a variety of techniques helps you gain insight into the struggles you are having to develop skills and plans to better help you succeed.

Trauma almost always involves breaking of trust and/or the loss of relationships. Whether it happened during the trauma or in the aftermath, it can be extremely difficult to form healthy, new relationships and learn to trust people again after you have experienced trauma. This course focuses on the relationships in your life and the relationships you would like to have and the obstacles to that. We will explore ways to rebuild trust, learn to trust new people and identify red flags in a relationship, among other things.​

As a survivor, advocating for yourself is essential. Whether it be setting boundaries, asking for accommodations, standing up for yourself or any other situation, self-advocacy and healthy boundaries can be the difference in getting what you need to further your healing. However, trauma can often steal our voice from us. It can make self-advocacy terrifying and seemingly impossible. It can decimate our self-esteem or make us believe we are not worth it. This course focuses on helping you reclaim your voice and teaching you how to be your own advocate and set appropriate, healthy boundaries with people.

Unfortunately, going through trauma can often leave you with a lot of guilt and shame that doesn't belong to you. But it feels like it does and can have a drastic impact on your ability to heal and lead a happy life. This course focuses on identifying the guilt and shame you feel, facing it and, through the use of a variety of techniques, learn how to combat and overcome it so that you may heal. 

Writing has a way of facilitating new perspectives on the trauma and can lead to breakthroughs and healing. In this course we will use multiple styles of writing to help you break through blocks, move past stuck points or just move forward on your healing journey.

Trauma has a way of taking over your life making it impossible to see beyond the trauma to a better future. This course is designed to help you rediscover your dreams and goals in life and begin to work towards them. Too often trauma and its aftermath strips survivors of hope. This course aims to not only restore your hope in your future but will give you the steps to take to make that future a reality

Frequently trauma survivors will find that certain TV shows and movies are comforting, triggering or inspire other emotions or reactions within us. We may also relate strongly to certain characters without fully understanding why. In this course, we will use different techniques to explore what those TV shows, movies and characters mean to you in light of your trauma and how to use them and the connections you make to further your healing journey.

There are many, well known coping skills out there to assist trauma survivors and those with PTSD, many of which I am sure you already know. This course is not about me just throwing coping skills at you and hoping they work. Instead, drawing on my own experiences, I will work together with you to identify and create unique coping skills that are specifically designed for your situation and that work for YOU. Whether they are variations of well known coping skills or completely new ones created specifically for you, the aim of this course is that you leave with a toolbox of effective skills and techniques to help you better manage the effects the trauma has had on your life.

This comprehensive course combines many of the techniques from other courses to look at everything from personalized coping skills to reclaiming your identity. Trauma and PTSD have a devastating effect on ones life and can often make it seem as if the trauma is your whole world and identity. This is not true and together we will work to help you begin to reclaim your identity outside of the trauma, grieve the loss of your old life, accept your new reality, develop and work towards goals and dreams, form or strengthen your support system and ultimately move from surviving to thriving in life.

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This is a 3 month course.

Trauma can have a lot of effects on us. When it comes to independence, in my experience, one of two things happen. Either you struggle to be independent out of fear, the effects of PTSD or a myriad of other reasons; or you become too independent, trying to do everything yourself because that is what you had to do to survive. Healthy independence, however, is a combination of being independent but also knowing when and how to ask for help. This course focuses on helping you examine the effects that the trauma has had on your independence, identify the barriers that are keeping you from becoming healthily independent and discovering ways for you to challenge and overcome these barriers so that you may lead a healthy, independent life.