Trauma-Informed Care

Trauma can be an experience of abuse, accidents, assaults, bullying, adversity, discrimination, lack of safety, neglect, poverty or violence, to name a few. Trauma significantly impacts your daily functioning, cognitive functioning, and emotional reactions. Learn more about What is Trauma?

Trauma-informed care is a framework that recognizes an individual is more likely than not to have been exposed to a traumatic experience in their life. It acknowledges that trauma impacts you in ways you may not be aware of.  In response, clinicians tailor services to sensitively meet your unique needs taking into consideration your history, culture and context of your life. It is not always necessary to talk about the traumatic events in detail; clinicians can artfully help you work through the traumatic experiences by a simple acknowledgment of their presence.

The client is safely guided to feel and acclimate to trapped emotions from the trauma, while simultaneously drawing attention to cognitions about the trauma. This combination allows the body to process the traumatic event and reintegrate new information that frees the body from being in a trapped sense of unsafety. Physical regulation occurs with more fluid movement between the parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous systems.  Psychological regulation means that you’re no longer responding to trauma-triggering stressors as if the trauma is occurring in the moment. The memories of the trauma are still present; however, the mind and body learn to differentiate between the past and the present, allowing more presence, grounding and feelings of safety in the environment. Clients experience a sense of freedom when they are able to predict and manage their responses to the world more adaptably.

All clinicians at Optimal Moments take a Trauma-Informed Care approach. Some of our clinicians are trained in Accelerated Resolution Therapy which is an adjunct approach to treating trauma utilized in collaboration with other treatment approaches.