08/18/2025
4 important phases of trauma recovery 🌿
(Yes, I know there are 5 listed and no, they don’t happen linearly)
1. PSYCHOEDUCATION - clients need to understand what happened to them and why symptoms are happening now. Here is where we learn about trauma responses and the limbic system, while also understanding that we have tools to heal!
2. SAFETY & AUTONOMY - before we move forward with anything else, clients need to know they are safe. Not just in the therapy room, but in their bodies. This is where we build skills like identifying emotions, decision making, and consent.
3. REMEMBERING & NAMING - now it’s time to process the story. Therapists help clients build language for what happened to them, name is appropriately (e.g. abuse, trauma, etc.), and reframe unhelpful narratives.
4. CONNECTION (to self & others) - finally it’s time to rebuild connections, both to ourselves and to others. We can practice re-parenting, self-love, and goal setting, while also learning how to define boundaries and build healthy relationships.
These phases do NOT happen linearly and can happen simultaneously. But this outline helps us to understand the process occurring while we are working through trauma.
Understanding brings healing!! 💚
