Welcome.
This is a space dedicated to your safety and to honoring your experience.
What is trauma?
Trauma is the response to a distressing or disturbing event that overwhelms an individual’s ability to cope, causes feelings of helplessness, diminishes their sense of self and their ability to feel a full range of emotions and experiences.
Trauma is less about the event, and more about how the body and mind perceive, process, and integrate the traumatic event/s.
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Trauma is less about the event, and more about how the body and mind perceive, process, and integrate the traumatic event/s. ||
Trauma is less about the event, and more about how the body and mind perceive, process, and integrate the traumatic event/s.
That means that what might feel traumatic to one person may be insignificant to someone else. This fundamental component of trauma - that the body + brain response is unique and unpredictable to each individual - adds another layer of challenge: feeling alone and isolated in an experience that is shared by others in the *same setting who appear to have no adverse feelings. (*siblings who were raised in the same home and treated similarly by their caretakers, for example. )
Religious Trauma… is it real?
“Religious Trauma Syndrome (RTS) is a group of symptoms that arise in response to traumatic/stressful/high control religious experiences. While Religious Trauma Syndrome is not an official diagnosis in the DSM-5, it is a common experience shared among many who have escaped cults, fundamentalist religious groups, abusive religious settings, or other painful experiences with religion.” (Restoration Counseling)
Unfortunately, most people embedded in religion do not acknowledge the existence of harm or the possibility of trauma as a result of the religious environment. That’s because they gather deep strength from their beliefs. Imagining that the source of their strength is also a source of injury to others creates mental discomfort, aka cognitive dissonance.
This also means that survivors of this harm will never receive validation of the existence of that harm by the ones who hurt them.
When a survivor has the opportunity to tell their story to someone who believes them, understands and advocates for them, their healing begins.
Recovery Coaching
Recovery from religious trauma can be especially challenging because of two primary elements:
1) The beliefs we hold of ourselves and the world around us are firmly rooted in the religious beliefs we are taught in early childhood. When we discover those beliefs to be toxic, it creates an uprooting of our foundation.
2) Religious trauma produces C-PTSD symptoms, which is complex (repeated) PTSD. This is trauma that is not just one event, but repeated events over and over, and deeply affect the way we view ourselves. It often results in toxic shame and a fear of trusting others.
Religious trauma + spiritual abuse is nuanced and is often misdiagnosed, but the recovery process is an incredible journey of empowerment; a chance for the survivor to create the life and beliefs of their choosing.
As a recovery coach, I travel with you through your story, staying beside you as a guide. We shift the question from “what is wrong with me” to “what happened to me”, with a strength-based approach that uses the tools you already have.
It’s your time to heal.
Hey, I'm Sarah, certified trauma recovery coach.
As a trauma survivor, I understand the feelings of isolation, shame and overwhelm that many survivors experience. My goal is for you to feel seen, understood, and believed.
Many of us were injured inside relationships. Although it feels like a paradox, our healing also happens in relationship with others. This is both a beautiful and a complicated part of healing.
Holding a confidential and safe space for my clients to reshape their pain, explore their stories without judgment, and create possibilities for their future are parts of the coaching container that I provide.
This may be the nurturing space you've been looking for.
How do I know it’s trauma?
Trauma Can Look Like…
always feeling activated
Do you notice yourself experiencing anxiety when doing simple tasks or conducting normal life, and then being frustrated at yourself for not feeling more in control?
struggling with the beliefs you have about yourself
If you were raised in a high-control environment, you may see yourself through a distorted lens and with unproductive levels of self-criticism, or even shame.
Physical body reactions that don’t have AN obvious cause
Emotions that surge and then plummet without warning can disrupt life, work and relationships in a deep way. Not having an answer for why it’s happening exacerbates the confusion and can lead to feelings of helplessness + depression.
forgetting to take care of yourself and burning out
Survivors are notorious for forgetting their own self care and implementation of healthy habits, even when they are able to encourage others to do better.
