The Healing Power of Trauma-Informed Therapy
Maybe on the outside, you’re keeping it together. You show up. You do what needs doing. But inside? You’re tired and triggered. Worn down by the pressure to be strong even when something inside you quietly feels like it's breaking.
Maybe you’ve noticed that certain situations make you shut down, lash out, or run for the hills, and you don’t fully understand why.
Or maybe you notice that your fear is running the show and making you avoid certain situations in case they trigger you. Perhaps this leaves you in a hypervigilant state, always scanning for cues of danger and safety. Maybe these behaviors once helped you survive, but could now leave you feeling disconnected from yourself.
If any of that resonates, I want you to know these aren’t personal flaws. They are protective responses your nervous system created to help you get through what felt overwhelming or unsafe. These responses deserve to be met with curiosity, not shame.
That’s the heart of trauma-informed therapy.
What is Trauma-Informed Therapy?
Simply put, a trauma-informed practice understands that traumatic experiences can have ongoing consequences on our entire beings. It doesn’t ask, “What’s your diagnosis?” It gently asks, “What happened to you?”
It understands trauma as an experience that "overwhelms the ordinary systems of care that give people a sense of control, connection, and meaning " (Herman, 2015) and includes single incident, complex and developmental trauma.
This perspective recognizes that trauma isn’t just the “big stuff”, or in other words, big “T” trauma. It understands that trauma can stem from years of feeling invisible, growing up being neglected, or experiencing chronic stressors. Mainly, long-term consequences can set in because we didn’t have the necessary resources to cope when challenges arose.
Key elements of trauma
Overwhelmed and Powerless
Trauma often arises when something happens that strips us of our sense of power and choice. In those moments, we can feel helpless, like there’s no way to protect ourselves.A Shattering of Safety and Meaning
What once felt stable, our trust in others, our sense of safety, our place in the world, can be suddenly disrupted. Trauma shakes the foundation of what we believe about ourselves, others, and life itself.Fragmentation of the Self
In the aftermath of trauma, we may feel disconnected from parts of ourselves. Memories can feel scattered or fuzzy. Our thoughts, emotions, and sense of identity may no longer feel cohesive or clear.Lingering, Often Hidden Effects
The impact of trauma isn’t always immediate or visible. Its effects can quietly linger, shaping how we relate to others, how we see ourselves, and how we move through the world. Sometimes it shows up in ways we don’t fully understand until we begin to unpack what happened (Herman, 2015).
Therapy for Trauma Draws on Powerful Teachings. These include:
How Trauma Shapes the Body and Mind
As psychiatrist Bessel van der Kolk writes in The Body Keeps the Score, trauma is stored not just in memory, but in the body. When something reminds us, consciously or unconsciously, of a past hurt, our body and brain can shift before we even realize it.
For example, you may find yourself avoiding connection, snapping at loved ones, feeling numb, or hyper-alert while dreading that something “bad” could happen at any second. Trauma-informed therapy helps you bring these patterns to the surface so that you can begin to make sense of them. It invites curiosity over self-criticism, compassion over control.
Creating Safety and Connection in Therapy
Judith Herman, a pioneer in the field of trauma recovery, reminds us that trauma is not just a personal wound. It’s a rupture in our sense of safety, trust, and connection.
That’s why the first goal of trauma-informed therapy is not to dive into the past, but to create a sense of safety in the present. Together, we’ll work to build that foundation so that any deeper work is grounded in a sense of support and regulation.
Honoring the Wisdom of Your Nervous System
Peter Levine, the founder of Somatic Experiencing, teaches that trauma healing happens when we learn to “renegotiate” traumatic experiences rather than relive them. This means listening to the body, slowing down, and allowing incomplete survival responses to gently resolve.
Deb Dana adds to this by helping us understand how our autonomic nervous system, particularly the vagus nerve, affects how safe, connected, or shut down we feel. In trauma-informed therapy, we pay attention to nervous system states like fight, flight, and freeze to support regulation and help you find your way back to safety and connection.
Healing from the Inside Out
Richard Schwartz, founder of Internal Family Systems (IFS), offers another essential insight: within each of us are many “parts”, inner voices that carry stories, beliefs, and wounds. Trauma-informed therapy helps us meet those parts with compassion and curiosity, rather than judgment or fear.
You might discover that a “critical voice” inside you is trying to protect a younger, more vulnerable part from re-experiencing difficult events. Or that a part of you that avoids closeness is doing so out of deep care and survival instinct. These discoveries can be profoundly healing.
Trauma-Informed Therapy At Spring Bloom Psychotherapy
Safety
At the heart of our work together is creating a space where you feel psychologically and emotionally safe. A space where you can begin to gently explore your experiences without fear of judgment or overwhelm. I believe that healing starts with safety rather than by pushing for change.
Trust
Healing happens when there is trust, which I recognize as being gently built over time.
Collaboration and Mutual Respect
You are the expert of your own life. I bring my presence and training, but I also honour your inner wisdom and experience. Therapy is a partnership, and your insights and experiences will matter deeply in shaping our work together.
You won’t be just a passive recipient of therapy; we will collaborate openly, and I will support you in making choices that feel right for you.
Empowerment
Together, we will uncover your strengths and build on them. My goal is to support you in reconnecting with your sense of agency and helping you feel more in control of your healing and your life.
Cultural, Historical, and Gender Awareness
Your story doesn’t exist in a vacuum. I hold space for how culture, identity, systemic oppression, and lived experience shape how trauma is felt and how healing unfolds. Therapy is always adapted with these layers in mind
Why Trauma-Informed Therapy Matters
You may have tried therapy before and felt like it was more about “fixing” you than understanding you. Or maybe you’ve never reached out because you feared being judged, rushed, or told to “just move on.”
That’s not how I work.
Trauma-informed therapy is not about rehashing every painful memory or diving into the deep end before you’re ready. It’s about building the safety, trust, and capacity to explore your experience at a pace your nervous system can handle.
As Deb Dana says, “Story follows state.” If you’ve been stuck in survival mode, your thoughts and emotions reflect that. When we work with the nervous system through gentle co-regulation, movement, breath, and mindful awareness, you can begin to shift out of those patterns and into connection.
It’s all about creating a space where your whole system can finally exhale.
What Therapy Sessions Might Look Like
Learning how to regulate your nervous system when you feel anxious, shut down, or on edge
Exploring the childhood experiences and beliefs that still shape your sense of self and of safety in the world
Meeting the different parts of you with compassion
Gently releasing shame and self-blame
Finding your voice and learning to set boundaries
Grieving the losses created by trauma
Using creative, somatic, or mindfulness-based tools to help your body feel safe enough to feel
Recognizing some of the strength, growth, and wisdom you earned from the difficult experiences, or in other words, your post-traumatic growth
Activating your brain’s neuroplasticity
This isn’t a one-size-fits-all model. We collaborate. You set the pace. I bring clinical wisdom; you bring lived experience. Together, we listen to your body, your parts, and your story.
You don’t need a dramatic story. You don’t need to explain your pain in perfect words.
If your nervous system is exhausted, your self-worth feels fragile, or you’re tired of carrying it all alone, trauma-informed therapy can meet you there.
You Deserve Support
Trauma may have shaped your past, but it doesn’t have to define your future.
Your body can soften. Your nervous system can learn safety.
Your inner parts can be seen and welcomed.
Your story can shift.
You can tap into your many, many strengths.
Healing doesn’t have to be hard or heroic.
It can be slow. Gentle. Sacred.
It can be about coming home to yourself, one breath, one boundary, one brave conversation at a time.
If you’re curious about this work, I invite you to book a free consultation. Let’s talk about what you’ve been holding and what it might feel like to finally set it down.
You’re not broken.
You’re becoming.
And I’d be honored to walk with you.
If this speaks to something inside you, you don’t have to walk this path alone. I offer online trauma-informed therapy across Ontario. Please reach out for a free consultation.
To find out more about my Trauma-Informed Psychotherapy Services, click HERE.
To read more, you can explore my references:
Dana, D. (2018). The Polyvagal Theory in Therapy: Engaging the Rhythm of Regulation. W. W. Norton.
Herman, J. L. (2015). Trauma and Recovery: The Aftermath of Violence – from Domestic Abuse to Political Terror. Basic Books. (Original work published 1992)
Levine, P. A., with Frederick, A. (1997). Waking the Tiger: Healing Trauma. North Atlantic Books.
Schwartz, R. C. (2001). Internal Family Systems Therapy. Guilford Press.
van der Kolk, B. (2014). The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma. Viking.