Understanding Trauma: Healing Your Past and Empowering Your Future
Do you feel like you’re constantly on edge, even in moments that should feel safe?
Do past experiences cast a long shadow over your present, making it difficult to connect with others or find peace?
You’re not alone. The weight of trauma can be heavy, but healing is possible.
In trauma-informed therapy, you have someone walking alongside you on your personal journey. This isn’t about “getting over” what happened — it’s about creating a new relationship with your past so it no longer controls your future.
Understanding Trauma: It’s Not Just What Happened, But How Your Brain Responded
Trauma isn’t only about one catastrophic event. It’s any experience that overwhelms your ability to cope, leaving you feeling helpless, terrified, or deeply alone.
Examples include:
“Big T” Traumas: Accidents, natural disasters, combat, abuse, or violent crime.
“Little t” Traumas: Experiences that may seem smaller but can have a lasting cumulative impact—such as bullying, chronic stress, neglect, the loss of a pet, relationship conflicts, or repeatedly feeling unheard or misunderstood.
Every person’s experience of trauma is valid, regardless of how “severe” it seems. Your brain and body react to perceived threats in deeply personal ways. There is no hierarchy of suffering. If an experience has left you anxious, disconnected, or struggling to cope, it’s worth exploring and addressing.
What Happens in Your Brain When Trauma Strikes?
Your brain has a built-in alarm system, primarily managed by the amygdala, that detects danger and triggers a rapid response to keep you safe.
During a traumatic event, this system can go into overdrive. The intensity of the threat can overwhelm the prefrontal cortex (responsible for reasoning and decision-making), leaving the amygdala and other survival systems in control.
This can lead to:
Fight, Flight, or Freeze Responses: The body floods with stress hormones like adrenaline and cortisol to respond to danger.
Fragmented Memories: Traumatic memories may be stored as sensations, images, sounds, smells, or emotions instead of a clear timeline — making flashbacks feel as if the event is happening again.
Constant Hypervigilance: Even after the danger has passed, the amygdala can stay “on,” leading to anxiety, irritability, poor sleep, and feeling easily startled.
Difficulty Regulating Emotions: Trauma can affect the brain’s ability to manage feelings, trust others, and stay present in relationships.
These are not signs of weakness — they are your brain’s survival instincts at work. Healing requires more than willpower. It involves working with your brain’s natural capacity to reprocess and release these experiences.
What Is Trauma-Informed Care?
A trauma-informed approach shifts the question from “What’s wrong with you?” to “What happened to you?”
It acknowledges that difficult experiences can shape both mind and body, and that our reactions are often protective responses.
Trauma-informed care is built on:
Safety — Ensuring emotional and physical safety.
Trust — Creating a dependable, consistent relationship.
Collaboration — Working together at a pace that feels right for you.
Empowerment — Supporting your control over your own healing.
It’s about creating a space where you are seen, heard, and respected — where you have agency in your own recovery.
Take the First Step Toward Healing
Healing is not a straight path, and you do not have to walk it alone. Reaching out for help is a sign of strength.
You deserve a life free from the shadow of your past—a life where you feel safe, connected, and truly present.
Book a free consultation with me today and start your healing journey with the compassionate support of a trauma-informed nurse psychotherapist.
By Kim Berrio
