Trauma Recovery FAQs

Trauma recovery is a holistic process of healing that engages your body, mind, and emotions. It’s about more than just understanding what happened—it’s learning to reconnect with your inner felt sense without becoming overwhelmed by what’s inside.

Recovery means improving your health and wellness, living a self-directed life, and striving to reach your full potential. It’s not about forgetting what happened or “getting over it”—it’s about processing these experiences so they no longer control your present.

This process generally involves: building safety and stability in your nervous system, developing skills to manage triggers and emotions, processing traumatic memories when you’re ready, and reconnecting with yourself and others in healthier ways.

As trauma researcher Peter Levine notes, “Allowing yourself to observe your inner processes activates brain pathways that connect the rational with the emotional parts of the brain”—this mind-body connection is essential for healing.

Dive deeper into trauma recovery in the podcast episode: Smart goals for trauma recovery.

Trauma is any experience that overwhelms your capacity to process and integrate it emotionally. It exists on a spectrum—not all trauma results in a formal diagnosis.

PTSD is a specific diagnosis based on DSM-5 criteria. While PTSD is one way trauma can manifest, many people experience significant trauma symptoms without meeting the full diagnostic criteria.

If you don’t have a PTSD diagnosis, your trauma is still valid. Trauma can also manifest as anxiety, depression, OCD, dissociative disorders, or BPD. What matters most is how your experiences are affecting you now, not whether they fit a specific diagnostic label.

The traditional medical model asks “What is wrong with you?” and focuses on diagnosing illness or pathological symptoms. While this approach works well for broken bones or conditions that can be cured with medication, it’s inappropriate for the complex dynamics of trauma recovery.

The medical model often labels trauma survivors as “difficult,” “resistant,” or “chaotic”—especially those struggling with addiction, mental health issues, or multiple life challenges. This approach is stigmatizing and adds an additional burden to people who have already experienced trauma.

Trauma recovery requires a different question: “What has happened to you?” This trauma-informed approach recognizes that behaviors often labeled as “resistant” or “avoidant” are actually adaptive coping strategies that have protected you from feeling coerced or hurt. It acknowledges the valid connections between trauma, mental health, and substance use, and approaches these issues without shame.

Healing from trauma isn’t about fixing what’s “wrong” with you—it’s about understanding what happened to you and supporting your body’s natural capacity to heal.

CBT (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy) has value and can help with some symptoms of trauma, particularly thought patterns and behavioural responses. However, it often falls short for complex trauma—and understanding why matters.

The core issue: Complex trauma isn’t just stored in your thoughts—it’s stored in your body, your nervous system, and fragmented parts of yourself. CBT primarily targets cognitive patterns, but changing a thought doesn’t release trauma held in the body.

Additionally, CBT typically works with your rational, protective parts (what trauma experts call “survival parts” in structural dissociation), but it often doesn’t help you access or integrate the wounded parts that hold the trauma. This can lead to intellectual understanding without actual healing—you might “know” your trauma wasn’t your fault, but still feel shame in your body.

For complex trauma, body-based and parts-focused approaches like EMDR, somatic therapy, and parts work therapy are often more effective because they:
– Address trauma where it’s actually stored (the body and nervous system)
– Help you connect with all parts of yourself, not just the thinking mind
– Work with implicit memory and sensation, not just explicit thoughts
– Support nervous system regulation and integration

Evidence-based best practices for trauma recovery include:

EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) – Helps process and integrate traumatic memories
Somatic approaches like Somatic Experiencing or Sensorimotor Psychotherapy – Reconnects you with your body and releases trauma stored in the nervous system
Trauma-focused parts work therapy or IFS (Internal Family Systems) – Works with different aspects of yourself that hold trauma and protective responses

The more complex your trauma experience, the more likely a multimodal approach will work best for you. Multimodal therapy combines different evidence-based modalities to give you flexibility in your healing process—this is considered best practice for complex trauma recovery.

Rather than relying on a single approach, integrating multiple trauma-focused modalities allows your mental health professional to adapt treatment to what your body, mind and nervous system needs at different stages of healing.

Read the full guide: EMDR or IFS: Which is better for trauma recovery?

Trauma recovery thrives when you engage multiple pathways—body, mind, and spirit. Here are practices that support healing:

Body-based practices: Yoga, tai chi, martial arts like karate, gentle movement, or somatic exercises help reconnect your body and mind, release stored tension, and regulate your nervous system.

Mindfulness and reflection: Meditation, journaling, and self-reflection help you explore patterns safely, increase self-awareness, and process emotions at your own pace.

Visualization and imagery: Guided imagery, safe place visualizations, and other mental exercises can create new neural pathways and support nervous system regulation.

Boundary work: Learning to recognize, communicate, and assert healthy boundaries is essential for feeling safe in relationships and with yourself.

Spiritual practices: Many people find healing through practices like Reiki, Zen meditation, Indigenous healing ceremonies, or other spiritual traditions.

Important: Choose practitioners who respect your autonomy, honour your boundaries, and empower you rather than creating dependency or misusing their power.

Want specific trauma counselling techniques?
Listen to this episode on 5 trauma counselling strategies that support healing →

Complex trauma occurs from prolonged, overwhelming experiences that disrupt our sense of safety and trust—often during childhood, though adults can experience it too. Unlike single-incident trauma, it’s usually relational and affects how we connect with ourselves and others.

It’s important to understand that complex trauma is an individual experience. Two people may face similar hardships, but only one may develop complex trauma depending on many different factors largely outside of their control. This can include the presence or absence of supportive relationships, genetic factors, previous experiences, and available resources.

Developing trauma is never a reflection of personal weakness—it’s a response to prolonged adversity, and whether someone experiences trauma is to a huge degree out of their control.

Complex trauma can develop from prolonged situations such as chronic childhood abuse or neglect, domestic violence, systemic oppression and racism, or living in war zones. In general, complex trauma is more likely to happen in traumatic or violent environments – whether it’s physical, emotional or sexual violence.

If your experience isn’t listed here, it’s still valid. Complex trauma is individual, and every experience matters.

Common symptoms include difficulties with emotional regulation, a dysregulated nervous system (hypervigilance, flashbacks, dissociation), challenges with relationships and boundaries, inner fragmentation, low self-esteem, chronic pain, and overlapping mental health diagnoses.

These are protective responses—your body and mind’s way of keeping you safe. You’re not broken; you’re responding to what you’ve experienced.

Dive deeper into complex trauma, symptoms, and options for trauma recovery in my guide: What is complex trauma?

Trauma typically stems from a single distressing event with a clear beginning and end, like an accident or natural disaster. Complex trauma comes from repeated or ongoing harm in relationships or environments that should have been safe—often in childhood, but also from situations like domestic violence or systemic oppression in adulthood.

While trauma symptoms include flashbacks, avoidance, and anxiety, complex trauma creates deeper impacts on self-worth, emotional regulation, relationships, and boundaries. Triggers for trauma are usually specific and identifiable, whereas complex trauma triggers can feel confusing and overwhelming, often without a clear connection to specific events.

Healing from trauma may happen naturally over time or through focused therapies like EMDR. Complex trauma requires a longer, layered journey using integrated approaches—stabilizing the nervous system, working with dissociation, rebuilding boundaries, and addressing relational wounds before deeper trauma processing can begin.

Explore this further in the article: What is the difference between trauma and complex trauma?

Healing follows three stages: safety and stabilization, memory integration, and reconnection. The process is often iterative, moving between stages as needed.

Best practice uses a multimodal approach integrating body, mind, and emotions—such as EMDR therapy (with extended preparation), somatic approaches, parts work therapy, and mindfulness practices. Traditional talk therapy alone is often insufficient.

Finding a professional experienced in complex trauma is essential. For a deeper understanding, read IFS or EMDR for complex trauma: Why a multimodal approach works best or listen to the podcast episode Recovering From Complex Trauma: A Guide to Healing and Reclaiming Your Life

Childhood trauma, also called developmental trauma, occurs during critical developmental years when the nervous system and personality are still forming. It happens when events overwhelm a child’s emotional capacity to cope. These experiences can include household dysfunction, neglect, abuse, exposure to violence or discrimination, or any threat to safety and dignity.

More common than most people realize. The landmark ACE Study found that approximately 64% of adults report at least one adverse childhood experience, while research indicates that 15 to 43% of children experience at least one traumatic event during childhood.

Other studies suggest that between 80 to 95% of children grow up in homes with some level of dysfunction—though “dysfunction” exists on a spectrum and doesn’t always result in trauma.
What this data shows: childhood trauma takes many forms (abuse, neglect, household dysfunction, loss, witnessing violence) and affects a significant portion of the population. If you experienced childhood trauma, you’re far from alone.

Childhood trauma persists into adulthood because, as children, we didn’t have the developmental capacity to process and integrate these painful experiences. Our brains and nervous systems were still forming, and our caregivers often didn’t have the skills to support our emotional development or trauma recovery.

When trauma happens during critical developmental periods, it can shape:

Your nervous system: Trauma may have narrowed your window of tolerance—your capacity to manage intense emotions without becoming overwhelmed or shutting down.
Your relationships: It often impacts attachment style, making trust, intimacy, and boundaries more complicated.
Your sense of self: Childhood trauma can fragment your identity, creating “parts” of yourself that hold trauma memories separately as a protective mechanism.
Your mental health: Adults with childhood trauma have higher rates of depression, anxiety, PTSD, and other mental health challenges.
Your physical health: Trauma affects the body too—contributing to chronic pain, autoimmune conditions, and other physical health issues.

The good news: your brain remains capable of healing and creating new neural pathways throughout your life. Recovery is possible.

Yes, healing is absolutely possible, even years after the experiences. Neuroscience shows that neuroplasticity allows the brain to recover and adapt. With professional support, appropriate strategies, and self-awareness, adults with childhood trauma can reclaim their lives, build resilience, and move toward empowerment.

Trauma-focused counselling and coaching is essential for recovery since it addresses how trauma has shaped your body, mind, emotions and relationships. The recommended approach is to integrate from different modalities, a so called multi-modal approach. However, what really matters that it works for you and where you are at in your healing journey.

Here are some ideas about modalities that can be helpful: EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) for integrating unresolved traumatic memories, parts work therapy to identify and integrate different aspects of self, and somatic approaches that address how trauma is held in the body and restore nervous system regulation.

Building resilience involves understanding and acknowledging your trauma while recognizing that it shaped—but does not define—you. It includes practicing gentleness and self-respect, celebrating even small progress, and setting achievable goals by breaking recovery into manageable steps.

Resilience also grows through awareness of your nervous system and developing practices that help you return to safety and connection when you experience hypo- or hyperarousal. Parts work therapy can be essential for managing overwhelming emotions and triggers, helping you integrate different aspects of yourself.

With these practices, you can reconnect with a sense of safety, connection, and your adult self. The more you strengthen your window of tolerance and presence in your adult self, the more you are able to process past experiences that remain stuck in your body. Healing is a stepwise process, and with patience and persistence, it can create profound inner change and empowerment.

Absolutely. Attachment styles aren’t permanent. With patience and persistence, you can transform attachment patterns and develop earned secure attachment. Earned secure attachment refers to developing a secure and healthy attachment style as an adult, even if you had insecure (avoidant, anxious or disorganized) during childhood. Many adults successfully learn to trust, connect with others, and maintain healthy relationships through growth, counselling or coaching and practice.

Feeling stuck is a normal part of the healing journey, which often circles upward rather than moving in a straight line. If we feel stuck it’s often connected with inner conflicts, e.g. parts that want to heal and parts that don’t or additional stressors in the present such as having a lot of tension in your relationship or workplace. This doesn’t mean that you aren’t healed enough, it just means that it’s time to dig deeper and understand what keeps you stuck. Working with a trained professional can help you get unstuck when you feel blocked. Remember that healing takes time, every small step matters, and setbacks are part of the process and an opporrtunity to grow, not signs of failure.

Yes, online trauma counselling or coaching can be highly effective. It provides trauma-informed guidance tailored to your experiences, a safe space to process emotions and integrate healing practices, and access to effective modalities like EMDR, parts work, and somatic therapies. Many of my clients enjoy online sessions surrounded by their pets which can be useful for recovery. Online sessions make healing more accessible and flexible, especially for adults balancing work, family, or other commitments.