Helping you feel more whole every day
“Trauma creates change you don’t choose. Healing is about creating change you do choose” ~ Michelle Rosenthal
Promote Post Traumatic Growth
Prepare to look back one day not only in awe at how you’ve survived but at how you learned to thrive and help others (RRP: €99)
You have survived. Even if there are times when you feel broken beyond repair, you’re not. And you deserve support.
You can heal your nervous system, your body, your heart, your mind, and your soul. There is more to you than whatever you’ve survived or are facing. There is a part of you that is already complete, whole and healed. You – like everyone else – are part of the Divine.
Understanding trauma
When we think of trauma, we often imagine extreme events: war, natural disasters, catastrophic accidents. But trauma takes many forms.
Trauma:
- Threatens our survival
- Overwhelms our coping strategies
- Makes us feel alone and isolated
- Violates our expectations
Talk of Big T trauma and Little T trauma is outdated as while everyone can recognise that certain events (single event trauma) are, well, traumatic, ongoing seemingly less traumatic events can be more challenging to recover from.
Your nervous system can’t tell the difference and you don’t need to. Remembering that your responses and feelings are valid and real and that you deserve compassion, tenderness and care is an advanced practice when you don’t believe you deserve it but you can do it. You’ve survived.
Complex trauma (C-PTSD or developmental trauma) can present very similarly to ADHD and because we’re often so young, often preverbal, when it begins, it’s like asking the fish to describe the water she swims in.
Collective and intergenerational trauma includes the types of trauma passed through families and communities. As you do your own trauma recovery and decolonisation work, you can potentially heal your entire family line and community (no pressure!)
Post-Traumatic Stress (I prefer PTS to PTSD) is a normal response to abnormal events. Your hypervigilance, your reactions and the way trauma has affected how you see everything are natural responses to surviving something unnatural.
Vicarious trauma is when even hearing about or seeing the news can trigger trauma responses in the body and nervous system. Again, none of this is anything to feel any kind of shame over. We were not wired to navigate the onslaught of information life throws at us each day.
Vicarious healing can be a great motivator to prioritise your trauma recover as it will have ripple effects, helping others too.
You have an amazing capacity to heal.
You are not broken
No one is broken beyond repair.
Just because others may have survived “worse” doesn’t mean you don’t deserve support. Comparing trauma only makes things harder.
You can become stronger at the “broken places.” The Japanese tradition of Kintsugi repairs broken ceramics with liquid gold, honouring the trauma and ultimately enhancing the object’s value. Your healing can be like this too.
Post-traumatic growth
If you’re in the early stages of trauma recovery, the idea of post-traumatic growth might feel like a cruel joke. But some people, with time and support, don’t just heal. They discover gifts in what they survived.
This doesn’t happen on any timeline, should never be forced and it can look different for everyone. But it is possible. And just knowing that it’s possible may be helpful for you in this moment.
Post-traumatic growth isn’t about toxic positivity or pretending the trauma was “meant to be.” It’s about acknowledging that you’ve survived, recognising your resilience, and potentially finding new strength, wisdom, purpose, meaning and even joy.
How trauma recovery works
Modern trauma therapy has evolved significantly. You’ve already survived. This is about supporting you in exploring residual feelings and thoughts and teaching you tools you can use when you feel flooded, scared, or like you might never be okay again.
Effective trauma recovery includes:
- Somatic approaches: Including working with your body and breath to regulate your nervous system
- Mindfulness: Increasing your capacity to be present and connect with the part of you that’s more than what you survived (while recognising that this may feel impossible and it isn’t necessary. You know what’s right for you. Always)
- Self-regulation tools: Practical techniques you can use in the moment to help yourself feel better
- Trauma-informed practices: Yoga, meditation, EFT and other embodied (body-based) approaches
- Talk therapy: Processing experiences in a safe, supportive environment
Collaboration is key for trauma-informed work. The choice about direction and tools is entirely yours. The pace is yours too.
Ways to work with trauma recovery
One-to-one support
Individual trauma therapy sessions are available online and by telephone across Ireland and the UK, or face-to-face (indoor and outdoor, nature-based) in Westport, Co Mayo, Ireland.
The Sole to Soul Circle
Join the trauma-informed and neuro-affirming community for ongoing support, resources, and connection from anywhere in the world.
Self paced self-care resources
Access the free resources below to start your healing journey right now.
Free trauma recovery resources
Articles and blog posts
- Self-care tools for trauma survivors – Inspired by Dr. Christine Blasey Ford’s courage
- Butterflies, moths, trauma and transformation – On post-traumatic growth
- Highlights from Trauma Week – Multiple self-care ideas for trauma
- More trauma-related blog posts
- Selected trauma articles and columns
- Advice for wildfire survivors – Yahoo UK, January 2025
The book
A huge amount of 365 Ways to Feel Better: Self-care Ideas for Embodied Wellbeing is trauma-informed. I trained in all these therapies to heal my own trauma, and these tools have helped thousands of people.
Remember: You deserve to take better care of yourself and create a life you don’t need to retreat from.
The podcast
The Feel Better Every Day Podcast is entirely trauma-sensitive, with some episodes specifically addressing trauma recovery.
Ready for more support?
Explore trauma therapy services – Find out how we can work together one-to-one
Join the Sole to Soul Circle – Community support for trauma recovery, ADHD and AuDHD
Contact me – Ask any questions or book your free telephone consultation
You have survived. It might take some time, but you CAN become stronger at the “broken” places. You’re ready when you’re ready. And there’s no rush.
Are you ready to process and heal your trauma/s in a more gentle way than you might have imagined possible?
Martha Beck – guiding readers and clients out of the darkness and coaching by starlight Read the Rapport piece here
While all episodes are trauma sensitive, some are more specific.