The healing of trauma begins when the traumatized body can tell that it is safe. The body’s feeling of safety is not the same as the rational part of the brain thinking “I ought to feel safe now.” It’s also not the same thing as the rational part of the brain believing , “I feel safe now.” The body is safe when the reptilian part of the brain feels safe, and with it, the amygdala, and the limbic brain (which is connected to the reptilian brain through the amygdala). It takes practice for the...

Trigger alert: this article is about dismantling racism in white bodies. This is not to downplay that people of color have been and are the primary targets and survivors of racialized trauma. This article is an exploration into what it means as a white person to dissolve white supremacy inside my own white body, and what it might point to in terms of thawing white supremacy in our collective white bodies (churches, schools, communities). I am not new to conversations about race and racism.

Basically, if a person is in extreme distress and seeks help from a mental health professional, the odds of getting understanding and trauma-informed care are vastly enhanced if you can articulate your experience and pain in a way that the professional understands, is not disturbed by, and can fit into a checkbox or validated scale.

Today, we remember those who died by suicide — and the people who were left behind. We remember our loved ones and how they lived, the moments of joy that existed alongside the pain. We remember their death does not define them. We remember their death does not define us. We remember hope. Hope for healing, hope for recovery, hope for ourselves and for a better tomorrow. We remember to support each other through unanswered questions, complicated grief and the “new normal” that at times can...

Yay! The holidays are here and everywhere, people with some level of Childhood PTSD are facing the prospect of returning home. Let's say you've escaped a childhood that contained abuse, neglect, and exposure to parental violence and addiction, and let's say now you're living happy and free as a grown-up. You get an e-mail. It's your mother. She wants to know if you are coming home for Thanksgiving and you say yes, of course, and you jump right online and book a $400 plane ticket. And then...