I am not sure how to get started.

Hi A, thank you for your question.

By seeking how to begin your healing, you have already started your journey. Trauma can affect everything in our lives, from behaviors to self-talk to interpersonal effectiveness. It can skew our beliefs and sense of self, interfere with relationships, imbue us with unnecessary fears, inhibit decision-making, and create emotional dysregulation. That said, in mental health therapy, trauma is usually not where we start. I’ll explain why below.

Though it may sound obvious, finding a therapist who understands the treatment of trauma AND who you feel comfortable with is the first step. Finding someone you feel comfortable with is incredibly important; if it's not a good fit, you’re not likely to get very far. Because of this, I encourage everyone to consider their first visit with the therapist as not just an intake assessment, but an interview. If you meet with a therapist and don’t connect, don’t be afraid to go to another instead; the therapeutic relationship is the foundation of the process.

After having an assessment, you and the therapist of your choice will work together to form a treatment plan based on the diagnoses and your needs. This will include setting goals and objectives based around the issues identified in your assessment and that which is causing you the most distress. The therapist will then provide psychoeducation to help you better understand what you’ve been experiencing and what diagnoses were determined. If there are immediate concerns, those will be addressed first in order to stabilize the current situation.

During the first few sessions, the therapist will work with you to determine your strengths and coping techniques, then teach new/additional coping skills if needed. You’ll need to have these skills in hand before digging into traumatic events in order to help you regulate your body and emotions as you begin exploring those issues. The process begins to differ from that point on depending on the therapeutic approach(es) your therapist chooses to utilize.

Therapy is not one size fits all, so there are many different paths to take to help you heal. My personal philosophy approaching the therapeutic relationship is that myself and my client are on equal footing with different expertise (mine being psychology, yours being you and your experiences), creating a very much collaborative relationship. Because of this, I encourage clients to advocate for themselves- speak up if something isn’t working, feels wrong, or has been misunderstood. It's important for you to have a voice in your treatment, including how fast or slow you need to move through the process. I hope this provides some of the answers you are looking for and gives you a sense of what to expect when you begin your journey of healing. Please don’t hesitate to reach out with further or more detailed questions so we can ensure you have the information you need to get started.