Understanding Trauma: Avalon x Adler Workshop Series

Earlier this year, Avalon Recovery Society presented a webinar series in partnership with Adler University called “Understanding Trauma”. Over eight sessions, Masters in Counselling student Natasha presented on a number of important topics related to recovery, healing, and self-care. Her teachings were so good, we wanted to share them again with you below. 

1. Trauma and the brain

Psychological trauma is the emotional response to an event that a person finds stressful. It can be acute (from a single event), chronic (from prolonged repeated exposure) or complex (from multiple events). Not everyone who experiences a stressful event will develop trauma — factors that determine how someone responds include individual characteristics, current mental health, and previous traumatic events. Symptoms can be mild to severe and emotional and/or psychological. PTSD is a psychological disorder that can occur in people who have been through trauma, and women are twice as likely as men to have PTSD. The four main areas of the brain affected by trauma are the hippocampus (responsible for memory), amygdala (drives our “fight or flight” response), prefrontal cortex (helps us think, plan and problem-solve) and the brain stem (reacts to threat by having fight, flight, freeze or collapse response). Treatment options include trauma-informed therapy, medication to help manage symptoms like anxiety and depression, prioritizing self-care such as exercise and interpersonal connections, and support from others! 

2. Physical self-care

Physical self-care is participating in activities that improve your physical health, and includes nutrition, sleep, physical activity, attending medical appointments, etc. Emotional eating is when we use food to consciously or unconsciously soothe negative emotions or distract from challenges in everyday life. In order to prevent longer term harm to our emotional and physical health, we must specifically address the emotions driving our eating desire. Tips for curbing emotional eating include becoming more aware of your feelings, recognizing triggers, making conscious choices about your eating, and getting support. We also want to try to re-frame exercise as a loving movement, i.e. any activity to get yourself moving that’s enjoyable. You can also experiment with breathing techniques such as the 4-7-8 method or alternative nostril breathing. 

3. Emotional self-care

Emotional self-care is caring for your emotional needs by identifying how you’re feeling and allowing yourself to move on in a way that honours your emotions. When one isn’t taking care of their emotional needs, they often feel burnt out and frustrated. Undergoing trauma can leave our brains in fight or flight mode and coping often involves hindering your emotional needs. However, engaging in activities that lower your physiological adrenal surge from trauma is incredibly important — developing these self-care plans can be empowering, and allows you to heal and nurture your body and self! Here are some ways to practice emotional self-care: allow yourself to experience your emotions, accept compliments, only say “sorry” when you truly are, and journal. We all have an inner critic who tells us negative self statements, but we can silence them with self-compassion, self-love, and affirmations (I am enough, I am worthy of love, I deserve happiness, etc.). Practicing self-love and compassion is helping you commit to your well-being and happiness, and lead to healthier and happier lives!

4. Mindfulness

Mindfulness is allowing yourself the space to sit with your emotions and feelings and to be aware of them, with the goal of allowing the inner workings of our mental, emotional, and physical processes to be tapped in on. Mindfulness can help with anxiety, stress, pain, and insomnia — and is very important as part of treatment for healing from trauma. It reverses the effects to the brain from trauma by increasing prefrontal and hippocampus activity and by toning down the amygdala. Learning mindfulness can also help individuals in recovery guard against relapse. Techniques to try include the 5-4-3-2-1 grounding technique or 3 minute breathing space.

5. Spiritual self-care

Spirituality refers to anything that is meaningful and has a sense of sacredness to you. Spiritual self-care is therefore any ritual that connects you to your most real, authentic self, and spiritual self-care activities are meant to care for and replenish one’s soul. It allows for introspection, clarity with our lives, and comfort, with benefits including: improving relationships and connection to others, inner peace, and lessened feelings of isolation and loneliness. In addiction recovery, spirituality can help one find themselves again, give a new sense of self and purpose, and provide mental and emotional support. Examples of spiritual self-care activities are yoga, meditation, time in nature, mindful walking, and giving back.

6. Social self-care

Social self-care involves having fun with loved ones, maintaining healthy and supportive relationships, respectfully addressing conflicts when they arise, and taking into account the emotional needs of the people you love. It’s important for your mental health, promotes a sense of safety and belonging, and makes us happy and relieved of stress — particularly during COVID-19, when many of us are feeling isolated and lonely. Trauma survivors might have trouble with close relationships, trust, and communication, but social self-care makes one feel less alone and offers a source of support. During the pandemic, safe activities to try include: walks with friends, scheduled Zoom calls with loved ones, dropping off care packages, or having a dinner party where you cook on a video call together. Key components of social self-care include empathy, using supportive statements, actively showing your support, communicating and apologizing effectively, and using “I” statements in conflict resolution.

7. Boundaries and codependency 

Attachment is an emotional relationship that involves an exchange of comfort, care, and pleasure and is developed in early childhood. It has 4 characteristics: desire to be near to who we attached to, safe haven, secure base, and distress from separation. There are also 4 attachment styles: secure, ambivalent, avoidant, and disorganized. Codependency can hinge on attachment trauma from childhood, leading a person to question if they can be loved and if they’re worthy of love, if others are available and can be available to them, and if the world is a safe place or not. Co-dependency is the chronic neglect of self in order to gain love, approval, validation, or self-identity through another person — mental, emotional, physical and/or spiritual reliance on a partner, friend, or family member. Signs of codependency include: there being a taker and a giver, walking on egg shells, trying to change or save people, and needing others to like you to feel okay about yourself. It’s unhealthy when it becomes excessive, and relationships are usually one-sided, emotionally destructive, or abusive. To reduce codependent tendencies, take small steps of separation in the relationship, look inward when beginning to worry about others, stand up for yourself, and say “no” when you don’t want to do something!

Boundaries are a way of communicating and understanding one’s needs, and are not selfish or a form of rejection. People set boundaries as self-love. We struggle to set them because we fear abandonment or rejection, feel obligation or guilt, lack knowledge about creating boundaries, and/or have low self-esteem. But we can do it! Boundaries can vary in type, e.g. material boundaries (lending items you own), physical boundaries (physical space, privacy, body), mental boundaries (thoughts, values, opinions). Create boundaries by defining what you tolerate and don’t tolerate and what consequences will ensue if someone crosses a boundary, communicated them to those close to you, and follow through by doing what you said you would if they are violated with compassion but firmness. Examples of boundaries: 

• With friends: “Thank you for the invite but I need alone time”, “I can call but only talk for 10 minutes” 
• With family: “I will not be the middle person in family disagreements”, “I respect your values and beliefs even if they are different than mine, please do the same” 
• With yourself: “I will ask for help when I need it”, “I will prioritize my own needs”  

We’re grateful to Adler for collaborating with Avalon to deliver such informative and helpful information covering many key facets of recovery. Please check out our website (avalonrecoverysociety.org/events-workshops/) for regular updates as more workshops will be coming soon!