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Trauma 101

Module Purpose

  • Develop a shared understanding of a definition of “trauma”.

  • Identify different types of lived experiences that may be traumatic.

  • Understand the impact of traumatic experiences on the brain, physiology, and behavior.

  • Understand practices and perspectives we can incorporate to support trauma healing and promote resilience for ourselves and those we work with.

 

Grounding Intentions

In this module, we will be exploring the concept of “trauma” or lived experiences that may overwhelm us. Sometimes even reading about this topic can be challenging, so as you move through this module, please be mindful of how you are feeling.

There may be times when you feel triggered. It may bring up uncomfortable feelings or memories of a past event. You may even shut down. Those are very normal responses and it can be helpful to pause and take a deep breath.

Even a few seconds of deep breathing can calm our nervous system and allow our mind and body to be more present.

Take a deep breath.

Feel free to doodle as you are going through this module. Connecting your hand motion and your mind can enhance your ability to absorb and process new information you are hearing. It also increases the likelihood of remembering the information later.

Click here to access mandalas coloring sheets.

 

Rock in Your Shoe

For this exercise, you can either physically put a rock in your shoe or you can engage in a visualization exercise later to help imagine the experience.

  1. Find a small rock

  2. Put the rock inside of your shoe, sock, slipper, or sock (if you are wearing any of these)

  3. If you are not wearing anything on your feet, consider putting on some shoes and taking a walk around your office, house, or neighborhood

  4. If you are not able to do this physically, you will have a chance to visualize the experience later!

We will explain later more why we are asking you to walk around with a rock in your shoe (or other footwear).

 
 
 
 
 

What is Trauma? 

In this module we will use the following definition for lived experiences that may be traumatic: 

Trauma is when our lived experiences overwhelm our ordinary responses that give us a sense of control, connection, and meaning (1). Judith Herman

> Having a sense of how things are going to happen gives a sense of control over our lives. We may experience events and situations that cause us to feel unbalanced and unsure of what will happen next. We may feel dysregulated or losing a sense of control.

> Humans have always depended on connection with others in order to survive. We are wired to be connected. Trauma may cause us to be separated from people we depend on or care for. Relationships and routine may be disrupted. 

> We are meaning-making people. We need to understand why something is happening and how it fits into our view of the world or of ourselves. Some of our lived experiences may cause us to question our beliefs and our understanding of our experiences and how we fit into the world. 

What is the difference between stress and trauma? 

Trauma is the emotional, psychological, and physiological residue left over from heightened levels of toxic stress. Therefore, not all stress is bad. Please keep in mind the following reflections between different kinds of stressful experiences, where toxic stress could lead to trauma:

Sources:

(1) Adapted from Judith Herman in Trauma and Recovery (1997)

 

 

Vicarious or Secondary Trauma

The expectation that we can be immersed in suffering and loss daily and not be touched by it is as unrealistic as expecting to be able to walk through water without getting wet (1). Rachel Remen 

Vicarious trauma or secondary traumatic stress may result when an individual or community hears about or witnesses the experiences of others. We can accumulate and carry the stories of trauma — including images, sounds, and details which we have heard or seen. 

How might vicarious or secondary trauma affect us?

  • Chronic exhaustion

  • Physical ailments

  • Negativity

  • Avoidance

  • Hopelessness

  • Change in worldview

  • Impact on self-perception

To learn more about vicarious/secondary trauma and ways to manage/address its impacts, see the Collectively Taking Care module.

 

Sources:

  1. Remen, Rachel Naomi. Kitchen Table Wisdom: Stories That Heal. New York: Riverhead Books, 1996.

 

Trauma and the Brain and Body

Trauma impacts many areas of our lives, but did you know it also can encode in our bodies and brains? Let’s start with a video about how our brains operate to keep us safe and help us to reach our goals.

When we have an experience that puts our body into a flight, fight, or freeze mode, that experience is encoded or stored in our brain and body at multiple levels. Many times we may not remember the event, but the body stores a memory of it.  

Animals in the wild will ‘shake off and release’ any excess energy in its body by running, shaking, or roaring. Through this natural reaction to a traumatic event the animal releases all the arousal and tension in the body that was mobilized during the threat as soon as the threat is over. Thereby a balance in the nervous system is restored and the animal becomes present and is able to respond fully to its environment (1).   

We are not designed to carry chronic stress in our bodies. 

Unlike animals in the wild we aren’t always able to “shake it off” and return to a calm nervous system after shifting into fight or flight. Or we can experience chronic trauma or toxic stress that can create a prolonged activation of stress response systems in the body and brain (2).

We can carry unresolved traumas that can be triggered by seemingly unimportant actions or even perceptions. We may be triggered without understanding the source of the trigger - even a smell could trigger a biological response. 

Triggers

  • A trigger may be a person, place, thing, smell, sound, expression

  • A trigger represents a piece of information your body stored as a marker of a time negative or positive

Developing awareness of potential triggers can help a person anticipate a triggering situation and possibly avoid it or recognize it when it’s happening.  

 

Sources:

  1. Levine, Peter A. (2005). Healing trauma: a pioneering program for restoring the wisdom of your body. Boulder, CO. Sounds True.

  2. “Toxic Stress.” Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University, 17 Aug. 2020, https://developingchild.harvard.edu/science/key-concepts/toxic-stress/.

 

Lived Experiences

Acknowledging the many types of lived experiences in people’s lives and their impact is a necessary step to healing trauma. 

It is important to remember that people’s lived experiences and their impact varies from person to person.  Not all people who experience the same event respond in the same ways.

Click on the icons below to read an explanation of people’s different lived experiences that may be traumatic.

Take a few minutes now to think about the types of lived experiences you or your family members, friends, co-workers, community members, clients, or patients experience that may be traumatic. Click here to download an exercise on different types of lived experiences that may be traumatic.

The following questions may be useful to reflect on as you read the following descriptions of different forms of lived experiences that may be traumatic:

  1. What types of lived experiences/trauma do you see with the people you work with? 

  2. Are any of the types of lived experiences/trauma surprising?

  3. Are there other types or causes of lived experiences/trauma that you would add?

 

Common Responses to Carrying Trauma

There are common responses of carrying trauma. How might the experience of unresolved stress or trauma show up in ourselves or others?

Common signs and symptoms include:

  • Avoidance/numbing

  • Distracted, difficulty concentrating

  • Physical symptoms

  • Anxiety/hostility

With young people signs and symptoms can show up as tummy aches or impulse control and behavior. Instead of reacting punitively, we can recognize these as potential signs and symptoms of people’s lived experiences.

In the video to the right, Dr. Peter Levine shares signs of how trauma might show up in kids.

Watch more expert videos on raising elementary school age children http://goo.gl/SWnybY Trauma & Stress Specialist, Peter A. Levine, PhD, shares advice with ...

Recognizing why people respond the way they do can help us understand what they’re experiencing and how we might offer support.

 

Rock in Your Shoe Reflection

At the beginning of the module, we asked you to put a rock in your shoe. You can take the rock out now. If you didn’t put a rock in your shoe, think of a time that you went on a walk and had a pebble lodged in your shoe and you didn’t stop to take it out. Consider the reflection questions below.

  1. What was the experience like for you?

  2. How is it like trauma lodged in our bodies?

  3. If someone had a rock in their shoe, would we be able to tell?

 

Shifting our Perspective > > Leads to Building More Understanding

It is helpful to pause and be curious what might be happening in a person’s life and how that might be influencing their words and actions. Shifting our perspective and changing the kinds of questions we ask can lead to empathetic and non-judgmental forms of support.

People may respond to different circumstances, events, and conditions in ways that may be hard for other people to understand. For example, a young person in school might be acting angry and disrupting class.

For example:

When we shift our thinking it removes blame and allows us to reflect on the events and conditions that people have experienced that impact their lives.

  • It can help us to understand behaviors that in the situation may be appropriate responses to a person feeling triggered or unsafe.  

  • Instead of thinking something is wrong with a person, we can pause and be curious what might be going on in their lives: “What is going on? Is everything OK?”  

  • The goal is to offer a non-judgmental presence to help people feel heard and understood and help build a sense of safety.

  • Keep in mind that people may not want to talk about their experiences or may even react defensively, and that is OK.

 

Creating Safety and Well-Being

Shifting our perspective and being curious is the first step in understanding the situation of the person you are interacting with.

This can lead to other useful questions: “What’s right with you?” "What did you learn?" This can be helpful in supporting people to identify the positive actions they are already taking in difficult situations.

As people identify what has been working for them and where they might need support the conversation could lead into:  “What strengths did you discover that you didn’t know you had? What would be most helpful to you at this time?”

The goal is to support people’s existing strengths and strategies for moving forward, to help them tap into their own wisdom - to empower, not rescue. What we may believe to be the best path forward may not necessarily be what will be most useful or helpful to the person we are talking to.

 

Supporting Healing

When we think about our lived experiences encoding in our brains and bodies, it can sound permanent. We may wonder if we can do anything about it.

There is good news! We can rewire our brain and heal our bodies. Neurons that fire together wire together! The following video shares information about how the brain is adaptable and introduce us to the concept of neuroplasticity.

Given how common experiences of trauma are, and the ways in which trauma can affect people, we can strive to create safety and well-being in all our interactions. This means doing all we can to establish positive, respectful, and compassionate relationships. Here are some steps we can take: 

  • Create physical and emotional safety.

  • Be present and listen without an agenda.

  • Understand & remember behaviors can be a response to trauma.

  • Listen, identify, and affirm indications of strength and resilience.

  • Be OK not having to fix anything or anyone (including ourselves).

What are some ways that we can create safety and well-being with each other and the people we are working to support?  The next modules explore different approaches and resources to addressing trauma and supporting the healing of ourselves and others.

  • Trauma-Informed Approaches helps us to understand and respond to trauma so we can minimize its impact in the work we do and nurture healing transformation

  • Healing, Resilience, and Thriving shares a vision of resilience and thriving for all people when healing and well-being is supported. It beings with acknowledging, valuing and engaging people's sense of agency, voice, participation, and contribution. It also includes working to help remove barriers and inequities that people experience in their daily lives and in accessing services and support.

  • Collectively Taking Care helps us learn about how we can be impacted by exposure to suffering and harm. It focuses on how we can develop strategies for taking care of ourselves, each other, and our communities. And it recognizes how these concepts and strategies can guide us toward a more just society.

  • Cultural Responsiveness helps us to better understand culture and the potential impact of culture on families experiencing adversity and trauma. We can begin by recognizing our own culture and its impact on serving families and by embracing cultural humility and cultural responsiveness as we work with families.