RECOVERY FROM TRAUMA AT LIFE HEALING CENTER

The Life Healing Center is one of the nation’s oldest and best known residential programs for recovery from the emotional and psychological effects of traumatic experiences. Our program is designed to help you identify the areas you want to work on, and then to tap into the natural healing processes inherent in each of us.

WHAT IS TRAUMA?

Traumatic experiences are those that are so intense they overwhelm your ability to cope or integrate them in a healthy way. Trauma can occur as the result of months or years of abuse or neglect, or in the wake of a single overwhelming event. Trauma usually involves intense fear and a sense of helplessness in the face of real or perceived threat to your physical well-being, your loved ones, or even your sanity. The adverse impact of trauma may be obvious or hidden, immediate or delayed. The effects of trauma in childhood (particularly neglect or physical or emotional abuse) are generally more complex and wide-ranging than those experienced by victims of a catastrophic event.

Some signs and symptoms of unresolved emotional trauma are:

Obsessive unwanted thoughts or worries
Intrusive images, such as flashbacks, nightmares and night terror
Chronic feelings of anger or resentment
Poor control over impulses
Difficulty planning, organizing, or making decisions
Episodes of dissociation of “lost time”
Exaggerated startle responses, or hypersensitivity to noise or activity
Chronic fatigue, lethargy, insomnia, or loss of interest in normal activities
Emotional numbness or feelings of alienation from others
Hopelessness or despair
Low self-esteem
Distorted body or self-image
Desire to harm oneself
Impaired family and social relationships
Intense fear of abandonment or loss
Isolation from others
Loss of a sense of meaning or purpose in life

The Life Healing Center Approach

Through exposure to a range of evidence-based therapies, the trauma survivor can begin to experience new hope, as well as support and empathy they may have longed for but could not find. For most of us, the trauma recovery process can be described in seven steps:

Step One: Learn to manage negative emotions without turning to self-destructive behaviors
Step Two: Create a narrative framework for recovery
Step Three: Identify repetitive, self-defeating patterns that harm your happiness
Step Four: Reconnect actions and feelings in a healthier way
Step Five: Address traumatic memories to lessen their power
Step Six: Develop new, healthy ways of connecting to others
Step Seven: Continue a program of recovery into the future

The Life Healing Center offers a full menu of integrative therapies that can benefit survivors of trauma. These include Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing (EMDR); acupuncture; somatic therapies; breathwork therapies; Hakomi; massage; equine assisted therapy; Brain Dynamics; and a range of innovative therapy techniques. All are available from qualified, licensed or certified practitioners drawn from the rich healing environment of the Santa Fe area. Through our Intensive Family Therapy Weekends, the healing can be extended to your family and loved ones.

INTEGRATIVE TRAUMA RECOVERY

The Life Healing Center’s treatment program addresses the unique needs of people experiencing post traumatic reactions. Often our patients unwittingly experience diminished lives because they are entangled with unresolved trauma. Our program is designed to help tap into the natural processes of healing inherent in each person. Some hallmarks of unresolved trauma include affective dysregulation, alienation and dissociation.

AFFECTIVE DYSREGULATION

Over-Activation

obsessive thoughts
intrusive images, flashbacks, nightmares
chronic feelings of anger
addictive and compulsive behaviors
hyper-startle (intense responses to specific triggers)

Under-Activation

prolonged depressive symptoms including lethargy, despair, insomnia
emotional numbness, chronic hopelessness
suicidal ideation

Alienation

impaired family and social relationships
intense fear of abandonment
isolation

Trauma causes a disruption on one’s ability to develop meaningful relationships. The intense individual therapy and group work at The Life Healing Center help patients experience meaningful connections. The community-based program enables patients to develop a quality of support that they have often longed for but could not access or accept. Our intensive Family Weekend offers those who want it an opportunity for healing and change in their primary relationships.

DISSOCIATION

Unresolved trauma is intrinsically related to dissociation. Whenever the perceived threat seems greater than our resources, dissociation occurs. Inner fragmentation is created in an attempt to buffer or avoid anticipated pain. Dissociation is the natural process of providing insulation from overwhelming traumatic reaction. The destructive power of trauma is not primarily that it keeps us locked in the past, but rather that it teaches us to be terrified of the present. The fear of being “present” is central to dissociation.

At Life Healing Center, our vast experience with trauma is perhaps our greatest asset in meeting the needs of persons with severe, continuing PTSD issues. Through careful assessment, intelligent treatment planning, and intensive group, individual, and art therapy, we can help restore hope and engender new understanding in the impacted individual. Skilled practitioners in healing arts such as massage, acupuncture, and body-centered therapies are available to provide support and assistance. Attendance at our Family Weekend Program assists loved ones in understanding and empathizing with the PTSD recovery process.