Offering an individualized, paced approach to healing.
At Whole Therapy, each of our practitioners has an interest or specialized training in trauma treatment. We follow Judith Herman's (1992) three-stage approach. Depending on how trauma has impacted their lives, our clients can expect to have individualized treatment plans that follow these three stages of healing:
1) Safety and Stabilization - Before getting into any depth in treatment together, you and your therapist will assess the present-day safety in your life. Managing crisis situations, ensuring that your basic needs are met, and helping you develop coping and regulation skills are often early clinical priorities in our work together. We draw on skills from dialectical behavioural therapy, motivational interviewing, mindfulness-based practices, somatic practices, and cognitive behavioural therapy to support you through this first phase of trauma healing.
2) Remembrance and Mourning - When life starts to feel manageable again but the past is still troubling, we have specialized training in assisting you with this second stage of trauma therapy. Whether it is through EMDR, somatic approaches, or cognitive processing, we are equipped to help you address your traumatic experiences head-on so that you no longer have to relive or numb-out your trauma responses.
3) Integration and Moving On - Often, our traumatic experiences challenge our sense of self, our identity, or how we see the world. When we work through our traumatic experiences, our identity sometimes remains shaken. We are here to help you integrate your experiences, your sense of self, and your worldview in the aftermath of trauma and healing.