Trauma Therapy Program

When someone experiences a traumatic event or on-going trauma, the brain sometimes shuts down the memory to protect the individual. When a triggering object, words, actions, or events occur, it sends a signal to the brain that the person is in danger and alerts them through the fight or flight response. People can go years or decades without knowing why they get emotional or get bodily symptoms, such as anxiety when these triggers pop up.

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What is a Trauma Therapy Program?

Types of Therapy Programs

Goals of Therapy Programs

What is a Trauma Therapy Program?

Usually, treatment for traumas incorporates several elements that include dynamic psychotherapy, cognitive behavioral therapy, EMDR, trauma process groups, and more. There are several trauma disorders in which trauma process groups can help: post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), acute stress disorder (ASD), childhood trauma disorders, dissociative disorders, and adjustment disorders.

The program can be individual or in a group setting, and either in a residential inpatient setting or in an outpatient therapy setting. Either way, a counselor or therapist directs the program that best fits a person’s individual needs and comfort level. Since those who have dealt with trauma tend to be anxious or have depression, it’s an excellent setting to peel back the onion of memories, or at least the ones that have affected the person in a safe environment. Doing so helps them process the trauma(s) and enables their brains to stop sending triggers of danger.

Trauma therapy programs can be daily, or it can be three times a week, or just once a week. It all depends on the severity of the trauma and the individual’s comfort level.

Types of Therapy Programs

To ensure people who are going through trauma processing have the best chances of success and in a safe environment, a counselor may employ different techniques of therapy. For example, those with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a therapist may incorporate EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization Rapid Processing), trauma-informed cognitive behavioral therapy, trauma processing group therapy, or mind-body bridging (MBB) treatment.

For someone who was abused as a child, the therapy may focus on trauma-informed cognitive behavioral therapy or other therapies to help the person process their abused past. For domestic violence, couples therapy or group therapies work well. At Steps Recovery center, we customize trauma therapy programs to ensure the person has the care and support they need to heal.

Goals of Therapy Programs

Trauma affects most everyone, but not everyone will develop a disorder related to their trauma(s). It’s the goal of therapy programs to bring survivors out of isolation and into connection with one another. This is done in a group setting, usually, and can be very therapeutic. It also allows the person to contribute to the healing of other people in the same situation.

Other goals of trauma therapy programs include:

Relieving shame – This is particularly true when the trauma was verbal, emotional, physical, or sexual abuse. Shame is one of the lasting effects of interpersonal trauma that a person can carry for a lifetime. They may feel an intense and destructive feeling of self-disgust or self-worth. Participating in a group setting with fellow survivors can provide a powerful antidote to shame. Knowing other people feel the same way, and allowing those feelings to the surface is very empowering.

Promoting mastery – Individuals who have experienced trauma feel a sense of helplessness and loss of control over their lives. When the trauma is on-going or repeated, it can lead to a sense of powerlessness. The goal of therapy is to reclaim that power and refuse to let the trauma victimize you.

Providing a future orientation – a deep-seated effect of psychological trauma is a foreshortened sense of the future. Survivors are typically stuck in the past and may feel hopeless to change. The act of planning and executing a goal is very empowering in fostering a new mindsight that includes hope and determination.

Integration of past and present and memory and affect – Within this treatment modality, it allows for the person to bring out the traumatic memories and associated reactions in a safe environment that allows for self-reflection and the expression of emotions. Memory and affect are joined, and the past is remembered with feeling, along with any bodily states that first accompanied those events. Memories are then interwoven with new feelings born of remembrance and reflection on the past.

Following a successful trauma therapy program, individuals can move forward with their life, knowing they are in full control of their emotions and no longer feel victimized.

Joy Downen

10 weeks ago

This place is so wonderful and all of the staff care so very much! They are very professional and they know what they are doing. Absolutely amazing facility and staff!!!

Nathan Frame

28 weeks ago

Steps Recovery is the place you go if you want a caring and understanding program. They have helped me gain knowledge about myself and what I want/need to do. The staff there can relate and help you through core issues and they push you to do better because being in this program you know you can do big and amazing things. Also the therapists there are awesome and walk with you through struggles of life and give you the tools you truly need. Overall this place is an amazing opportunity and you’d be missing out on a lot if you chose to not at least try this program.

Shaylesa Stulce

46 weeks ago

Steps Recovery in St. George has been amazing! I’m so excited to use the tools that I’ve learned here! The staff is amazing, and very understanding! I would recommend them to anyone struggling with addiction!

Adam Kelly

47 weeks ago

What I liked most about my time at Steps is the atmosphere that was presented during my whole stay. I have done a lot of treatment centers and this one is by far the one I have felt I gained the most from. I would highly recommend Steps to anybody struggling with addiction!

Gary Hanson

47 weeks ago

Steps saved our daughter’s life as well as her kids!

Natalie Painter

Jan 1, 2019

The staff and facility is amazing- Couldn’t ask for anything better. The program is well rounded with rec activities, equine therapy, gender therapy, group therapy, individual and couples therapy, and also attends various 12 Step support groups such as AA or NA. They also have family therapy and processing with options for individual settings or in a group. These help families understand what their loved ones who suffer from addiction is going through and how to support them, and also gives them their own support system.

BRIAN MEYER

Nov 13, 2018

This place saved my life! The therapists were very helpful, friendly and really cared about the clients wellbeing. The tech’s were alway helpful with meds and anything that was needed. House manager was amazing, had high expectations on job duties, and kept a very clean organized atmosphere. Food was always amazing. I never went hungry! The information and skills that I have learned and applied to my life are priceless. If you’re not willing to put forth the work to change your life this is not your place, but if you are this is the first Step to take. I Love everyone at Steps. Thank you for all your help

Matthew Cromar

Aug 10, 2018

I’d been to other recovery centers before but this one was the best, it stuck because I was willing to do the work, and with the help I received from staff I am now celebrating a year of sobriety in a couple of days. Update; I’m now 18 months sober as of yesterday and I still keep in touch with my steps family. The lessons I learned at steps will stick with me for the rest of my life. Thank you for giving me my life back.

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Trauma Therapy Program