What is Trauma-Informed Care?

Trauma-informed care is an integral part of the recovery process at Choice House, but what is it? Trauma-informed care acknowledges that an individual’s addiction was likely caused, in part, to past trauma. During this form of care, your past trauma is discovered through different forms of therapy and then worked through. 

There are many ways to work through past trauma, and the methods used can depend significantly on your therapists and addiction recovery facility. It’s essential to do your research and find a facility or therapist that will work best for your needs. For example, at Choice House, we focus on outdoor therapy, support groups, and more to help men work through their past trauma.  

What is Considered Trauma?

Trauma can come in many forms, but it is defined as a person’s emotional and physical response to disturbing past events. Past trauma can affect one’s daily life by making them always anxious or depressed. Trauma also gives some a feeling of hopelessness. 

Trauma can occur at any point in one’s life and can be caused by things like child abuse, neglect, violent incidents, and more. Military veterans that have experienced war may suffer from trauma as a result of the violence they encountered. Smaller moments in one’s life can also cause trauma. Things like moving away from home or getting fired from a job may create trauma for some. 

Many people turn to substance use to deal with past trauma, but there are much better ways to alleviate this pain. 

Methods of Trauma-Informed Care

There are different methods a therapist may use to help you deal with past trauma. However, most forms of trauma-informed care will involve the individual coming to realize their past trauma and how their lives have been affected. 

At Choice House, we help our guests realize their past trauma by utilizing “experiential and psychodrama therapy.” This form of therapy involves an individual performing a re-enactment of a moment in their past in hopes of bringing any past trauma to the surface. While it may be hard to experience these memories, you can only honestly deal with past trauma when it is brought to the surface. 

The individual will then go through a process called “somatic therapy,” which involves one of our expert therapists watching your body for any reactions as you remember past trauma. This helps us determine how your body is being affected by trauma to alleviate your symptoms effectively. Deep breathing, relaxation exercises, and meditations are all used to help relieve symptoms. 

EMDR (eye movement desensitization and reprocessing) therapy is another method we use in combating past trauma. In this form of treatment, an individual’s eye movements are watched as they relive past traumatic events. EMDR helps to remove emotional blocks caused by trauma. Once these are removed, the brain can initiate its natural healing response. After successful treatment with EMDR, distress is relieved, negative beliefs are reformulated, and physiological symptoms are reduced. 

Many other forms of trauma-informed care will differ based on the client’s exact needs and where they are receiving care. Be sure to research the forms of therapy you will be experiencing and decide if they are right for you. It is also helpful to speak with a doctor or therapist about any concerns you might be having. 

The Benefits of Trauma-Informed Care

There is a multitude of benefits to trauma-informed care. For one, it creates a strong relationship between an individual and their therapist. Having this relationship is essential to addiction recovery as it increases trust between individuals and those taking care of them. When trust is developed, an individual may be more open to the idea of talking about what is going on with them, allowing for healing. 

Trauma-informed care has proven beneficial in long-term recovery, meaning individuals might be less likely to give into future temptations, even after treatment. 

Opening up about your past trauma allows you to work through it with the aid of others. It is challenging to deal with addiction on your own, so you need to be honest with others about the causes of your substance use. Not only will this aid in recovery, but you will likely find that it feels good to talk about these past events out loud. 

At Choice House, we find the use of trauma-informed care beneficial as it keeps our guests from continually blaming themselves for their addiction. We acknowledge that there are things in our guests’ pasts that have brought them to this point, and more importantly, they can work through these things. 

At Choice House, we acknowledge that past trauma is often the cause of one’s addiction. This is why we utilize trauma-informed care, which involves bringing an individual’s past trauma to the surface and dealing with it using various forms of therapy. Past trauma can include past experiences of child abuse, neglect, and more. Choice House uses multiple forms of treatment to help alleviate the symptoms caused by past trauma. We use experiential and psychodrama therapy to bring this trauma to the surface by having our guests relive it. With this trauma on the surface, our guests can start to heal by using our outdoor therapy sessions, group therapy meetings, one-on-one therapy sessions, and more. We also have a strong community of men that support each other in achieving individual goals. We would love to have you join our community! Get started on your journey by contacting Choice House at (720) 577-4422 today.