Our therapy and educational offerings are based on the latest evidence based research on trauma and recovery. Martine is highly trained and skilled therapist and trainer and work is based on her training and skill in the areas of:
Internal Family Systms
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)
Deep Brain Reorieting
Polyvagal Theory
Trauma Centre Trauma Sensitive Yoga
Our work is underpinned by 3 highly important theoretical foundations.
Trauma Theory
Acknowledges there is a survival mechanism inherent in us all, which is always looking out for cues of safety and cues of danger in our world. Our system is designed to be in tune with nature and our environment, collecting information through our senses that is used to assess if we are in danger or safe. Our minds match this information, such as the image of a predator, to our memory of previous events. The memory of the previous events help to determine whether we are currently in danger or safe, which determines our actions now. We therefore can feel safe and secure or we can activate our fight, flight, freeze, fawn response. Our emotions are a record of our past experiences.
When we have experienced trauma our brain wires itself to protect us, if we are still in danger this is adaptive. If we are no longer in danger, then a process of remembering or relearning how to feel safe in our bodies and minds is necessary, otherwise the mind will always assume danger. Humans can turn on their stress response by thoughts alone. If our minds determine our safety we lose the ability to trust our ‘gut’ and intuition and our bodies literally become our minds, living in survival mode. In survival mode there can be a gap between the way things appear and the way things are. This can be a pathway to disease.
If we use our mind and thoughts to settle our bodies it is a difficult process, real change occurs when we re-learn how to feel safe in our bodies first, so that in time we can revisit difficult thoughts and emotions and be able to self soothe and regulate.
Trauma recovery truly starts with a sense of feeling safe in your body and a sense of stabilisation in your life.
Attachment Theory
In childhood we form an attachment style, this is based on the care giving that we received in childhood. Early relationships support the development of ‘agency’, the ability to become separate and form a healthy, independent, sense of self. If we have secure relationships in our early years, we develop a basic sense of safety in the world. If our caregiving is responsive and trustworthy, we develop a self that is worthy of care. If we grow up in a frightening environment then our organism is infused with danger and our brain wires itself to survival mode.
As adolescents the primary task is to individuate and go out into the world in a healthy and safe way, we do not need our childhood attachment style, what we need is to develop a strong sense of self and a healthy self esteem to enable us develop our unique identity and live a healthy and balanced life. Individuation is a process of growing into wholeness, of embodying our true potential.
When this is compromised, we often fear attachment and relationships. The past traumatic wounds can show up as shame, guilt, low self esteem, lack of trust, low self worth and a belief that we are not loveable. Often when we focus on this in therapy it can be re-traumatising.
Attachment wounds are formed in relationship and healing from trauma is best done in the context of a safe and attuned relationship in the here and now.
Neuroscience
A major factor in the advancement of trauma treatments in the past few years has been the knowledge gained from Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (FRMI) These brain scans are used by researchers of trauma. So much is now known about how the brain reorganises itself in relation to trauma. What is also changing the face of trauma treatments is the knowledge around Neuroplasticity, or Neural Plasticity, the brains’ ability to continue growing and evolving in response to life’s experiences. This is intrinsically linked to the nervous system and it’s response to internal and external stimuli. It is therefore possible to change conditioned pathways of thinking and responding to develop new mind states and abilities.
Antonio Damasio (Neuroscientist) states “Evolutionarily, if there had been no body, there would be no brain”. However, traditional therapy has attempted to treat trauma through talk therapy. The Broca’s area in the brain is responsible for expressive language. This area of the brain can shrink when the brain responds to trauma, making talk therapy often very challenging, with survivors literally feeling ‘lost for words’.
Interoception, put simply means ‘the material me’ or ‘how we perceive feelings from our bodies’, Thera Yoga is designed to experience opportunities for interoception (having a feeling), making choices (what do I want to do about that feeling) and taking effective action. This is proven to rewire the brain towards a sense of internal agency and safety.
The treatment of Trauma is significantly enhanced through the process of introducing a felt sense of safety, choice and nervous system regulation. This is achieved with body focused, somatic therapies combined with moving safely towards healing trauma through memory processing. Trauma therapy examples include Internal Family Systems (IFS), Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) and Schema Therapy. At the Thera Foundation our work is largely informed by Polyvagal Theory and working on the Autonomic Nervous system to support a safer and more supportive therapy experience.
