Trauma-Informed Support for Partners of Survivors
My husband’s developmental trauma changed me. Seven years ago, my husband of twenty years began to experience a series of visual flashbacks. These emerging memories pointed to a very different childhood than he had previously remembered.…
How do you do it? How do you keep going as the partner to a trauma survivor? From the book: “It’s a question I’m asked a lot and I think it’s worth answering. Why? Because…
My husband has developmental trauma and no one told me about it. After eight trauma therapists, three psychiatric assessments, four general practitioners, two big psychological breakdowns, many smaller breakdowns, three employment leaves, financial loss, one…
Who are your bridge people? It’s been one year since our house sold and we picked up and moved to Eastern Canada. It’s been a year of change, new people and places, challenges, and disappointments.…
Do the stories of partners of survivors matter? I tucked this question into my laptop bag and entered the doors of Humber College summer writing school this past July. I had submitted fifteen pages of…
“What do you do for self-care?” It’s one of the first questions asked by partners when they join the Facebook support group Partners to Survivors with Complex Trauma. New members want to know what partners do…
“How do you cope with fatigue as the partner to a trauma survivor?” a friend recently asked. To be honest, the question frightened me. Was I fatigued? Was it a problem? Was I coping? Was…
“As the partner to a trauma survivor, how do you do it? How do you keep going?” Funny. In the last two weeks, I have been asked this question three times. Maybe even weirder, I…
Can the Partners of Childhood Trauma Survivors Experience Vicarious Trauma? You would think the answer is obvious: “Yes,” and “Of course.” But a search for the term in conjunction with partners/ families and trauma shows few results.…
Why Do Adult Survivors Need Advocates? After all, adult survivors of childhood trauma look just like other adults. They talk like adults. They hold jobs, they volunteer, and they go to school. They have families. They…
I’ve recently had a couple of articles sent to me about how to help a survivor if you are in a close relationship. The articles, written by clinicians, were clear, thoughtful and with a good…