Trauma-Informed Support for Partners of Survivors
Last week, I attended a one-day workshop with Kristin Neff, Ph.D. For those of you who are not familiar with Dr. Neff’s work, she is a self-compassion researcher and the co-founder of the Mindful Self-Compassion…
It happened again. About one month ago, there was a clear decline in my husband’s mental health. Truthfully, the decline had been happening for a while, but it was obvious he needed medical help. Our…
You are more than your trauma. I couldn’t sleep. My mind ran restless laps around last week’s events. As much as I wanted to put it all behind me, my brain had other ideas. I…
If you’ve been reading my blog posts for a while, you’ll know the topic of self-care is really important to me. It’s important because as a partner to a survivor, I know the high risk…
Last month, I drove my husband to the hospital emergency department. It was a difficult decision. I wrestled with it for several days. It was hard because first of all, I didn’t know if the…
There are costs to loving a trauma survivor. I know this statement may come across as unloving, unkind, and insensitive. It might come across as uncaring, unsupportive, and cruel. But despite the potential misinterpretations of this statement,…
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…