What is Trauma Recovery Coaching?
Studio Saudade, located in the historic Stimson-Green Mansion in Seattle's First Hill neighborhood, is here to provide support for those struggling with grief and trauma.
Our compassionate team is dedicated to helping clients (at our Seattle office or online) through this difficult journey toward healing and restoration.
Whether you're seeking support for yourself or a loved one, we're here to help. Contact us today via phone at (206) 428-7750 or email to schedule an appointment and take the first step towards a brighter tomorrow.
1. What is Trauma Recovery Coaching?
Trauma Recovery Coaches are rigorously trained and certified mental health professionals (outside the medical/clinical model) who work with trauma survivors as peers, mentors, guides, and educators to help with the goal of helping clients understand the recovery process, and reconnect with themselves and the world, while using their strengths to build a life they love living.
2. What Is the Difference Between a Therapist and a Coach?
While therapy tends to focus on the past, trauma recovery coaching centers on the present and future. Trauma coaches help clients understand the impact of trauma, develop effective and healthy coping strategies, build resilience, and move forward in their lives feeling empowered with voice and choice.
Therapists may explore past traumas and work with specific processing of emotions and exposure to the trauma with structured approaches.
Trauma coaching uses a relational model rather than a medical or diagnostic model. Relational-focused coaching fosters experiencing a positive and healthy relationship and learning ways to regulate a traumatized nervous system to restore safety and connection. This way of relating helps clients to identify their innate strengths and internal resources to find new ways to heal from their experiences and forge deeper and healthier relationships moving forward.
Clinically trained therapists treat mental illness or other significant emotional and relational concerns. Trauma coaches seek to help clients integrate and move forward to build a life they love, informed by their past.
When it comes to therapy vs trauma recovery coaching, both professions share a common goal: they are working partners invested in helping you better yourself.
3. What Are Different Forms of Trauma and How Does It Manifest?
SAMHSA describes individual trauma as an event or circumstance resulting in physical, emotional, and/or life-threatening harm. The event or circumstance has lasting adverse effects on the individual's mental, physical, and emotional health, as well as their social and/or spiritual well-being.
Trauma is also related to an individual’s capacity to cope with the event(s) and impact of and frequency of occurrences, based on the scope of personal resilience. If the person is a child, it’s dependent on caregiver interaction, attachment, and if there are any safe caregivers.
Trauma traps emotions somatically in the body, and it’s vital to address all the after-effects of psychological, biological, emotional, and relational harm.
A further model for defining trauma from Bobbi Parish, LMFT can be defined as a circumstance or event is traumatic to an individual if it meets the following three criteria:
1. The individuals feel that they are powerless to control the circumstance or event
2. The circumstance/event is EITHER intensely frightening to the individual AND/OR is perceived as a moral injury.
Note: Moral injuries are defined as events that deeply violate an individual’s moral values –particularly around values surrounding welfare, justice, rights, and fairness. Another definition: Damage to a person resulting from a violent contradiction of deeply held moral expectations (William P. Nash, DeploymentPsychology.org)
3. The circumstance or event changes the individual’s beliefs about themselves, the world and their interactions with the world.
Most importantly, trauma is defined from the perspective of the individual. A circumstance or event that might be traumatic for one individual might not be for another. Temperament, prior experience with trauma, and level of resilience all play a significant role in someone's response to a potentially traumatic event or circumstance.
As in the case of complex trauma, the anchor trauma plays a key role in determining how the individual is impacted by further traumatic experiences. The brain is built to protect the body at all costs. When safety and protection are lacking in caregiver relationships for a child raised in consistent and chronic abuse and trauma, the brain is going to compensate to keep them safe at all times, as much as possible.
Anchor trauma is defined as the first trauma we experience, which anchors the experience of trauma into our body, nervous system, and relationship with ourselves, others, and the world. Subsequent traumas can relate to the anchor trauma, which keeps the traumatic event in the present in the body and the brain, it’s not integrated.
When a new trauma is added onto a strand, i.e., childhood abuse/neglect, then date rape in teen years, for example, can affect a person differently than another person who didn't have childhood abuse/neglect. Trauma can emotionally and developmentally freeze us, we become 'stuck' emotionally at the time that the trauma occurred, bringing into adulthood such things as black-and-white thinking, using denial and chaos as survival tools, learned helplessness, and distress intolerance.
Two Types of Trauma
Environmental: car accidents, natural disasters, medical procedures, combat/war, mass shootings.
Interpersonal – as in the course of any relationship/contact with any person as sexual abuse, domestic violence, or emotional abuse.
As trauma recovery coaches, the need and absolute necessity of looking at a person's trauma history and their capacity to connect and process their emotions, make meaning of the trauma(s), and resource themselves, is imperative to future mental and physical health, their struggle with toxic shame, addiction, codependency, communication skills, and ability to love themselves and others.
It is essential that you understand these components because it gives you a framework with which to identify, understand, and respond appropriately to trauma and those who have endured it.
Trauma is defined from the perspective of the individual. A circumstance or event that might be traumatic for one individual might not be for another.
4. Training (Certification, and Code of Ethics)
To become a therapist or counselor, a Bachelor's or Master’s degree in a related field, such as psychology, social work, or counseling, is required. Additionally, supervised clinical hours, licensure, or certification by a board is required. Continuing education is necessary to maintain their license or certification and stay up-to-date on their field's latest research and techniques.
Certified Trauma Recovery Coaches (TRCs) through the IAOTRC require similar steps, except for having a Bachelor’s or Master’s degree. TRCs have specific trauma-informed education focusing on psychological, emotional, and neurobiological aspects. However, they use the coaching modality to support mental health.
Coaches are required to abide by a Code of Ethics and are governed by a board, similar to the oversight required for licensed mental health professionals.
5. What Is the Difference Between a Trauma Recovery Coach and a Life Coach or Other Type of Coach?
Life Coach training programs do not cover in-depth mental health and trauma-informed care as central or integral parts of their education. Typical Health and Wellness Coaches have specific training regarding diet, nutrition, exercise, and overall physical well-being, but it can vary depending on the niche of the health coach.
Trauma Recovery Coaches receive training to address safety risks (suicide/self-harm assessments are done routinely with protocols for follow-up), physical and mental health histories, and activities of daily living - diet, sleep, exercise, and social activities.
6. Why Is Trauma Recovery Coaching So Effective?
The majority of Trauma Recovery Coaches are survivors themselves and have been through a significant healing and recovery process, so they have personal and often shared experiences. Based on their similar experiences and shared understanding, clients develop deep trust with their coach and are more willing to engage in actions or exercises that have been offered as possibilities. Peer engagement is a powerful tool to help overcome the isolation common among individuals who have experienced trauma.
7. What Is It Like to Work With a Trauma Recovery Coach?
Clients often report increased motivation and self-empowerment when working with a trauma recovery coach. ‘Voice and Choice’ is engrained in the collaborative process and coaching dynamic, so they feel in charge, but supported and held by the coach. Coaches are taught to be compassionate, respectful, and attuned to ALL parts of their clients, regardless of where they show up in their journey. This results in a non-judgmental, kind, and caring relationship that is built on positive strengths and complete and total respect for the journey.
8. Where Can I Learn More About Trauma Recovery Coaching?
Book a free consultation to learn more and ask any specific questions you may have.
Are You Looking For Trauma Coaching for Yourself or Someone You Love?
Our mission is to support trauma survivors by working alongside them as peers, mentors, guides, and educators.
Through this collaborative approach (online or via our team at our Seattle location), we empower clients to better understand the process of recovery and rediscover their connection to themselves and the world around them.
By drawing on their unique strengths and resources, we help survivors build a life that is fulfilling and joyful, allowing them to truly thrive.
Contact our Seattle office today to embark on your healing journey.
