When considering working with a client who has complex trauma, clinicians need to consider if they have the skills to engage in the treatment of C-PTSD. Treating complex trauma is nuanced. It requires extensive training, compassion, and self-awareness. It also calls for a clinician to listen to explicit material, which they must be able to hold and compartmentalize. Here are several considerations every therapist should consider before working with complex trauma. Attachment

The Body-Mind is Magnificent. At times, as children, it is the only protector we have— and it is a warrior. It will protect us at all costs. It will split and create dissociative parts, like wolves who band together, intertwined by the sacred bonds of spirit. They will find ways through the darkest nights, they will circle those things we cannot bear, they will keep them from us, cornered— protecting us from what is intolerable. They will give us unexplainable abilities to su

Emotional neglect is tragicly damaging to a child's development and, alone, can lead to complex post traumatic stress. Anyone outside of our home believed my parents to be attentive, cheerful, and successful people— and they were successful. The rest of it wasn't a show; it was worse than that. They seemed to reserve their thoughtful engagement for other people; a bright energy that was saved for friends, extended family, or co-workers. Yet, when they returned home, there was

Healing complex childhood trauma is a long and winding journey. For me, while these brutal young experiences had been effecting every day of my life, true healing only began in my forties. Over the years, its purpose has changed several times. I hadn't been able to settle on a specific theme for my writing and content. Recently I haven't been posting articles to my blog simply because its purpose stopped resonating. It no longer felt aligned. However, recently things changed.