Trauma-Informed Therapy At Bedrock Recovery Center

Trauma’s effects can be long-lasting and often contribute to addiction, mental illness, or co-occurring disorders. The compassionate care team at BRC is trained in trauma-informed care and can give you the tools you need to feel safe and confident in everyday life.

If trauma has influenced the development of your substance use or mental health disorder, Bedrock’s trauma-informed care team can give you the tools you need to heal from past experiences and gain confidence to live the life you want.

It isn’t uncommon for people with trauma to suppress memories of the experience or experiences as a way to avoid feeling fear, anxiety, or other emotional pain. BRC’s highly qualified mental health professionals can help you process these experiences and begin moving past them, at a rate that feels safe and empowering for you.

Trauma-informed therapy may be just one part of your personalized treatment pathway at Bedrock Recovery Center, which may also include stabilization or detox in the case of drug and alcohol addiction, medication management or medication-assisted treatment (MAT), family therapy, group therapy, peer support groups, wellness and prosocial activities, aftercare planning, and more.

Trauma-Informed Therapy: Core Principles

People who have experienced trauma often benefit from specific considerations during therapy.

Safety

Trauma can lead to feeling unsafe, anxious, or fearful in everyday life, making your feeling safe a top priority during therapy sessions. Your therapist will help you feel physically and emotionally safe when discussing difficult past experiences such as by helping you define and communicate your boundaries and express yourself honestly.

Collaboration

Because trauma can also lead to feeling out of control in life, your therapist will also focus on helping you take an active role in the healing process, educating you about your options and working together with you to decide the best path forward.

Trustworthiness

Trauma also often leads to a loss of trust. Your therapist will be open and honest when communicating with you to help establish trust. Trustworthiness will also be demonstrated by being available and reliable, as well as culturally competent and up-to-date on the latest research and best practices regarding trauma treatment.

Empowerment

Disempowerment is another one of trauma’s effects. To counteract this, your therapist will focus on your strengths, including the tools you’ve already developed to deal with trauma in a healthy way. You will also develop additional healthy coping skills to further bolster your self-confidence and freedom to choose how to respond to life as it comes.

Techniques Used In Trauma-Informed Therapy

While the following are not the only techniques used in trauma-informed therapy, they do represent some of the more common approaches.

“Parts” Work

Borrowed from internal family systems (IFS)-based therapy, “parts” work involves identifying the individual aspects of yourself that have become fragmented and bringing them back into harmony in order to avoid self-sabotaging beliefs and behaviors. This typically involves methods for connecting with your inner wisdom.

Nervous System Regulation

Trauma often involves activation of the autonomic nervous system, which regulates involuntary processes such as heart rate, breathing, and digestion. Your therapist may give you self-regulation tools such as breathing techniques, grounding exercises, and progressive muscle relaxation to help you modulate your nervous system.

Attachment Repair

Trauma-informed therapy also often focuses on identifying and understanding your attachment style, usually developed in early childhood. Attachment repair may begin with your relationship with your therapist, providing the opportunity to work toward healthier, more secure attachments.

Mindfulness And Emotional Regulation

Mindfulness practices provided during therapy can help you develop awareness of your thoughts and emotions, which may have become buried due to trauma. As you and your therapist explore your memories, you will also be provided with ways to handle distress and difficult emotions that may surface, such as through the techniques taught in dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) and mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT). With practice, you will become better at regulating your emotions, responding rather than reacting to them, and experience less impulsivity.

Exposure Interventions

Through exposure interventions, you are safely and gradually exposed to the memories, thoughts, or feelings you otherwise avoid. These types of interventions are based on the theory that repeated exposure to the feared situation is shown to reduce anxiety over time. Your therapist may invite you to revisit a traumatic experience by imagining it or writing about it, or by reintroducing relevant cues methodically.

Applications For Trauma-Informed Therapy

Although trauma-informed therapy may most often be associated with the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), it is widely becoming recognized as effective in treating a broad range of behavioral health issues, including addiction and other mental health disorders.

This is because trauma can lie at the root of these disorders, and treatment that addresses the root can lead to a reduction in symptoms and increased well-being in the long term.

Evidence For The Efficacy Of Trauma-Informed Therapy

According to research reported in the journal Frontiers in Psychiatry, up to 90% of people seeking treatment for a substance use disorder (SUD) report having experienced trauma. When integrated into SUD treatment, trauma-informed therapy can improve outcomes, including reducing treatment dropout rates and reducing the risk of experiencing a relapse, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).

Trauma-informed therapy is also proven to be effective in treating complex PTSD (C-PTSD), borderline personality disorder (BPD), anxiety disorders, depression and other mood disorders, and dissociative disorders, according to StatPearls.

Learn More About Trauma-Informed Care At Bedrock

If you are interested in learning more about the addiction recovery or mental health treatment programs at BRC, including whether they are a good fit for your needs, please contact us today.

Written by Bedrock Recovery Center Editorial Team

Published on: July 8, 2024

© 2025 Bedrock Recovery Center | All Rights Reserved

* This page does not provide medical advice.

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