TRAUMA THERAPY FOR WOMEN
A EDMONTON, AB & PARTOUT EN ALBERTA, AU NOUVEAU-BRUNSWICK, EN NOUVELLE ECOSSE, AU NUNAVUT & AU QUEBEC
Helping you Heal & be Empowered
On the outside, it looked like you had a good childhood, surrounded by reliable adults. Yet, you were dealing with a lot of painful events, maybe even chaos et violence, and felt like you were doing it all, alone.
And these feelings of loneliness never quite left.
There have been a lot of stressors in your life in the last little while, so much so that stress is a daily thing at this point, and you can notice your past showing up in the present, even those things about which you used to think “I’m over that”. Sometimes you are overwhelmed and anxious, and at other times, you may just feel numb.
Although you did nothing to deserve what you went through, you’ve been dealing with guilt and shame, as well as regret and feeling down on yourself.
You are angry and resentful about the things that happened and with good reason, but you don’t like how you get irritable when around your immediate family and friends, and occasionally lash out; you wish to gain more control over your emotions and express them in a way that feels aligned.
You want to be able to open up and process your trauma in a non-judgmental and supportive environment, move forward from your painful past and get to a place of healing, regulation, calm and happiness.
Maybe you’ve never had a safe space where you could talk about and process what happened to you, or perhaps you’ve told parts of your story to a therapist before, only to end up re-traumatized as you did not get the help you need and deserve.
I know what it’s like and I’m happy you’re here!
MA MÉTHODE
TEAM-CBT for trauma
No two therapy journeys are ever exactly the same, but in trauma therapy with me, you can expect to be given a safe space where you can feel comfortable opening up.
We will start with an informal assessment that will help us gain a thorough understanding, amongst other things, of your identities, your past as well as of your current struggles. I will listen and check in with you regularly to make sure you consistently feel heard, seen and safe during our sessions together. Whether you wish to dive into the traumatic events you’ve been through during our first sessions or need more time, I will follow your lead. We will talk about it when you’re ready.
We will then zero in on one recent, specific moment in time when you noticed the trauma you went through show up in the present. Although the focus on one specific moment may seem limiting at first, this will allow us to thoroughly understand the hold that trauma currently has over you, and of the painful emotions, dysfunctional beliefs and thoughts that it imposes on you.
In the TEAM-CBT approach, trauma work includes a customized treatment plan, where we will draw from a multitude of techniques to find the ones that work best for you. At the same time, it is my experience that trauma therapy that has meaningful, long term impact entails some form of exposure to the traumatic events – through talking about it – and to feared situations that you may also be currently avoiding. Exposure has been, for the majority of clients – including myself when I was doing my own therapy – the most nerve-racking part of trauma therapy but also the most empowering!
The rationale behind exposure is that by understanding and facing elements associated with the trauma you experienced (I will ensure that you are never put in an unsafe situation for exposure purposes), trauma will eventually no longer have any power over you.
I will thoroughly prepare you for exposures and we will ease into them together. We will do all exposure exercises during our sessions together, until you feel comfortable doing them outside of sessions and as a general rule, I will never force you to do anything you do not wish to do.
Some women find that just telling their story and understanding trauma mechanisms help to eliminate their intrusive memories, nightmares and/or flashbacks of the trauma and lead to formerly triggering situations, people, places and objects no longer eliciting strong unpleasant emotions, while others may need to work on the trauma they experienced a bit more, and that’s ok.
For in-depth trauma work in my approach, I use Prolonged Exposure therapy, one of only two modalities that have strong research support for the treatment of PTSD (Posttraumatic Stress Disorder), according to the American Psychological Association.
We will also check in with regards to any lingering, intense feelings of anxiety, shame and guilt, to name a few, that may be associated with the trauma you endured and help you overcome them.
Moreover, we will work on stressful experiences you may be currently going through, such as discrimination, racism and micro-aggressions, and explore healthy & empowering ways to respond to such experiences, drawing from my training in helping clients with racial trauma or PTSD resulting from racism. We will also give due consideration to intergenerational trauma – the acknowledgement that our parents’ and ancestors’ unprocessed trauma may also impact us, although we did not directly experience the traumatic events they went through.
Thérapie Islamique for trauma
Trauma therapy from an Islamic perspective with me, puts the wealth of knowledge from the Qu’ran, Ahadiths and Seerah concerning mental health issues and their treatment, at the very centre of the healing process. I use TEAM-CBT (see above) as the framework that integrates these teachings, to help you attain recovery et spiritual growth, In Sha Allah.
I believe that trauma therapy that will work for you, In Sha Allah, has to be customized to meet your unique difficulties and needs, including when it comes to the use of specific Islamic knowledge and practices both in the processing and healing stages of trauma work.
Below are two of the blocks that have come up during trauma work with Muslim women, that may be relevant for you, and how we disputed these notions using Islamic knowledge to help ease into trauma processing Alhamdoulillah:
- The fear that talking about trauma and the people, especially family members, who were involved, may be sinful.
Prophet Muhammad SAW used to create safe spaces for Sahabbas who were struggling so they could share these struggles and receive guidance.
Allah SWT knows our hearts and our intentions in sharing our stories.
- We may have been told that we should simply forget the trauma we endured, and focus on the present and future instead of the past.
Our Prophet SAW went through the Year of Sorrow, following the death of his wife Khadija (RA) and his uncle Abu Talib, despite the immeasurable strength of his iman. Suffering and admitting to the same are not signs of weakness, and are often a necessary step to healing and being grounded in the present.
The way you learned to survive is not the way you need to live anymore.
FAQS
Frequently asked questions about trauma therapy
Mes honoraires sont de 235 $ par séance de 50 minutes. Des séances plus longues sont disponibles au même tarif.
Étant en pratique privée, mes honoraires ne sont not couverts par l'assurance maladie publique financée par le gouvernement, comme le régime d'assurance maladie de l'Alberta, le programme d'assurance maladie du Nouveau-Brunswick, le programme d'assurance maladie de la Nouvelle-Écosse, le régime d'assurance maladie du Nunavut et la Régie de l'assurance maladie du Québec.
Cependant, étant donné que je suis psychologue agréé, si votre private régime d'assurance comprend une couverture pour la santé mentale, les séances de thérapie avec moi seront généralement prises en charge.
Vous pouvez contacter votre compagnie d'assurance pour connaître le montant de votre couverture annuelle pour ce service.
It may also be beneficial to ask whether you have a health spending account that may be used toward therapy sessions.
I direct-bill the following insurance companies:
- Aga financial group
- Alberta Blue Cross
- belairdirect
- Beneva | SSQ
- BPA
- C.C.W.U
- Canada Life | Great-West Life
- Chambers Plan
- CINUP
- Coughlin
- Cowan
- Desjardins
- Equitable Life of Canada
- First Canadian Health
- G.M.S
- Group health
- Group Source
- iA Financial Group
- Johnston Group
- Local 183
- Manion
- Manulife
- Maximum Benefit
- MDM Insurance Services Inc.
- People Corporation
- RWAM
- Simply Benefits
- SunLife
- TELUS Health
- The Public Service health care
- Union Benefits
- UV Insurance
Mes honoraires peuvent être déclarés comme frais médicaux déductibles d'impôt dans votre déclaration de revenus.
Si vous êtes admissible à ces programmes, veuillez noter que je peux également fournir des services dans les programmes suivant:
- le Programme des services de santé non assurés (SSNA) qui offre aux Premières Nations inscrites et aux Inuit reconnus une couverture pour une gamme spécifique et cohérente à l’échelle nationale des prestations de santé, y compris des consultations en santé mentale. À travers ce programme, les clients admissibles peuvent bénéficier d'un maximum de 22 heures de consultation par an.
- Le programme d'avantages sociaux Bigstone Health, qui offre des avantages aux membres de la nation crie Bigstone. À travers ce programme, les clients peuvent bénéficier de jusqu'à 22 heures de consultation tous les 12 mois.
- les programmes fédéraux tels que le Programme fédéral de santé intérimaire (PFSI) administré par Immigration, Réfugiés et Citoyenneté Canada (IRCC) ; ce programme offre une couverture limitée et temporaire des soins de santé à certains groupes de personnes qui ne bénéficient pas d'une couverture provinciale, territoriale ou privée. Je facture également directement les programmes fédéraux tels que ceux destinés aux membres des Forces armées canadiennes (FAC), de la Gendarmerie royale du Canada (GRC) et d'Anciens Combattants Canada (ACC).
J'ai également conclu un partenariat avec Sisters Dialogue qui permet aux femmes musulmanes résidant en Alberta de me consulter. free of charge, for 5 sessions with the possiblity to extend coverage.
You may email me at audrey@overanxietypsych.com or schedule a free 15-minute consultation here.
