Trauma Healing
This is a post about the Trauma Healing Conference Summits I have been virtually attending for a few years.
Even though I’ve had a PTSD diagnosis since the 1990s and paid attention to the public conversation about Trauma since then, the bulk of what I have learned about PTSD/Trauma has happened in the past few years. Because I have been isolating at home since 2020, it has allowed me to focus further on my healing journey. (s/o to my spouse for also helping create a safe & secure environment for me to do this.🥰)
I have gone to one-on-one therapy off and on for the past 25+ years and read books & studies about Trauma as well. The information that has come out in the last decade has really ramped up the mainstream conversation about Trauma in the media, popular culture, and in my personal relationships. Since at least 2022, I have attended some virtual Trauma Healing Conferences/Summits.
These virtual events include a lot of the top Trauma experts including the people who have done scientific studies, written books, and even created the terms & processes used in Trauma Healing currently. I have actually lost track of all the different people that I’ve learned from during these sessions. Also, I will openly admit that I do not align with all of them either! (Insert the caveat that “Your Mileage May Vary” here.)
Because there are so many professionals who each have their own niche within the healing community, I won’t be creating a list of them. (At least not today.) However, I would like to highlight two of the organizations that I follow and attend the FREE Trauma Healing events that they offer virtually. One of them does live classes on a specific date, and the other sends links to recordings that you have 24hrs to watch before they put access behind a paywall. Because of this, I try to clear my calendar of other obligations on the day(s) they are scheduled.
I will warn you that if you get on their mailing list they will send you frequent marketing emails to try to get you to become a member which gives you free access to all of their previous class recordings and other perks. I don’t have any money, so it is easy for me to ignore those to focus on their free offerings only. If I did have the money to spend though, I would join, as then I could listen/watch so many more sessions at my leisure.
Earlier this month, Conscious Life hosted something called the Best Of Trauma Super Conference. It was “the most watched interviews and experts from [the] past four Trauma Super Conferences.” Each day of the week-long event, the 10-12 classes (+2-3 bonus sessions) were unlocked at midnight and available to watch at your own pace until midnight that night. I was only able to get through four of the days full offerings as the three other days I ran out of time due to my other life duties.
These classes were separated out into 7 Categories:
The Impacts of Trauma
Trauma Healing Tools & Approaches
Wellbeing & Restoration
Understanding Intergenerational, Cultural & Workplace Trauma
Relational Trauma
Self-Compassion on Your Healing Journey
Movement, Mindfulness and Functional Medicine
I am bummed that two of the days I was not able to complete the offerings were the last two as I really need to improve my self-compassion and movement in my life. I listened to so many sessions though and learned a lot! Some of the offerings were breathwork, meditation, and yoga based with instruction on how to do them in that moment, where others were more discussions of how to incorporate them into your life without a full demonstration. Even though I have heard some of these same speakers before, even teaching on the same subject, I still took away things from their classes. The Trauma Healing industry continues to evolve, as do I on my own personal healing journey.
The other place that I attend virtual Somatic Trauma Healing events through is called The Embody Lab. They actually held a 1-day Summit called Healing Developmental Trauma on the same day as the last day of the Best of Trauma Super Conference that I was not able to attend due to the overlap. It included 5 live classes via Zoom plus bonus sessions.
Some of The Embody Lab offerings are more geared towards professionals who may be learning techniques for their clients, but I have never attended one where I felt unwelcome or that the information wasn’t also relevant to me, a person with Trauma. I have not attended any of the classes that you can take to earn certifications as they do cost money, but I do not believe that they have any other prerequisites to attend. They do have FREE sessions where you can get further information on the certificates too!
There are disclaimers that these online classes do not constitute “therapeutic sessions” but sometimes it definitely feels like therapy. I never turn my camera on when I join, and during the live sessions they are good at having everyone muted until question time. I appreciate this as there have been times where I started sobbing during them. It isn’t only heaviness though! There have been some sessions that specifically discuss how to add art and joy into your healing journey.
The Embody Lab’s format can help you feel more connected to the Trauma Healing Community because they do open up the chat at times during sessions, and depending on the questions & comments it can alter the content. I have been present at some sessions where I felt like all the attendees really went through something special together which is extra special for me since I don’t have irl community currently.
Now is probably the time to add that regardless of where you are in your healing journey, these sessions can definitely be triggering. I reminded my spouse that during the week/day of my Trauma sessions I could be more activated and requested that he be a bit more gentle with me if that is the case. I have definitely had instances where I felt emotionally drained after attending, so now I prepare for that possibility ahead of time.
On The Embody Lab website, they have a lot of sessions coming up including some FREE ones. I have already RSVPed to the “Practicing Liberation: Transformative Strategies for Collective Healing & Systems Change” live event on August 7th, 2024.
I don’t see any upcoming Conferences listed on the Conscious Life website right now, but I will try to drop something in the Notes on Substack when I get info for the next Free offering!
~The Overstimulated