A Comprehensive Approach to Healing Trauma and Restoring Emotional Well-Being

Trauma can have many causes, and each person will experience it differently. From witnessing violence or being the victim of physical or sexual abuse to living through natural disasters, the loss of a loved one, or other life-threatening events, trauma and healing are personal journeys. However, not all trauma is physical. Emotional abuse, psychological abuse, neglect, toxic relationships, discrimination, receiving a disastrous medical diagnosis, and more can all have lasting traumatic effects. Exploring traumatic stress and your own experiences is necessary to find the root cause of trauma and the most effective treatment for healing trauma. 

Trauma can affect everything from daily routines to physical and emotional health. It can strain relationships, make it difficult to manage emotions like anxiety and depression, create a pessimistic view of the world or self-image, and even compromise spiritual beliefs.

Trauma can also inform behaviors, especially avoidant behaviors, and can cause unhealthy coping strategies. Unaddressed traumatic memories can birth coping strategies like substance abuse, eating disorders, and other self-destructive behaviors. Hawaii Island Recovery is ready to develop a treatment plan to take your first step in healing trauma.

Traumatic memories can profoundly impact your emotional wellness. Feelings of anxiety are common after traumatic events and can persist for years until addressed. Depression, guilt, shame, and feelings of worthlessness, hopelessness, and pessimism are all common challenges of lasting trauma. Talking with a mental health professional at Hawaii Island Recovery about personal traumatic memories is the best way of addressing their impact on your emotional wellness. 

Recognizing the signs of trauma is the first step in truly effective and personalized treatment for healing trauma at Hawaii Island Recovery. These signs include:

In addition to the physical effects of trauma, these experiences can also have lasting psychological effects that can impact daily life. These symptoms include:

Childhood trauma is any trauma, whether physical or psychological, that occurs during a child’s developmental years that affects their sense of self, safety, or trust. Traumatic experiences during this time can reshape a child’s worldview and stunt emotional development. The effects of childhood trauma can persist into adulthood, continuing to impact daily life, behaviors, perspectives, and mental health. 

Trauma can fundamentally affect the emotional development and well-being of children in many ways. For many children who experience physical or psychosocial trauma, difficulty managing emotions is common, as well as adopting a negative self-image or feelings of self-worth. Dissociation and detachment from others can result in challenges relating to peers, making friends, or exploring romantic relationships later in life. Children may also not know how to process complicated traumatic feelings, resulting in unhealthy coping strategies, acting out, low emotional resilience, and further stunting emotional development. 

Children who have experienced trauma may express difficulty in school, cognitive delays, and difficulty trusting others, even leading to a feeling of a lack of social support. Likewise, many children may engage in self-destructive behaviors, even as adults, with substance abuse and more. Mental health disorders are also common in children both throughout childhood and adulthood, from depression and anxiety to chronic feelings of guilt or other symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD.)

Not all trauma is the same. Talking to the professionals at Hawaii Island Recovery can help you explore the various types of trauma and how to begin your healing journey. 

This form of trauma describes a single, isolated event, with traumatic memories focused at a single point, such as in a car accident, natural disaster, or assault. 

Repeated traumatic experiences focused on multiple exposures to similar traumas are known as chronic trauma. This is commonly found in situations involving domestic violence, chronic illness, discrimination, or bullying. Chronic trauma is also common in veterans after long tours or multiple deployments to active war zones. 

Repeated exposures to related traumatic events, coupled with the challenges and further traumas that arise due to the effects of these experiences, are known as complex trauma. This is most commonly found in processing childhood trauma throughout adulthood and reconciling not just the experiences but the many ways in which they have impacted a person’s life, relationships, and emotional health. 

The symptoms of trauma can be debilitating, and knowing when to seek treatment for healing trauma is important. If you have difficulty tending to daily responsibilities, feel “trapped” in traumatic memories, or if the physical and emotional impact of trauma affects your quality of life, then treatment may be necessary. 

Each program at Hawaii Island Recovery can be personalized to address how trauma has impacted your life. We also blend trauma-informed treatment with substance abuse treatment, individual and group therapy, spiritual healing, and other proven therapies for a holistic approach to healing trauma and the ways it continues to affect daily life.

At Hawaii Island Recovery, trauma therapy is divided into three distinct stages. 

First, creating a safe space is paramount. A welcoming atmosphere, a community of peers and professionals, and a place of respect and acceptance are created to help those living with the effects of trauma explore vulnerability in a safe environment. 

This stage acknowledges your past experiences and puts words to them, identifying their impact and effects by talking about them with professionals. It also helps to process trauma by situating these experiences in the past.

This stage helps you reconnect with yourself in the present moment and begins the process of creating a new self in healing trauma. 

At Hawaii Island Recovery, there is always a path to healing trauma. By creating a supportive environment to discuss these challenges and help process traumatic memories, we can help you explore your emotional needs in a new world of healing, care, and support backed by professional care, sympathetic peers, and spiritual support. For information on how we can help you overcome your trauma, call us today at (866) 390-5070.