The trouble with traumatic memories is that we play the same internal tape over and over again. Like an LP on repeat, they seldom vary. We get stuck in a loop that doesn’t allow us to see things through a different lens. If we keep our thoughts and feelings inside, they don’t shift.
U2’s Bono said it right when he sang about being stuck in a moment that you can’t get out of.
That’s why I love group work. It’s hard, to be sure, but the insights and reflections of others allow us to see ourselves in a different light. Experiences that might originally have been terrifying, can transform to courageous in the retelling.
There is a traditional Lakota expression that says “Healing takes place in the spaces between people.”
No truer words were ever spoken. I’d like to take my hat off to the twenty courageous men and women who recently successfully completed the Emotions Management and Healthy Living programs. Even with the multiple layers of challenge going on in Nova Scotia, they stepped forward, ready to tackle material that has for years kept them from living their fullest lives. They started the process of reshaping history in the retelling. It was a unique experience to be sure, to be processing, in real time, layers of trauma as it unfolded in our province.
Congratulations as well to twenty new people who have stepped forward for the Trauma Recovery and Body and Mind Health and Recovery programs. The world may be on pause, but there’s a powerful, strong group of you moving forward.
Warm regards,
Belinda Seagram, Ph.D., R. Psych.
Executive Director, Landing Strong
