We have created educational videos of Trauma and the Brain and the Five Strategies to Reclaim Hope that you will watch each week in your meeting. These videos will help you better understand what trauma does to your brain and how you can use the Five Strategies to help you find healing.
Week 1: Trauma and the Brain
As a survivor of childhood sexual abuse, Jenny describes how her childhood trauma has affected her brain. She explains the two-part brain and how everyday tasks can be impacted by past trauma.
Week 2: Shame
For many, shame first develops in childhood when the brain is not yet fully developed. Shame is a negative belief we have about ourselves, and it can impact how we see things; but it is never true.
Week 3: Awareness
Awareness is the strategy of being physically and emotionally present in the here and now.
Week 4: Acknowledgement
Acknowledgement is recognizing the reality of your past trauma and its effects.
Week 5: Power Through Surrender
Power Through Surrender means co-existing with your trauma voice and finding peace in letting it be.
Week 6: Mindfulness
Mindfulness focuses on cultivating empowering thoughts and choosing healing actions.
Week 7: Faith
Faith is developing a strong belief that you can heal. It is the act of moving forward with confidence that wholeness and healing are possible, even if you may not see it yet.
Week 8: Trauma and the Brain
This video focuses on the impact of trauma on the brain and how it affects the body.
Week 9: Shame
Shame can show up in many forms. When you can identify your shame and how it shows up in your life, you can better understand what’s going on internally, name it, and challenge it.
Week 10: Awareness
Awareness is realizing that the only time something can happen is now. Refocus your mind on the present moment instead of the future or past.
Week 11: Acknowledgement
Acknowledgement is accepting truth, whatever it is. It is acknowledging that your abuse happened, that it wasn’t your fault, and that it is within your power to heal.
Week 12: Power Through Surrender
Power Through Surrender is learning how your trauma voice talks to you and learning to let IT (your trauma voice) be.
Week 13: Mindfulness
Mindfulness is attending to empowering thoughts and choosing healing actions.
Week 14: Faith
Faith is cultivating the powerful belief that you can heal. It can also mean connecting with a power greater than yourself.
Week 15: Trauma and the Brain—The Body’s Reaction
When a survivor gains a better understanding of how early sexual trauma affects the development of the brain, she can better understand how to heal from the past trauma.
Week 16: Shame
Let’s look at how to develop skills that can help you challenge your shame. As you work through challenging and changing thoughts about shame, you’ll find that self-compassion is key.
Week 17: Awareness
Awareness is understanding that you only have the present—not the past, not the future. Center your mind in the now.
Week 18: Acknowledgement
Acknowledgement is accepting truth. Understand where you are and know where you need to be.
Week 19: Power Through Surrender
Power Through Surrender is learning to focus on empowering thoughts and feelings while choosing to coexist with non-productive thoughts and feelings.
Week 20: Mindfulness
Mindfulness is a practical, everyday method to focus or direct your thoughts.
Week 21: Faith
Faith is planning for a bright future and believing in something greater than yourself.