While creativity is so much more than traditional art forms, the use of artistic methods is a quintessential form of self-expression.

There are endless artistic mediums to explore which may include sketching with charcoal, getting messy with watercolor, relaxing by coloring pre-designed pages, creating real life with acrylics, dirtying your hands in sculpting, and embracing technology for graphic design.

The beauty and freedom of artistic expression is that it is entirely subjective and authentic.

This freedom allows for the space for you to express yourself without limits or self-judgment.

It’s not that you can’t judge your art, but there are no clear rules for judgment. The creation you make may mean one thing to you and something completely different to someone else.

If you can let go of the fear of perfection, there is immense potential for self-acceptance through the process of creation.

“The ability to let go of judgment through artistic expression may also serve as a practice tool to reflect back in your personal life or inner dialogue.”

Collaging & Vision Boarding: Growth through Reconstruction

You may read the word “collage” and immediately be taken back to elementary school with an assignment where you sorted through a big box of old magazines that had been used for years for some sort of history assignment.

Perhaps you think of vision boards and think “that’s a cute idea,” but I have no idea how one goes about making one or if it’s anything more than just a cute idea.

There is a unique power, however, that can come through the process of collaging.

Collaging is made by sticking a variety of materials, photographs, or cuttings together to a paper or backing to make one integrated creation.

Some of the benefits of collaging are that it offers the mindfulness of actually engaging in a craft (cutting, gluing, etc), which keeps your hands and mind busy and can be a wonderful distraction or hobby to divert your attention from anxiety or troubles.

It also finishes with an end “product” which can help offer feelings of productivity and a healthy sense of control or empowerment.

This experience of feeling like you have made something can be particularly useful in a time when life feels really out of control or if you're experiencing a sense of helplessness in your life at a given moment.

Navigating through tough times, and trauma specifically, can be overwhelming, but you're not alone on this journey.

Trauma-informed therapy is a great way to not only heal from your past, but create a bright future through unlocking your body and brains innate wisdom and potential. Let's dive into some ways trauma-informed therapy can offer support and healing!

12 Trauma Informed Therapy Techniques for Women

1) Psychoeducation: Understanding the Impact of Trauma

Ever wonder why you react the way you do? Psychoeducation is like your guidebook to understanding how trauma impacts your brain, memory, and overall well-being. It's all about making sense of your reactions and giving yourself some well-deserved self-compassion.

2) Grounding Techniques: Anchoring in the Present Moment

Feeling overwhelmed? Grounding techniques are like your secret superhero moves for staying present during tough times. Whether it's deep breathing, mindfulness, or some sensory magic, these tools create a safe space and help you regain control.

3) EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing): Transforming Traumatic Memories

EMDR might sound like a tech acronym, but it's a game-changer. Imagine transforming those distressing memories through a structured process with eye movements. It's like hitting the reset button on the emotional charge tied to traumatic experiences.

4) Person-Centered (Rogerian) Therapy: Compassionate Therapeutic Relationship

Person-Centered Therapy is here to give you back your voice and agency. Developed by Carl Rogers, this approach is all about empathy, unconditional positive regard, and creating a safe space for you to explore at your own pace, building trust in your own intuition and innate wisdom.

5) Exploring Family History: Unraveling Generational Patterns

Your family history holds clues to patterns in your behavior. By exploring it, you get to the roots of certain behaviors, core beliefs, thought patterns, habits, and coping mechanisms. It's like opening up a treasure chest of understanding.

6) Schema Therapy: Addressing Core Beliefs

We all have deep-seated beliefs from childhood. Schema therapy helps identify and challenge those beliefs, paving the way for healing and personal growth.

7) Narrative Therapy & Verbal Processing

Ever thought about rewriting your life story? Narrative therapy does just that – emphasizing resilience and growth over victimhood. And verbal processing? It's your space to speak your truth and integrate your narrative.

8) Inner Child Work & Internal Family Systems: Nurturing the Inner Self

Meet your inner child! Our inner child often carries our heaviest burdens and deepest wounds. Inner Child Work and Internal Family Systems dive into the different aspects within you, shaped by past experiences. It's like giving a warm hug to that wounded inner child, fostering self-compassion and deep healing.

9) Art Therapy: Expressive Healing Through Creativity

Talking isn't the only way to express yourself. Art therapy taps into the wisdom of your right brain, using various mediums to explore and process emotions. It's like giving your right brain the spotlight for a change, in a culture that seems to only value the left brain!

10) Polyvagal Theory: Understanding the Nervous System

Your nervous system plays a huge role in how you experience the world. Polyvagal Theory dives into this, offering insights into how your body responds to stress and trauma. It's like understanding your body's unique language.

11) Healthy Habits & Self-Care Planning (i.e., Coping Skills)

We all need a toolbox of coping skills. Learning healthy habits, problem-solving, and emotional regulation equips you with practical tools to navigate stressors effectively. And let's not forget the importance of creating a self-care plan for ongoing well-being. Yoga and other types of exercise help you reconnect, releasing stored tension associated with trauma. It's like a reset button for your mind-body connection.

12) Communication & Boundaries: Building Healthy Connections

Trauma can make it really difficult to trust others or feel safe in relationships. Learning effective communication and setting boundaries is like having the keys to building and maintaining healthy connections, creating a safe space for yourself. 

Remember, these techniques are tools in your toolbox – you get to choose what feels right for you. It's a journey, and we're here to support you every step of the way. By combining various techniques, we can tailor our approach to meet the unique needs of each client, fostering empowerment, resilience, and personal growth on your healing journey.

Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is one of the most widely recognized forms of psychotherapy. Google almost any mental health concern, and you will see CBT mentioned over and over again. But any good trauma therapist will know, CBT isn’t all its cracked up to be and may not be the best choice for you. While CBT can be helpful, its popularity is due more to its simplistic formula best suited for insurance companies requirements than its appropriateness or effectiveness.

Here are 10 concerns we have with CBT:

1. Limited focus on underlying causes: 

CBT primarily targets surface-level thoughts and behaviors. CBT may not be the best choice if the underlying causes of a person's issues are rooted in their past or subconscious mind. For those wanting to heal unresolved trauma or childhood wounds, there may be more suitable therapy modalities. 

2. Rigid format: 

The formulaic structure of CBT can feel impersonal, rigid, and isolating for those who prefer a more relational, exploratory, or open-ended approach. CBT exercises and interventions can feel prescriptive and artificial. 

3. Exacerbates Self-Critical Thoughts: 

CBT focuses on labeling thoughts and “adaptive” or “maladaptive”, which can exacerbate self-critical and shaming thoughts and feelings. For those who experience self-criticism, therapy approaches like Internal Family Systems or Person-Centered therapy will be more healing. 

4. Not A Well Rounded Trauma Treatment: 

Because trauma often does not get stored in the brain as a normal conscious and biographical memory, focusing on cognition and behavior may exacerbate a client’s symptoms. The effects of trauma are often experienced subcortically (in the subconscious), in the body (somatically), emotionally (right hemisphere), or as a dysregulated nervous system. CBT has a limited focus on these areas.

5. Not all issues are Cognitive: 

When someone is anxious or overwhelmed, the “logical” part of the brain shutdown. CBT emphasizes the left hemisphere of the brain (ie the verbal side), and can ignores both the body and the right hemisphere of the brain (ie experiential/emotional/nonverbal).

6. Short-term focus: 

CBT is generally considered a short-term therapy, which may not be ideal for individuals who desire an ongoing or open ended counseling style where they can talk about whatever feels most pressing that week. 

7. Overemphasis on self-help: 

Some individuals may feel overwhelmed or pressured by the emphasis on self-help techniques in CBT. They might prefer a therapy that relies more on the therapist's guidance and support or emphasizes organic exploration and verbal processing.

8. Limited scope for exploring emotions: 

CBT tends to prioritize thoughts and behaviors over emotions. For people who need to work through deep-seated emotional issues or trauma, other therapeutic modalities like psychodynamic or experiential therapies may be more appropriate. Similarly, for those who tend to intellectualize their issues, CBT may exacerbate emotional avoidance. 

9. Lack of holistic approach: 

CBT often focuses on specific problems or symptoms, and it may not take into account the broader context of a person's life, including their relationships, social environment, and overall well-being.

10. Incompatibility with specific goals: 

If an individual's therapeutic goals are more oriented toward personal growth, self-exploration, or understanding the meaning of life, CBT may not align with these objectives.

It's important to remember that therapy is not one-size-fits-all, and the choice of the most suitable therapeutic approach should be based on an individual's unique needs and preferences. Ethredge Counseling Group is committed to high quality holistic therapy modalities that will explore the underlying cause, not putting a bandaid over the surface issue.

If you live in South Carolina or Tennessee and are interested in mental health counseling, you can schedule a 20min free consultation with a licensed professional counselor by following the link below!

Navigating the multitude of therapy options when you are looking for a new therapist can feel overwhelming. One of the many factors to contemplate is whether to use private-pay or cash-pay service, or to use insurance-based coverage.

In this blog post, we invite you to explore the unique benefits of private pay psychotherapy, tailored specifically to your needs and preferences. Additionally, we'll provide valuable insights into the potential drawbacks of relying solely on insurance for mental health support.

12 Benefits to Private-Pay Counseling Vs Using Insurance

1) Confidentiality & Privacy

   One of the biggest advantages of private-pay or cash-pay therapy is the enhanced confidentiality it offers. When you pay out-of-pocket for therapy, your sessions remain entirely private between you and your therapist. Insurance claims, on the other hand, require the submission of a diagnosis, which becomes a part of your permanent health record. When using insurance, sensitive information is shared with the insurance company to process claims, raising concerns about the privacy and security of personal health information, as well as potential repercussions related to the disclosure of mental health diagnoses.This added layer of privacy in private-pay therapy can encourage open communication and trust between you and your therapist.

TW: Self-harm, Suicide, Depression

If you need immediate help, call the national suicide hotline at 988 now

I don’t think you’re selfish, I think you’re hurting.

The dark cloud may have taken over everything. This feels like more than what you know about anxiety or depression.

You can’t think straight or even picture a life past tomorrow.

It feels like there is no way out or any way that things could possibly get better. You’ve reached the point where it doesn’t feel like there’s a place or hope for your life on this earth.

You’ve been plagued with constant thoughts of suicide, death, or dying.

Even if you don’t actually want to hurt yourself, you can’t help but think that it would just be easier if you could fall asleep and never wake up.

You may have experienced recent losses, be riddled with shame about the past, or fear about the future.

You try to come up with ways to get rid of the dark cloud throughout the day. But it's still there at work, or when you binge netflix, or after you scroll tiktok, and definitely after you wake up from a night of drinking.

It’s terrifying and exhausting and it feels way too scary to talk about with anybody. Or, you may have tried to tell someone, but the person you wanted to trust didn’t respond in the way you wanted. Now, you feel betrayed and disappointed, on top of everything else.

Suicidal thoughts come when we feel like there is no other way out to escape the pain or situation that we are in. Suicidal thoughts seem like the answer or escape rout to set you free, and it’s helpful to remember that the most intense moments of feeling suicidal are usually in response to crises or depressive episodes.

This means the waves of urgency can pass and there is hope and warmth on the other side of that sheet of pure darkness.

Through therapy, we can work on reducing feelings of shame and guilt, move through grief and loss, explore purpose and lifestyle choices that are congruent with your true self. We can take things day by day, or week by week until you are back on your feet, able to see a future, and can live and thrive.

You may or may not need more urgent or inpatient care to get you to safety and stability, but individual therapy is there for you upon your return. 

For those who are getting close to it

Your fight against the darkness has become too much, but something has prevented you from giving up your life. You deserve to stay safe until this moment passes. You’re worthy of receiving help that will support you as you heal.

For those who have attempted 

I am so glad you are still here. Everything became too much and you couldn’t take it anymore, but you are here and that means there’s still hope. Whether you feel gratitude, shame, regret, or more fear after your attempt, you don’t have to feel that alone. And we can work together to keep you moving forward.

For those who feel like you never could or would 

I’m sorry you have to suffer through the thoughts nonetheless. Suicidal thoughts or thoughts wishing you could go to heaven or fall asleep and never wake up are telling you that something feels wrong. We can find out how to make things right to feel like your life is worth living. 

For those who I didn’t describe, but still struggle with thoughts of suicide 

You are worthy. You deserve to feel seen and understood. You deserve to be supported. 

If your safety or livelihood is immediately at risk because of your suicidal thoughts, and you need help to keep yourself safe please call 988, the suicide hotline, or mobile crisis if you are in Charleston at (843)414-2350. These resources can help you explore your options to keep yourself safe and wait for this moment or episode to pass. 

“Upon your position of safety, I would be honored to work with you and continue with you on your journey further.”

- Dr. Etta Gantt, PhD, LPC, NCC