A Strong and Steady Current
Thrivers Women’s Trauma Therapy Group
A lot of women* come to me in a lot of pain. They are doubled down in pain. They not only have survived their own trauma, they are attempting to survive the daily pummel of media onslaught. A year ago or so, these women in group therapy were doubly traumatized by the media and the Trump - Weinstein - R. Kelly - Epstein - name-the-perpetrator-of-the-day assaults. And the list goes on and on. Today, these big marquee perpetrators have faded, but the women’s pain has not.
Women speak of something different in my office. A strong and steady current. A shoring up. There is a momentum. Women on social media and in the community speaking up, which bolsters boldness. A mass movement.
Triggered by old memories and desperate hope, the women show up in my office to seek solace, comfort, tools and a sense of community. They show up with a tiny hope to heal from their shame and isolation. To be in a group is to hear others voices and to simply remember they are not alone.
Many have been abused. Sexual assault, childhood sexual abuse, physical abuse, physical and emotional neglect, verbal abuse. This list goes on as well. They feel alone but at the same time buoyed by the movement afoot. They feel courageous and at the same time scared.
I facilitate a women’s group where women come together and tell their stories in part or in totality for the very first time. Although fragments of the stories might have emerged here and there in the past, this is an opportunity for group members to speak into their full experience and create a cohesive narrative. The group experience allows whatever feelings, concerns and distorted beliefs about their beauty and their right to exist to be shown to the light.
Time and time again, I’ve witnessed group therapy help to heal the fragmented and fractured parts of these women’s lives. A sense of belonging and meaning begins to emerge from what was once a shattered past.
THRIVERS
A Women’s Trauma Therapy Group begins again
February 2021
Thursdays 5-6:30pm
$80 / per group session