Frequently Asked Questions
How long are individual sessions?
Sessions are typically 60 minutes in length, however, if a client would benefit from, or needs shorter or longer sessions, we can certainly navigate that together!
How much therapy will I need?
There is no exact science to determining the amount of sessions needed for each individual. I work with clients to assess their goals for therapy, their time available to dedicate to therapeutic work, funds, and other factors that may impact treatment. All of these factors are used to determine our approach to working together. Some clients seek resolution of specific aspects of their lives that can be achieved more quickly, whereas other clients may benefit from long-term work.
Can you diagnose me?
Social workers cannot diagnose in Ontario. If you and your therapist determine that pursuing a diagnosis may be useful, your therapist will support you in finding the most appropriate referral source.
What is trauma informed versus trauma focused?
The Trauma Healing Collective is trauma-informed in all aspects of our approach to working with clients and communities. This means that we are mindful of the pervasive ways in which trauma impacts a person, family, and community’s well-being. Being trauma-informed means being curious about the function behind a behaviour and the role people’s behaviours, characteristics, strengths, and challenges, play in their lives. A trauma-informed lens means that even therapies that are not trauma specific, such as Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), are still provided in a way that is trauma-informed. Some of the key values underpinning a trauma-informed approach are acknowledgement and recognition of the presence and impact of trauma, safety, trust and collaboration, compassion, strengths-based perspective, and client choice and control.
Trauma-specific therapies are therapeutic modalities that are aimed at helping folks heal from trauma by reducing and/or eliminating effects of trauma and renegotiating life post-trauma exposure. These modalities were built specifically to address trauma and have been researched to demonstrate their ability to treat trauma.
All therapies and services provided by the Trauma Healing Collective are trauma-informed, but not every client requires trauma-specific therapy. Your therapist will work with you to determine the most appropriate approach to support you and your goals.
It is important to note that trauma-informed practice is not a rigid modality that provides a step-by-step prescription. What is safe to one person, may not be safe to another. Our understanding of trauma is also constantly shifting as new research and ideas emerge. Therefore, creating trauma-informed environments is also impacted by the on-going relationship between the therapist and client with open communication about challenges and ideas as they emerge.
Will there be homework?
Sometimes! Homework outside of session can be a useful way to experiment with new skills, improve self-care, and help bring new ideas and ways of approaching life into practice. The time spent in session with your therapist is immensely valuable, however, what you do outside of the session is arguably more important. Homework does not just look like filling out a worksheet. ‘Homework’ encompasses a wide range of possible activities you and your therapist will discuss. You and your therapist will assess what practices in between sessions may be helpful for you and this will likely fluctuate and change over time.
What can I expect from our first session?
The first 1-3 sessions are focused on history gathering, assessment of concerns, getting to know each other, treatment planning and psychoeducation. This period allows us to determine if you and your therapist are the right fit for each other, hone in on what you want to get out of therapy, determine a plan, and begin to help you understand your experiences and challenges from a therapeutic perspective. We strive to educate my clients so that they can learn more about themselves and put their challenges into the context of the latest research into topics such as trauma, mental health, and resiliency.
If clients have limited funds available, we will work with them to focus our assessment and therapeutic process so that they can get the most out of our time together.
Will therapy be hard?
Therapy can be challenging on many levels, including feelings and thoughts. This can stem from the fact that often in therapy, people are looking at themselves or their history very directly, whereas the business of our lives outside of therapy does not always allow this. Therapy can also bring up new thoughts or feelings that can be uncomfortable or challenging. The goal of therapy is change and growth, which is rarely, if ever, easy. However, this challenge needs to be balanced with the ability to function in day-to-day life and manage the challenges of healing. We work with clients to introduce new coping skills and develop plans to manage the natural challenges of therapeutic work and ensure that safety is always at the forefront of our work together.
Understanding the nature of therapy and its potential risks, is an integral part of informed consent. We go over this in the first session with all of my clients and we regularly check in to see how therapy is affecting their lives outside of session to ensure that we are balancing progress with day-to-day wellbeing.
How do you define trauma? Is it just something like a car accident or someone serving in the military?
There are many definitions of trauma, and they are constantly evolving! We align with the more recent idea that trauma is not the event(s) that occur, but instead the effect it has on a person and their life. These effects can be physical, emotional, cognitive, spiritual, social, and behavioural. Further, as we focus on both the mind and the body, we look at how trauma is held in our minds and our bodies. We really like Gabor Maté’s latest definition of trauma, from his book The Myth of Normal, which defines trauma as:
“an inner injury, a lasting rupture or split within the self, due to difficult or hurtful events that befall them. It [trauma] is a psychic injury, lodged in our nervous system, mind, and body, lasting long past the originating incident(s), triggerable at any moment”.
We also look at social structures such as poverty, housing insecurity, racism, ableism, and other forms of oppression as potentially traumatic. Trauma is not just something that occurs between two individuals or two groups, but instead something that can be embedded in our society. This type of trauma can at times be more subtle, but none the less hugely impactful.
Not everyone likes the word trauma, and that is okay! We work with folks wherever they are at, and support whatever language they like to use to define their experiences.
