What is Post-traumatic growth?

You may have heard of post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD. It’s a mental health condition that arises after a traumatic event, often characterized by flashbacks, severe anxiety, and disturbing thoughts.

Post-traumatic growth (PTG) is where someone has been affected by post traumatic stress and finds a way to take new meaning from their experiences in order to live their lives in a different way than prior to the trauma.

While trauma can invoke a terrifying and debilitating response, in some cases it can be a catalyst for positive changes. In the best cases, it may even spark growth, strength, and resilience.

Danielle continues to learn from her own experiences that post-traumatic growth happens when you’re able to transform trauma and use adversity to regain personal strength, appreciation for life, new possibilities in life, spiritual change, and relationships with others. She has learned how to bridge the gap between the conscious mind, where symptoms and challenges are identified, and uncover root issues from the origins of trauma. 

Danielle believes that when the client who experienced trauma is able to integrate their experiences into their lives it can lead to the development of a new belief systems. In her specialist work with clients in trauma therapy, she noticed that those who are less able to assimilate their experiences into their lives are more likely to get stuck and almost paralyzed with unprocessed feelings.   

Danielle's childhood struggles, and adult tragedies propelled her into a better understanding and nurturing of her own spiritual unfolding. She has accepted her intuitive abilities, which she utilizes as an additional voice of guidance and inner resource in counselling sessions. 

Danielle also confirms that clinical approaches such as use of EMDR, EFT, DBT and Clinical Hypnosis or combinations are effective for a wide range of trauma, including:

• single event trauma
• multiple/complex PTSD
• grief
• anxiety and depression related to trauma

When and how to seek help?

According to Danielle, symptoms of trauma include:

• hypervigilance
• intrusive thoughts
• nightmares
• flashbacks
• increased alcohol or drug use
• sleep disturbance

If you or someone you know is experiencing these symptoms, Danielle recommends the following steps:

1. Speak with your doctor or call your local emergency mental health services.
2. Speak with a trusted friend or family member about what you’re experiencing.
3. Consider writing a journal about your experiences. The very process of writing things down from A–Z can actually help with the processing of events.
4. Rather than pushing your challenging thoughts or feelings away or using distraction techniques, it can be helpful to learn to tolerate them for longer time periods. Using distress tolerance techniques such as box breathing for three to four breath cycles can actually increase the ability to handle distressing thoughts.
5. Learning about stabilization techniques or accessing psychological therapy can be incredibly useful.