You deserve to be happy.

You deserve to feel and to connect.

You deserve love and abundance in your life.

The word ‘trauma’ derives from the greek language and it means to pierce, perforation. ‘to go beyond something’ thus breaking a limit . The term refers then to bodily wounds as well as to the wounds of the soul. Trauma then refers to events which threatens the safety of a person wether physically or emotionally. For instance: an illness, serious injury, physical, verbal, emotional, sexual abuse/violence, witnessing violence, death. Posttraumatic Stress manifests itself with involuntary flashbacks related to the traumatic event that appear in dreams, thoughts, images. The person might experience dissociative reactions thus behaving like the event it’s happening again. There is persistence avoidance of stimuli associated with the traumatic event: dissociative amnesia or an inability to remember important aspects of the traumatic event; persisted and exaggerated negative belief about one self, the others, or the world; persistent negative emotional state of fear, shame, guilt, horror; hypervigilance; exaggerate startle response; emotional numbing, problems with concentration; sleep disturbance (DSM-5; Van der Kolk, 2014).

Benefits of Group Therapy:
- Becoming more aware of traumatic responses and ability to manage them.
- Ability to self-regulate.
- Recovery of physical and mental health.
- Stabilisation of behaviour.
- Resilience and deepening of social relationships.
- Personal growth via establishing social connections.

- Accelerating Post-Traumatic Growth (Tedeschi & Calhoun, 2004).

References: 

DSM-5: Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Diagnostic criteria. 

Tedeschi & Calhoun, (2004): Posttraumatic Growth: Conceptual Foundations and Empirical Evidence. Psychological Inquiry, Vol. 15. N. 1, 1-18.

van Der Kolk, Bessel (2014): The body keeps the score. Mind, Brain and Body in the Transformation of Trauma. Penguin Random House, UK. 

Encounters' dates:

1st session 27/10/2022 at 20:30-22:30: PTSD and Somatic Therapy.

Objective: to help release the body from stress, tension, and trauma.

2nd session on 3/11/2022 at 20:30-22:30: The body and the trauma response.

Objective: being able to recognize fight, flight and freeze responses.

3rd session10/11/2022 at 20:30-22:30: PTSD and Cognitive Therapy. 

See also CBT sheets Objective: Identifying automatic thoughts and negative beliefs.

4th session:17/11/2022 at 20:30-22:30:  Self-Compassion.
Objective: Learning Self-soothing strategies.

5th session24/11/2022 at 20:30-22:30: Personal and professional boundaries and PTSD.
Objective: How to practice assertive communication.

6th session:1/12/2022 at 20:30-22:30:  Reestablishing Wellness with Complementary and Alternative Medicine.
Objective: Special guests, professionals in the field of wellness. 

7th session8//12/2022 at 20:30-22:30: Post-Traumatic Growth (Tedeschi & Calhoun, 2004).
Objective: Appreciating the mind/body/spirit connection: focusing on the Positive Aspects or the Struggle With Trauma and deepening the meaning of life, gratitude and spirituality.

Location:

Oude Braak, 22

Amsterdam

This group is for you if:
- you want to learn why you are experiencing startled reactions and anxiety.
- You are ready to discover more and new perspectives about yourself.
- If you agree and open to work with the body.
- You are curios and doubtful (at the same time) about engaging in group therapy.
- You are open to explore a mind-body approach to trauma recovery.
- You are ready to challenge old and negative self-beliefs.
- You want to grow and evolve.

This group isn’t for you if:
- You don’t like /want to engage with other people.
- You think you know everything about yourself.
- You aren’t willing to commit and put in the work.
- You don’t want to evolve and grow.

Fee: euro 890,00 in total. 

Included you’ll get:
1 free intake.

2 individual sessions x 60 minutes each.

>>One individual session after the 3rd group meeting and one individual session at the end of the program.

16 hours of therapy.

Home-exercises.

The group will start with a minimum of 5 participants.

Deadline to enroll into this group and payment due by: 20/10/2022

Please for more information  fill in the form.