Traumatic experiences are a common occurrence in our world.  In one way or another, every human being has experienced a traumatic event.  Whether it registered for them as being “traumatic” simply depends on their own unique circumstances and upbringing.  But if you consider that, particularly in the West, even the way we are birthed out of our mother is often traumatic, then it is easy to know that we are all in good company with each other. Indeed, the number of people now speaking out about their wounds is increasing, and the beautiful thing is that this makes it more acceptable to acknowledge that something is wrong, and easier to reach out for help.  ptsd healing

There is a spectrum of trauma, of course: The events in our lives fall somewhere along the range of “not at all traumatic” to “extremely traumatic.” Where we personally place events on the spectrum is unique to who we are, to how our brains and nervous systems are wired, and to how we personally perceive such events.

Any given trauma can affect us in numerous ways—physically, emotionally, behaviorally, energetically, and deep in our soul.

Here are some of the possible effects:

• Physically, our brains, nervous systems, endocrine system, digestive system, fascia, and more can be affected.
• Emotionally and behaviorally, we may be hypervigilant and always alert to danger; we may be oversensitive to stimuli or completely numb and unable to feel anything; we may feel unsafe being inside our bodies; we may be easily triggered, reliving our traumas even when they are well in the past; we may avoid people, places, and things because they remind us of what happened; we may push people away from us as a result of our own pain, leaving us isolated and alone; we may have a negative outlook on the world and feel that nothing good will ever happen for us.
• Energetically, we may have taken a hit to our system: We may be weakened, drained, or even fundamentally compromised at the level of our energy body—all of which can deepen our vulnerability.
• At the level of our soul, almost always we have become less whole: Traumatic events tend to cause a piece of our soul to break off, which is called “soul loss.”  This piece needs to be recovered and reintegrated, to help us attain full strength once again.

PTSD and Complex PTSD

Significant trauma can take over our lives.  When this happens, we may be diagnosed as having Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).  In cases where the trauma was not just a single event but rather was prolonged, repetitive, or where there was never not trauma, then we may have what is known as Complex PTSD.  Complex PTSD has much more fundamental effects on us.  People with it have grown up with it; their brains, bodies, and emotional responses have formed themselves in partnership with a constant state of abuse or neglect.  And so the process of undoing it can take longer and require a more comprehensive approach to treatment.

Psychic PTSD*

There is one other type of trauma that I work with: I’ve coined the term “Psychic PTSD” as a way of recognizing the type of trauma that is unique to interactions with the psychic and spirit worlds.  Psychic trauma can come from psychic warfare, psychic attacks, being the target of black magic, hauntings, and being visited and even touched by dark spirits or beings, as some examples.  As well, as some energy healers know, what we see when we tune into our clients can be hard to witness, and so we do suffer secondary trauma when working on some cases.  Just as it was important to distinguish Complex trauma from single-event trauma, so too is it necessary to recognize that this other part of our reality can be filled with painful experiences.

It is possible to heal our traumas and become whole again.

A Multifaceted Approach to Healing Trauma

As mentioned above, trauma affects us in numerous ways.  It changes our bodies, thoughts, habits, lives.  It tears our energy body and breaks apart our soul.  Healing, then, requires that we attend to all of these factors.  You can’t heal trauma with just one modality.  But working with me, given the breadth of my studies and the power of my energy healing skills, can help large portions of the issue.  My approach is truly holistic: I not only do energy work, but also gently guide you with information and resources to pursue.  In any given session, I may facilitate energy clearing, cord removal, and soul retrieval for your energy body; suggest tools to help your physical body and nervous system; mention a technique to affect the neuroplasticity of your brain; and invite you to try a specific type of homework so that you have a clear direction once the appointment ends.

As well, to me, it is important to offer healing to all souls and places that have been affected by the trauma, so that they too may be healed and so that you achieve a greater level of peace. This work may even travel through lineage lines—working across time and involving your family’s genetics.  I therefore incorporate this practice into the energy healing sessions unless you prefer otherwise.

Is Jen Trauma Informed?

Trauma is a massive subject.  It involves everything from knowing what each part of the brain does, to understanding explosive emotions, to healing dissociation, to different techniques for releasing stored trauma from the body.  Every time I listen to the true experts—Bessel Van Der Kolk, Ruth Lanius, Peter Levine, Gabor Maté—I realize how much I still don’t know.

But there’s a lot that I do know.  I know trauma from the inside, and as a natural investigator, I studied it while I was in there.  I know trauma from the outside; particularly from living with someone who has Complex PTSD.  And I know trauma intellectually, from reading the works of the masters and from completing Continuing Education credits from the National Institute for the Clinical Application of Behavioral Medicine (NICABM).

So I consider myself to be “trauma aware.”  I see the overuse of the term “trauma informed,” and I know that the misuse of that label has hurt a lot of people; people who thought they’d get the help they needed, but discovered otherwise.

What I am very comfortable saying is that I am also “trauma sensitive.”  Being sensitive is completely different from being informed.  I have no need to create an unsafe environment for the people who come to me for help, nor would I pretend that I could help someone if I knew that I couldn’t.  To the extent that being a human will allow, everything I do is compassionate, kind, observant, detached, and safe. ptsd healing

Sometimes, our only priority is making it safely to the next morning.

My Experience with Trauma

As I mentioned above, I know trauma from both the inside and the outside.  Like most families, my ancestors had a history of abuse, sexual abuse, violence, alcoholism, and serious mental health issues.  I myself was blessed to have what trauma experts consider the single most important thing that creates a healthy child: A loving, attentive parent (my mother) who was attuned to my needs.  Her presence in my life enabled my brain and nervous system to grow in relatively healthy ways.  That said, the more I learn about trauma, the more I see that I was not immune to its effects in the other parts of my family.

My survival response was dissociation.  Much of my energy was shut down and held inside, rather than allowing it to flow outward to engage with the world.  I felt invisible in life.  I couldn’t tell if my friends really liked me.  I didn’t like being at home, as the energy was so unpleasant.  I was just so sad.  And I carried the imprint of the abuse that my lineage had suffered, feeling it but not realizing that it wasn’t mine.  It was only in my 42nd year when I realized, for example, that a major terror that I’d felt my whole life…wasn’t actually mine; it was my Nana’s.

As I went on my spiritual awakening journey, I did experience trauma directly: all day, every single day, for several years.  This wasn’t interpersonal trauma, nor was it caused by an event.  It was what I mentioned above—“psychic trauma”: trauma experienced through engagement with the spiritual or psychic realms.  It was severe, excruciating, just plain bad.

That journey—as I believe it was meant to do—really opened me up to the concept of trauma and PTSD.  I felt called to go deep into the subject, so that I could undo the damage—not just for myself but for others.  Indeed, as you probably do, I know many people who have suffered horribly at the hands of others, or suffered just because of the corruption and injustice around us, or suffered because of events and war.  I don’t want them to suffer anymore; I don’t want you to suffer anymore.  Alleviating suffering is part of why I’m here.

I have therefore studied trauma by observing my own experiences, reactions, and attempts to get help (which were too often met with people who re-traumatized me, gave me false hope, dismissed me, or made me worse in some other way).  I have earned Continuing Education credits from the National Institute for the Clinical Application of Behavioral Medicine (NICABM), learning best practices and the latest wisdom from the leaders in the field of trauma.  I have taken a 20-hour training in healing PTSD using holistic methods.  I have studied, for example, Dr. Bessel van der Kolk’s required reading, “The Body Keeps the Score,” and Dr. Gabor Maté’s compassionate and clear-sighted tome on addiction, “In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts.”  I nodded my head yes to the entirety of Dr. Maté’s “The Myth of Normal.”  I’ve studied books on how spiritual awakening can itself be the cause of trauma, often being misdiagnosed as psychosis.  I’ve lived with people who had Complex PTSD, and made it my mission to learn how to make them feel safe in my presence–by learning what C-PTSD is like, by observing their behaviours and responses and linking those to my knowledge of trauma, and by determining to, one layer at a time, ultimately heal them.  I know that healing of any kind is a holistic approach, and so all of the modalities and methods that I try for myself are brought into client sessions.

Trauma isn’t just “emotional.”  It’s physical.  Our endocrine systems are weakened, our adrenal glands are fatigued, our livers are sluggish, our brains are disorganized and potentially clogged with mental stimuli and physical toxins.

But trauma isn’t just “physical,” either, though.  It’s energetic.  We are beings of energy.  Our whole world is made of energy.  And so energy connects us to events and people, across time and space.  To be free of our past, we need to disconnect our energy bodies from those situations.  We also need to recover the parts of our energy bodies that we lost or which were taken from us.

All of this is what I study.

I truly do know what it’s like to suffer.  I know also what it’s like to go undiagnosed, to feel helpless in the face of misery, and to feel hopeless that it will ever get better.  What I also know is that it really can get better.

If you feel that I can help you, or you’d like to explore that possibility in a free consultation, the options to do that are here.

About Jen

Jen Wozny is a Holistic Energy Healer who blends Reiki, Shamanism, Psychic Healing, Life Coaching, and holistic guidance to help her clients heal from physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual concerns. She is the founder of Put The Light Here, a wellness company based in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, with clients on almost every continent. A former part of Canada’s national security community, Jen holds a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology and a Master’s degree in Intelligence Analysis. She is also a Reiki Master, Shamanic practitioner, Elite Life Coach, and Kundalini Yoga Teacher, with Continuing Education credits in healing trauma and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Find more about Jen in her bio, in her Curriculum Vitae, and in her story, “25,000 Miles to Me: Faith, Endurance, and Uncovering My True Self.” View the list of topics she has studied.

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*First used by Jen Wozny in her article, “Lightworker Portfolios: March Equinox as a Delivery Point for Light,” March 2018.