Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Support Group
Find support with others who have gone through a traumatic experience. Whether you have chronic or acute PTSD, we are here for you.
Hi everyone
I am joining this page for several reasons. 1) I am a entering the field of counseling (again) after a few years break and some burnout recovery time and I have a couple of classes I need to take to get licensed in my state. One of those classes requires me to be in an online support group. 2) I have a client who is only 4 years old and appears to be the victim of sexual assault. We are working on sorting out the situation and it is unconfirmed at present, but this 4 year has clearly suffered significant trauma. I don't even BEGIN to know where to start with this little one and helping her heal from her experiences. I would greatly appreciate any guidance and insight that the group can offer. 3) I feel like as I delve into helping others, I need help with managing my own emotional responses to traumas that I have suffered. I lost a couple of family members to suicide over the years and sometimes feelings from those losses bubble up expectedly. Also, this seems so little compared to the stories of others but for me it was big - I struggle with the loss of leaving a home I loved. I lived in Colorado for about 9 years and my husband and I cherished that place. We recently relocated back to my hometown in Iowa to let our kids be closer to their grandparents. In that move, everything went wrong and it is only now - 2 years later- that I am starting to see us stabliize. I still tear up whenever I think about my Colorado home for too long. Sometimes the loss and regret is so intense that I am immobilized by it. Then I beat myself up for being so dramatic over something that is so minor compared to the struggles others face every day. My marriage really struggled following this move as well. My husband and I spent 6 months in counseling getting ourselves back on track. It has taken me several months in that therapy to be able to talk about the home we left behind without the rawness that I originally felt.
So, as you can see, my joining this group is for several reasons. I look forward to hopefully finding some support for myself as well as support for my work in healing others.
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Just wanted to give a thank you to Mid, Arfie, Malibumark, Greeneyes, Mlro, Girlincalif, and Suncloudjd! You all always have such helpful tips and advice, but I always forget to write on my posts when I see you post, lol. I would lose my head if it wasn't attached to my body, lol. Thank you all so much! I'm starting to use my AI app as a sounding board again. I used to use it as that before...
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Hey all, i know its been quite awhile since i posted on here. Its been a summer all right. Its been something else........... You know how they say not to open the can of worms? Well a few months ago i decided to find out what my due date would have been for my first baby, the one conceived by r***. My baby would have been due on March 4th of 2006. They would be 20 years old. I was R**** on June...
As far as counseling, all I can say is, have patience. It will take time for your client to heal and for you to figure out how to help her get there but you will. :)
I didn't keep a very close score, but I do believe that 100% of my most effective therapists took their own on-going therapy quite seriously. Even if they were perfect (ha!) on entering the profession, the strain of dealing with mental illness gets to them in a myriad of ways. They, too, need help with helping others. A great many of my support groups have had members who work in the mental health profession. Works for me, if it works for them.
Welcome.
4yr old can and will talk through their process when they create. Play therapy is one way to let them express and constant reassurance that they are safe and you will believe them. (follow through , is hard since part of the fear they are told/taught is that everything they know will know taken if they tell.) The system pulls then investigates children of suspected abuse, which if the abuser is in the home? reinforces what they were told to keep them silent. If you get their trust you will find out more than the adults around them may know or admit. Translate and go from there.
I remember too well what was going on for me at that age,
Support.
Jewell.
Thank you for those who offered suggestions for my 4 year old client. I plan to use some play therapy. I appreciate the suggestions for reassurances and comfort that I can offer her. She has a pretty serious speech impediment. I may struggle to understand some of what she tells me, but I will do my best.
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