In this post, Emma Morris MBE shares more about her Felt trauma approach.
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Childhood trauma is at the root of many social challenges. It fuels half of all violent crime, including domestic violence and abuse and child abuse, and is responsible for over 52% of cases of anxiety and depression.
People come to therapy because they want to feel better. As a society, we need to get better at feeling. We know that behaviours are driven by our feelings. Angry feelings can lead to angry actions and calming feelings can lead to a calming of actions. You have to feel it, to heal it.
SAFE’s approach is rooted in an individual’s Felt trauma, the trauma of feelings. Felt trauma is a dis-ease of emotional immaturity caused by experiences in childhood. If left untreated, it shows up in extreme emotional reactions to everyday issues, making it difficult for people to navigate relationships successfully. We find individuals unable to access the right support, reaching crisis…wrongly diagnosed and yo-yoing between service providers with little hope of landing on the service that will make a difference.
For people to change, the system needs to change. We need to rethink our understanding of what causes harm in childhood and how to recognise it. We need to treat the root causes of behaviours relating to felt trauma helping individuals to feel seen, heard and validated – leading to improved relationships, increased self-esteem and conscious parenting.
We hope more partners will join us in developing a shared language and understanding of trauma. By understanding Felt trauma, the trauma of feelings, we have the opportunity to break the cycle of harm – for individuals and for social systems.