therapy helps, it’s needed

there is nothing that could have prepared me for what i went through in my grief, trauma, and ptsd.

there is absolutely nothing that could have pulled me out of grief, trauma, and ptsd, but therapy. (trust me, i tried… and all the things i did only worked at the surface level. nothing broke through the intense trauma response that my body’s physiology was drowning in.)⁣

i’ve learned that therapy is critical and so necessary for whole, integrated health.⁣

we are not meant to walk this earth alone. we are not meant to hold our trauma, our pain, or our stories inside. we must be seen and heard in our stories.⁣

i spent the year after my dads death reeling: the first eight months was a grief-loss-flail-gongshow; by month nine my ptsd arrived; in month ten i figured out that the daily mental-emotional mess i was going through was ptsd, when i confirmed that i was experiencing 100% of the ‘suggested ptsd symptoms’ posted on the national institute of mental health website.⁣

i saw one therapist for a few visits in the first five months. we weren’t a fit, so i stopped. i saw another therapist for a few visits after awakening to the ptsd i was going through. the fit was ok, so i kept going.

then around the one year mark, by ways of sheer magic, i was put in touch with a trauma-informed counsellor who also used emdr in their practice. we were a fit. i stayed in therapy during that second year for eight months, sitting down near weekly to walk through the fire.⁣

therapy helps. therapy is needed. use your resources to get as much as you can.

i love you deeply,

xxo ~k⁣ 🧡