Read this if you feel like your abuse wasn’t “bad enough”

Your feelings and story need to be witnessed.

Whenever a person says their abuse was "not that bad" or "as bad as someone else's," I know their story and feelings have not been fully witnessed.

There are many, many examples of abuse beyond the obvious things.

Yes - being physically or sexually violated are horrific, unjust, and fucked up. No person deserves to go through that.

But abuse also includes more subtle and insidious violence:

If you’ve been criticized or neglected…

Made to feel unseen, unheard, or invisible…

Treated like a problem, told “something is wrong with you”...

Punished in a way designed to hurt you…

Sent to a therapist for being “abnormal” in some ways..

Had others comment on your sense of style…

Or you’re a member of society from a marginalized and oppressed group…

All of those are examples of abuse.

ALL of them can be devastating and cause trauma.

You could grow up in a world where no one does anything that looks like “typical” violence towards you, and still internalize an incredible amount of violence.

When the abuse we experience is not seen through loving eyes, we begin to see ourselves through unloving eyes - eyes that deny, dismiss, minimize, and gaslight.

We all need loving witnesses to our suffering.

If the symptoms of your abuse and trauma – like feelings of unworthiness, loneliness, or depression; or physical symptoms like chronic pain or illness – are still present in your life months or years later, it’s time to stop minimizing your pain.

In Trauma & Abuse: The Unshaming Way, you’ll learn skills that will allow you to care for all parts of yourself, especially the parts you previously wanted to “heal,” “fix,” or “remove.”

You’ll develop the consciousness to safely work through your trauma without re-traumatizing yourself and making it worse in the process.

And you’ll learn how to listen to your body & understand its responses, while liberating yourself from the idea that it “should” be a certain way.

Ready for your FULL, AUTHENTIC story to be witnessed – without invalidation or minimization?
Click here to join Trauma & Abuse: The Unshaming Way.

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5 common concerns about working with abuse

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A powerful story from one of my greatest teachers