Trauma is something we’ve all experienced. For some, trauma can be as significant as death, or as maddening as driving a rush hour-packed interstate. “Trauma touches us all,” said Smith. Unfortunately, to the detriment of our physical and emotional health, many of us minimize trauma’s effect and many more don’t understand the value of very goal-oriented trauma work.

Trauma Touch bridges the gap. This unassuming, hands-on modality helps therapists work with trauma and abuse. It’s a simple approach for working with people who’ve forgotten what it means to be in the here and now; people who’ve forgotten what it feels like to “feel.”

Numb from dissociative survival skills learned during the traumatic event(s), numb from drugs or alcohol, or numb from other distractions created to hide behind, survivors of trauma often can’t feel their bodies or have parsed apart their various pieces of being. “Many people might ask why numbing out is a bad thing, especially if you’re numbing out all the pain, the horror and discomfort? The numbing process is not selective,” said Smith. “They numb out everything – their joy, their capacity to feel alive and their ability to feel safe in the world. It’s frustrating. Their capacity to experience life is greatly diminished. This is what brings people into therapy.”

Trauma Touch Therapy works to integrate the pieces again. It provides a slow application of touch that helps bring the client back to themselves – to take residence, if you will, back in their bodies. The work is led by the needs of the client, actually asking them to think through their own somatic needs. Where is the pain? Where is the tension? What does it feel like? Is it okay to touch?

While the Trauma Touch therapist might help emotions and wounds come to the surface, it is the psychotherapist who helps the client find meaning. The bodyworker remains just that, a body worker, not venturing outside their scope of practice.