Being trauma informed is not about asking, "What's wrong with you?" 
But rather asking, "What's happened to you?"

Hello everyone! I hope this blog post and updated winter newsletter finds you all well. I am happy to say that even though we have gone through many challenges and changes this year I am still practicing and available for consultations in my rooms Thursdays and Saturdays and I hope to see you soon!

Recently I’ve noted how many people have been touched by some form of trauma in their lives. This sparked an idea in me to do a bit of research about what exactly it means to practice massage therapy as a therapist to you in a ‘Trauma informed way’. To offer Trauma-informed care within a massage therapy practice means that the approach is in fact client centered. What this means is that the care I provide is a collaborative approach where I acknowledge as your therapist that you are in fact the expert on your own body.

This may seem like a very powerful statement to make, seeing as I am the one in charge of your plan of care as your therapist but in this ‘trauma informed care’ way of practicing massage you are engaged in your care and aware of your own body just as much as I am. However, as your massage therapist, I bring my expertise in anatomy, the nervous system, somatics, methods of relaxation and breathwork, knowledge of how pain works, all to help navigate your treatment sessions. However, as I’ve stated earlier, you are the one who’s the expert in your own body. Why? Because you are the one living in it each and every day. You are the one informing me of your consent to receive, giving cues for pressure within the treatment of the massage and many other subtle nuances that go along with massage & bodywork. Ethically it is my honour to see you as a human being who is embodied in your own temple, that is your sacred body which includes a mind, emotions, energy and spirit along with the physical and clinical aspects of your tactile physical body. This is indeed a holistic practice, this is what it means to holistically address the care of an organic human being.

As a general rule with every consultation and treatment the session is determined by what feels good to your body. Your feedback on what feels comfortable, what is uncomfortable, and what works for you is very important and always listened to. We are here to listen, to validate, and to facilitate relief as massage and bodywork therapists. We are also here to ethically help you to feel safe and that you can trust us as the experts but that we simultaneously honour you are also the expert on your body. You lead us with your trusting consent and guide us to help you the best ways we can with the tools we have as professional massage and bodywork therapists.

As massage therapists we acknowledge that even if you don’t identify as having a trauma history you will benefit from this approach by trusting that safety, communication and transparency will always be there within your sessions. Perhaps you’ve had a bad day, or you have a complicated relationship with your body or a part of your body, or you just want to be assured that you will be listened to. When we treat the whole person, the results are amazing. The greater your overall comfort, the greater your relaxation and/or pain relief.

In summary, Trauma-informed Care is holistic in approach and can help you, as the client on the massage table feel safer and more in control of your own treatment. As you feel embodied and safe, you help yourself to actually heal and become more informed and better able to communicate with your own body, mind and spirit in subtle and profound ways. The practice of any type of manual therapy can overall benefit from this approach and can suit any person who has experienced traumas at any time in their lives.

*Please also note, as massage therapists we are not GP’s, psychiatrists or psychologists and we often refer out clients to the appropriate clinical care when we ethically need to do this. We only work within our scope of practice to help facilitate and inform clients. Should your therapist need to refer you out for further clinical care, specifically for trauma, this referral is communicated and we work with you to collaborate as best we can within the framework of our ethics and scope of practice.*