Hi,
Thanks for being here.
I have a keen interest and expertise in working with people. I support and empower people to heal and recover from the impact of trauma from childhood and across the lifespan. Having a childhood where one is protected, nurtured, supported and guided to grow and develop is key. But most of us did not go unscathed from our own childhoods.
As human beings we never stop growing and changing. Most of us aim to grow into:
adults with a healthy sense of identity, belonging, worth and dignity,
adults who are kind, respectful and contribute to society in meaningful ways,
adults who have capacity to raise decent human beings in return.
Sometimes some us did not always get what we needed as children, because the people caring for us had also experienced traumas of their own that remained hidden and were never understood.
The danger of remaining unaware of your own trauma is that you continue to do things that are harmful to you and others, because hurt people, hurt people. And it is not only the violence and the abuse that harms, it is also the acts of omission- what we did not get - the neglect, the lack or care and nurture, the lack of teaching of everyday skills (like communication and conflict resolution skills). Abuse and violent experiences and the omission of certain key experiences left us with visible and invisible scars, which if remained hidden/secret and not understood, persist through our adulthood and flow on to our own children.
Professionals in various human services settings are expected to be at the very least, trauma aware, trauma sensitive, trauma responsive and trauma informed so as to provide safe support and healing. In my 10year long social work career I have worked through this continuum by studying and applying such knowledge and skills and working alongside peers with extensive knowledge and wisdom .
In this site I share evidence-based information that continues to develop through research and clinical practice on topics of mental health, child and human development, neurobiology, trauma and how trauma affects our various brain and body functions and some ways to achieve Healing. All of which is shared with care and sensitivity.
By myself, Racheal Kariuki