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Recovery from trauma

If you want to learn more about trauma, dissociation and recovery – either for yourself or to help others – then this is the place for you.

First visit? Click here.

How do we recover from trauma?

Trauma isn’t new. We’ve been facing it as homo sapiens for hundreds of thousands of years. What’s new is our reframing of the symptoms of trauma as ‘mental illness’ (we’re mad) or a ‘character flaw’ (we’re bad) and trying to solve it with drugs or protocolised ‘treatments’.

I believe that recovery from complex childhood trauma is possible – but there is no quick fix. In healing the wounds inflicted by human beings acting inhumanly, I believe we need a safe tribe where we can be treated with dignity and respect, with compassion and empathy. And we need to understand how trauma has changed our brains and bodies so that we can reverse those changes.

I’m all about providing that understanding: through my writing and training, I help people recover from trauma so that recovery is our best revenge.

I invite you to discover my books, courses, blogs and podcasts and to join me so that we can reverse adversity together.

Find out more about me

New availability on 1:1 consultations with Carolyn – click here.

Quick start links

Start Here
Start Here
Recovery from trauma starts with acknowledging the existence of bears. It requires the involvement of a safe tribe. It necessitates the telling of our story and the healing of our wounds. And it requires action to keep us safe from further bear attacks.
Recovery from trauma starts with acknowledging the existence of bears. It requires the involvement of a safe tribe. It necessitates the telling of our story and the healing of our wounds. And it requires action to keep us safe from further bear attacks.

Quick start links

Start Here
Start Here
Recovery from trauma starts with acknowledging the existence of bears. It requires the involvement of a safe tribe. It necessitates the telling of our story and the healing of our wounds. And it requires action to keep us safe from further bear attacks.
Recovery from trauma starts with acknowledging the existence of bears. It requires the involvement of a safe tribe. It necessitates the telling of our story and the healing of our wounds. And it requires action to keep us safe from further bear attacks.

Popular courses

Working with Shame online training

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Trauma and the Body Dissociation and Somatisation online training

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Working with Relational Trauma online training

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Dealing with Distress: Working with Suicide and Self-Harm online training

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See all trauma training

My books

Unshame: healing trauma-based shame through psychotherapy book

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Recovery is my best revenge book

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I don’t feel real: a brief guide to depersonalisation / derealisation disorder (Kindle only)

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All books

Explore by theme

Select a theme below to find podcasts, blog posts and courses all curated by topic.

Trauma

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Dissociation

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Shame

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Crisis

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Child Sexual Abuse

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For Professionals

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Recovery

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Getting help

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Online trauma training, books, podcasts or free trauma resources: a wealth of information to aid trauma recovery.

Books

Online Training

Podcasts

Free Resources

Blog

Latest blog posts

Trauma and the bears – a fable
04/11/2021 Carolyn Spring

Trauma and the bears – a fable

Recovery from trauma starts with acknowledging the existence of bears. It requires the involvement of a safe tribe. It necessitates the telling of our story and the healing of our wounds. And it requires action to keep us safe from further bear attacks.

Start Reading
Why the symptoms of trauma make sense
22/09/2021 Carolyn Spring

Why the symptoms of trauma make sense

So this was me, then: a tick-box list of symptoms demonstrating how screwed up I was. ‘Loser!!’ it screamed at me, casually. The more items I ticked, the more it screamed: ‘Bigger loser!’ Forty items – tick, tick, tick: ‘Biggest loser in the world!’ And so shame sat like a heavy puddle of tar in my stomach.

Start Reading
Three challenges of trauma: why recovery is so hard
07/09/2021 Carolyn Spring

Three challenges of trauma: why recovery is so hard

We don’t fail to heal from trauma quickly because there’s something wrong with us – because we’re stupid, because we enjoy being victims, because we’re mentally ill, because we’re lazy, because we’re weak. Trauma is difficult to heal from. It’s meant to be.

Start Reading
Why is shame such a central experience of child sexual abuse?
15/06/2021 Carolyn Spring

Why is shame such a central experience of child sexual abuse?

Child sexual abuse and shame are inextricably intertwined. As victims, we feel the shame that the perpetrator doesn't. But why is it so hard to shift this shame? This article looks at six reasons why the deck is stacked against us.

Start Reading
Trauma and the bears – a fable
04/11/2021 Carolyn Spring

Trauma and the bears – a fable

Recovery from trauma starts with acknowledging the existence of bears. It requires the involvement of a safe tribe. It necessitates the telling of our story and the healing of our wounds. And it requires action to keep us safe from further bear attacks.

Start Reading
Why the symptoms of trauma make sense
22/09/2021 Carolyn Spring

Why the symptoms of trauma make sense

So this was me, then: a tick-box list of symptoms demonstrating how screwed up I was. ‘Loser!!’ it screamed at me, casually. The more items I ticked, the more it screamed: ‘Bigger loser!’ Forty items – tick, tick, tick: ‘Biggest loser in the world!’ And so shame sat like a heavy puddle of tar in my stomach.

Start Reading
Three challenges of trauma: why recovery is so hard
07/09/2021 Carolyn Spring

Three challenges of trauma: why recovery is so hard

We don’t fail to heal from trauma quickly because there’s something wrong with us – because we’re stupid, because we enjoy being victims, because we’re mentally ill, because we’re lazy, because we’re weak. Trauma is difficult to heal from. It’s meant to be.

Start Reading
Why is shame such a central experience of child sexual abuse?
15/06/2021 Carolyn Spring

Why is shame such a central experience of child sexual abuse?

Child sexual abuse and shame are inextricably intertwined. As victims, we feel the shame that the perpetrator doesn't. But why is it so hard to shift this shame? This article looks at six reasons why the deck is stacked against us.

Start Reading

View all posts

Free Resource Guide

A free 100-page e-book for trauma survivors and those who work with and support them, providing help with flashbacks, triggers, and how to manage our mental health after trauma.

The Trauma Survivors’ Resource Guide contains 104 pages of helpful articles that dig deep into both Carolyn’s personal experience of traumatic distress, and the science of how to relieve it.

It explains how trauma impacts the brain, what can be done to reduce its debilitating effects and features resources and tools that survivors can use to better manage traumatic symptoms and the very understandable distress that they cause.

Get your FREE resource guide now