Kells’ Trauma Recovery Clinic offers psychological treatment options to get you back to your normal self, and to rebuild your health following a traumatic event.
When an extremely distressing or traumatic experience happens, it becomes lodged in the brain with all the sights, sounds, thoughts, and feelings that accompany it. When a person is overwhelmed by a distressing experience, the brain cannot process as it would normally, and negative thoughts and feelings are trapped in the nervous system.
Unaddressed trauma and adverse life experiences impact relationships, substance use, parenting, work life, physical, and mental health.
It is critical to unblock and desensitize the ‘stuck trauma reactivity’ to allow the experience to be processed and integrated in a healthy way. After a successful intervention, a memory can remain but the negative response will have been neutralized.
The American Psychological Association’s Clinical Practice Guideline for the Treatment of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in Adults notes the following regarding PTSD and traumatic psychological injury:
“Trauma is now recognized as extremely common in human experience. After traumatic exposure, the most favorable outcome occurs when posttraumatic reactions are naturalistically processed to a degree of resolution and do not subsequently develop into onerous or ongoing symptoms.
When trauma is not spontaneously processed in this way it can result in serious mental health consequences and symptoms, especially Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, a condition usually accompanied by other mental health comorbidities and a range of medical conditions. Symptoms that are initially acute and that are not resolved can become chronic or can emerge in delayed form across the entire lifespan, causing anguish and suffering of the primary victim and loved ones.
Due to the relatively high prevalence rate of PTSD in the general population, there is an urgent need for treatments that effectively ameliorate its symptoms.”
Trauma recovery is a specialty practice area at Kells.
Kells offers a range of trauma recovery interventions and programs to assist individuals to recover from psychological and emotional injury following a traumatic event.
Kells’ trauma-trained psychologists and clinicians have extensive experience as well as up-to-date training in evidence-based, specialized interventions to remediate post traumatic reactivity, and to accelerate recovery. Our trauma specialists are extensively trained in the modalities recommended by the American Psychological Association’s Clinical Practice Guidelines for the Treatment of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in Adults.
How do you know if you should be checked out?
The next steps following a traumatic experience can be very confusing. Many traumatic reactions resolve on their own. However, sometimes after a traumatic experience, we cannot seem to shake off the post traumatic symptoms or reactivity. In other cases, we are numb for a time, and then symptoms creep up on us.
Good mental health is maintained the same way as good physical health. When you are ill, have been injured, or have symptoms that are interfering in your life, you see a physician. Sometimes, if the symptoms are unusual, you might go to a specialist instead.
When you experience a traumatic or distressing experience, you follow the same steps for proactive mental health care. You book an appointment to see a psychologist who can assist you to determine if you are healing on your own, if you need a bit of help, or if there are symptoms of complicated psychological injury that require proactive intervention to ensure that you stay well.
What symptoms should I be aware of?
The symptoms below are some of the ones used to determine if a person has a psychological injury from a trauma. If you have any of the symptoms below, it is probably a good idea to get yourself checked out. You can also click here to take a quiz to see if you’re affected from trauma and would benefit from psychological intervention.
- Have you stopped doing normal activities because of anxiety?
- Do you have vivid thoughts about the traumatic experience?
- Do you have upsetting dreams or flashbacks since the traumatic event?
- Do you become distressed when exposed to trauma reminders or triggers?
- Are you bothered by things that never used to bother you? Do you feel anxious about driving? Distressed about going out of your house or going certain places?
- Have your sleep patterns changed? Are you sleeping more or less?
- Do you feel like you cannot focus, or as if your memory does not work like it did?
- Do you sometimes feel like life does not seem real?
- Are you struggling with mood issues? Are you more depressed or irritable?
- Do you wish you could avoid talking about the traumatic event?
- Do you feel like you are stuck and that you are not getting better?
Psychological Trauma Interventions
Kells can optimize and accelerate your healing process! All our interventions are offered both online as well as in person. Click the intervention to learn more about it.
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How long will the treatment intervention take?
Dependent on the type and/or severity of traumatic injury, Kells typically recommends a mix of group intervention and individual re-processing sessions to completely resolve negative symptomatology. Individual and group interventions are typically delivered in weekly or biweekly sessions over three to six months, as per therapist availability.
Kells Trauma Recovery Programs
TOOLS FOR TRAUMA Recovery Workshop
Tools for Trauma is a Kells developed workshop recovery program. In addition to teaching about trauma reactivity, this workshop introduces and teaches some basic skills and strategies to manage trauma symptoms and reactivity. Course Info including how to take it.
RESET Trauma Recovery Program
In this dynamic RESET workshop series, clients learn why certain experiences can strongly harm mental health and impact their lives. Group workshop sessions fast track recovery by building emotional regulation skills and providing cognitive education that effectively manages trauma reactivity . Participants build new skills and develop resilient strategies to process what has brought them to this point, to manage day-to-day pressures, and to navigate future life stressors.
RESET is especially suitable for those who report a history of adverse childhood experiences or may be demonstrating severe and/or treatment resistant post trauma reactivity, depression, anxiety, or other comorbid psychological conditions.
By the end of the RESET journey participants will be stronger, more knowledgeable, and confident that they can move forward.
The next RESET Program starts March 15, 2023 and runs for 14 weeks.
Pre-and post-measures illustrate that participants have experienced a significant reduction (up to 30%) in PTSD symptoms. Further, following the RESET program, over 65% of our participants no longer met the diagnostic criteria for PTSD!
Course Info including how to take it.
RESET+ Program
Kells RESET + Program is an online, self paced program for those who have experienced trauma and can’t seem to move past.
This unique online guided program has been developed by Senior Psychologist Janet Ryan-Newell and her team at Kells. It is based on their collective years of experience working with trauma clients and is informed by their own personal healing journeys.
KELLS RESET+ Program guides you through a series of essential principles and activities during a 10-week process. Each learner is provided with online materials, video, and materials to download and keep. To learn more and enroll, visit Family Solutions School.
Need a description and this will link to the FSG school page that tells more about the program for purchase. Course Info including how to take it.