Course of treatment as a trauma counselor dealing with family crisis

Introduction

When it comes to providing counseling for clients dealing with a family crisis, such as domestic violence, sexual assault, substance abuse, personal loss or disaster, it is important for counselors to understand the role that trauma-centered treatment can play. Trauma can prevent clients from processing their problems in a positive way. So it is helpful if a counselor can empower the client to address the trauma so as to be able to move past it. This paper provides an explanation of a course of treatment as a trauma counselor dealing with family crisis.

Trauma

Trauma affects different people in different ways. Some people who are traumatized by an event try to self-medicate and end up abusing drugs or alcohol. Others may not realize they are traumatized at all but may engage in the same traumatizing behavior that led them to be traumatized in the first placesuch as sexual abuse (Groth & Burgess, 1979). Trauma is an underlying problem that affects the cognition and emotions of the individual. For a counselor to help in a family crisis, understanding how to treat trauma is crucial.

To address trauma, one of the most important steps a counselor can take is to promote mindfulness with the client (Scott, 2014). Mindfulness is a common concept found in meditation and contemplation through various cultures. Mindfulness promotes self-awareness, understanding, self-discovery, self-control, and the ability of the individual to come to terms with trauma (Shim, Goodill & Bradt, 2019).

It is also important to realize that there is no one-size-fits-all course of treatment when it comes to healing trauma. Every client may respond differently so the counselor must see what course is most likely to work with the client, based on the clients own willingness to work within a certain kind of treatment. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is a common course of treatment for trauma clients. Prolonged Exposure Therapy (PET) is another common course. Some new courses of treatment that are being used now include drama and body motion trauma treatment (such as dance and yoga). The key to implementing trauma-focused treatment is to remember that these courses work because they are treatment approaches fostering safety, trustworthiness, choice, collaboration and empowerment (Giordano et...

61). They help the clients to learn how to better manage their thoughts and feelings, identify triggers, process emotions, process traumatic memories, create positive conceptualizations of themselves (Giordano et al., 2016, p. 62).

Course of Treatment

Treating trauma does not have to be confined to one course of treatment. On the contrary, it is often helpful to combine treatments. For instance, dance or yoga therapy could be combined with CBT or PET or both. As long as mindfulness and resiliency are promoted, the course of treatment can be creatively approached as the counselor and client work together on a treatment that is appropriate. In most cases, beginning with CBT and PET and facilitating these primary treatments with a supplemental treatment like yoga or dance therapy can be all that is needed (Sajnani et al., 2019).

CBT is not about focusing the attention of the client on the past but rather on the current situation, the current environment and the current triggers that the client can identify. In this respect, it is more a treatment oriented toward controlling for the trauma rather than towarad getting the client to address the trauma directly. The reasons for the trauma are irrelevant in CBT. Psychoanalysis might be used to address the trauma and bring it to the consciousnessbut in CBT the main goal is to identify what thoughts, feelings, environments and situations trigger...

…up the role of Hamlet and to act out scenes at home because Hamlet goes through so much in his own life that a person of trauma might understand and identify with. It has a purgative and cathartic effect over all and this helps in the process of overcoming the traumatic effect that has built up in the person over time.

CBT, PET and body movement, drama, dance, yoga or meditation therapy can all be combined in one course of treatment for the client dealing with trauma in a family crisis. Whether the family is involved in the course of treatment or not should be up to the client and the family. If the client wants one-on-one treatment, family therapy should not be imposed on him. However, the counselor may want to stress the benefits of engaging in group or family counseling just because of how it helps to hear and share stories that oneself or others have gone through in dealing with their trauma. But in any case supplemental treatment should be used, such as dance, drama or yoga therapy. Some counselors will recommend a pharmacological treatment if they think it is necessary, but such a course is not always necessary or even wanted and the client should be made aware of options and potential side effects.

Conclusion

Dealing with trauma is painful for many clients and families, but a course of treatment that a trauma counselor can take is to use cognitive behavioral therapy and prolonged exposure therapy, both to help the client overcome negative thoughts and to help the client process the trauma. The supplemental support of a secondary course of treatment, such as drama therapy or dance or yoga therapy can help because it gives the client an opportunity to develop self-control, self-awareness, mindfulness, and confidence that the course of…