I saw a post the other day saying that it is a myth that Coaches can’t work with trauma and I really resonated with it.

We have all experienced perceived threatening situations where we didn’t feel resourced to fight the threat or run away (flee)?  So our biology decided to send us into a frozen, immobilised state to “ensure our survival”.

The intense energy that is produced in response to a perceived threat (which would ordinarily be released in a fight or flight response) then becomes trapped in our body because the trauma cycle hasn’t completed.

Wild animals model the completion of the trauma cycle by shaking and trembling and breathing deeply to release the energy.  Humans are not so good at this as we fear the final phase of the cycle.

Approximately 70% of adults have unprocessed trauma; stuck emotion in their body which can lead to physical dis-ease.

So what can you do?

Transformational Coaching and the Inner Child Process can help you reconnect with your body and sensations, in a safe and gradual way, to be able to feel and release the stuck energy (in order to complete the trauma cycle).  It can also help you reconnect with the internal and external resources you’ve lost or forgotten as a result of trauma, which are sources of protection to help you trust that you will be able to successfully fight or flee the perceived threat in a healthy way the next time you experience a perceived threat.

So what would I say to someone who says “but you’re not a Psychotherapist or a Psychologist, you’re a Coach so how can you work with trauma”?

I would say, people heal in safe relationships.  Everything I do is about creating a solid connection with you (the client) so you feel safe to “go” wherever you need to go in a session; to feel safe to reconnect with your body to feel and release stuck emotion and let go of unhelpful beliefs and perceptions which were created as a result of the experience(s).

I would say my nearly 10 years of coaching experience, my training and re-training and re-training has enabled me to unearth my own shadow side and feel and release many deeply held untruths about myself which, in turn, has enabled me to go deeper with my coaching practice.

I would say my commitment to following my professional body’s Code of Ethics and regular CPD, supervision and self-care are continuously supporting me to learn more and heal more and more layers of my own “stuff” which enable me to be a clean and safe “container” to take you  wherever you need to go in a session; I believe you can’t take a client where you haven’t been yourself and in order to provide that to a client, you need to have done the work on yourself.

I would say, everything I do as a Transformational Coach and Inner Child Practitioner is about supporting you to reclaim your power, love and accept parts of yourself which you’ve disowned or learnt weren’t worthy of love, and restore equilibrium.  It is my role to facilitate that process but you are the expert on you and your life and you have all the answers.

I would say there are many different ways of healing and this post is my opinion based on my story and my experience of supporting clients to heal.

And I would ask you…is it more important to work with someone who has a specific job title or to work with someone who has experience and is practising what that they preach and doing their own work?

There is no wrong answer to that question, of course.  Whatever is right for you is right for you and this post is not about making any assumptions about any other therapists doing amazing work out there.  Rather, it is an invitation to make sure you are connecting with the Coach or Therapist as a human being rather than because of their job title; it’s the safe relationship that facilitates the healing, not the job title.

So, am I qualified to work with trauma as a Transformational Coach?  Absolutely yes!  I am qualified to work with trauma because of my commitment to my own learning and my own healing and to putting my heart and soul into the work I do.

Contact me at hello@sarahvcoaching.com if you’ve resonated with any of this.

With love as always.

Sarah xx