The 3-phase trauma model was developed by Dr. Judith Herman in 1997 to navigate the complexities of trauma recovery, emphasising safety and autonomy. She outlined 3 stages of trauma recovery in a bid to provide a structured and compassionate framework for healing from trauma. The clinical consensus is that working with complex trauma requires a different approach to other forms of therapy and is often lengthy because it allows people to progress at their own pace while ensuring the focus is on their emotional and physical safety. These phases are not linear and are dynamic, supporting the client from their moment-to-moment interactions with the therapist.

Phase one: Safety & Stabilisation

This begins with the therapeutic relationship which is co-created and developed over time. Without the therapeutic relationship, there can be no effective or meaningful therapy and I believe that when trauma happens in the context of a relationship, it needs to be healed in the context of a relationship.  I am sure you will agree most of us need to feel safe if we are to trust people with our innermost thoughts and feelings. Psychoeducation can be an integral part of phase 1 work and aims to provide and understanding of our autonomic nervous system and how traumatic memories are encoded in a specific way and feel out of context to regular, everyday memories.  Often traumatic memories can become intrusive and lead to avoidant behaviours, flashbacks, and difficulty within our interpersonal relationships that leads to anxiety and depression. This can often be the reason people seek therapy in the first instance.

Phase 2: Memory processing & mourning

Phase 2 is not about hunting down traumatic memories and reexperiencing the trauma as though it is happening in the present moment, as this is likely to feel dysregulating and could lead to re-traumatisation in the form of panic attacks and dissociative states. Memory processing requires a gradual exposure and processing of traumatic memories or emotional content in small, manageable doses, rather than becoming overwhelmed by confronting too much at once. The goal is to help the nervous system slowly release and integrate traumatic experiences without causing re-traumatization or becoming flooded with intense emotions. The safety of the therapeutic relationship helps us to co-regulate and neutralise the intensity of our emotions.

Phase 3: Integration consolidation & reconnection

It has been said that phase 3 is often where non-traumatised people enter psychotherapy or counselling. This phase is often about reconnection to the world and exploring new ways of being. This can look like: learning new skills, developing support systems outside of therapy, establishing new relationships, and exploring career and vocational choices to name just a few. When our traumatic experiences have been metabolised and they no longer control us, this gives us a new way of looking at the world and a chance to break free from our old ways of being in the world.

"You are not what happened to you.  You are what you choose to become"

                                                                                                                      - Carl Jung