Building Resilience to Trauma

The Trauma Resiliency Model: A “Bottom-Up” Intervention for Trauma Psychotherapy

“…Somatic techniques may help survivors understand trauma responses and regain their sense of self in the most tangible way, by regaining the sense of somatic or body awareness. Miller-Karas (2015) posits that the body has an inherent but unarticulated healing capacity if we can learn how to draw on it. Pain, fatigue, and hunger sensations are readily noticed, but neutral or pleasant body sensations are generally not noticed or described.…”

“…Pain, fatigue, and hunger sensations are readily noticed, but neutral or pleasant body sensations are generally not noticed or described. These sensations, when accessed purposefully and articulated, are a key to recovery from trauma (Miller-Karas, 2015).…”

“…The developers of TRM were schooled in Peter Levine’s Somatic Experiencing Model (Levine, 1997, 2003, 2010; Payne et al, 2015), which focuses on the biology of the trauma response and somatic techniques linked to cognitive and emotional processing. TRM’s brief, effective, body-based crisis response intervention takes advantage of the body’s natural propensity to self-regulate using the biological stabilization skills of tracking internal sensations of well-being (Miller-Karas, 2015). The developers of TRM realized that one’s ability to track sensations of well-being was transformational not only for survivors of disaster/shock trauma but also for survivors of long-term, developmental, complex, and cumulative trauma.…”

“…This article presents the Trauma Resiliency Model (TRM), an innovative somatically-based psychotherapy developed by Elaine Miller-Karas, Geneie Everett, and Laurie Leitch (Miller-Karas, 2015). TRM was initially developed as psychological first-aid for survivors of natural disasters to help them process trauma in brief encounters.…”

Never Look Away: a captivating screenplay exploring the connection between trauma and art

“…An artistic medium flows through the film as the conduit that links the defining principles around mental health. Kurt responds to these traumatic events with periods of sadness and confusion; however, he shows resilience to this trauma (Miller-Karas 3 ). Joseph Beuys, his West German mentor, who has his own WW2 traumatic background (Beuys is famous for his art with animal fat and felt) guides Kurt to his true “self” and then breakthrough with Kurt’s own true, very distinct type of art.…”