From Trauma to Connection: How Intimacy Heals

Childhood trauma leaves survivors with a fundamental mistrust in the safety of relationships. As adults, they develop defenses against vulnerability, commitment, and emotion—either shutting down or getting stuck in mutually escalating conflicts with their partner. But using the Relational Life Therapy approach, therapists can actively teach Relational Mindfulness, helping clients cultivate the capacity to shift out of our reflexive automatic responses, formed in childhood, to mature, skilled behaviors. The cure for trauma is intimacy, and therapists can use current relationships as the crucible for transformation. After all, we can do deep trauma work in the presence of the partner. In this session, you’ll discover how to:

• Help partners identify the role of trauma in their troubled relationships
• Challenge them to move beyond their stories and automatic responses
• Use nonverbal communication to reduce conflict and connect safely
• Evoke a couple’s inherent capacity for authentic emotional connection and expression