If you are a long time reader, you may know that I experienced quite the trauma when my grandfather completed suicide in May 2009. It was completely life altering. Shocking. Something I never saw coming.

Trauma:

1. LIFE THREATENING

You have experienced a moment where you perceived extreme danger to Self. Essentially, the threat of Death or Irreparable Loss/Damage to anything

that contributes to your sense of Self:

– threat of Loss of your PHYSICAL BODY

– threat of Loss of someone/something CLOSE TO YOU

– threat of Loss of the WORLD AS YOU KNOW IT (ie, move, divorce, loss of career)

– threat of Loss of your WORLD VIEW (the way God, the world, other people, should be)

2. OVERWHELMING

You feel/sense that you are unable to exert any kind of Control in that situation, specifically: that you are unable to escape or overcome that threat in any way. In that moment you are completely helpless, and therefore experience Death/Loss/Damage as not only imminent but inevitable.

Trauma can come in many shapes and forms – death, divorce, a move, natural disasters – there are several things that can occur that create trauma. For me, it was the death of my grandfather by his own hand.

When I was presented the opportunity to read

Touching Trauma

by Cora Rennie, I jumped at the chance.

My Thoughts:

I felt that this was a great “educational” book. It was full of information, definitions, and resources. I felt it was more of a teaching book that was below my level only because (a) I am a psychology major so I was aware of a lot of the information already and (b) I have worked through my trauma with quite a bit of therapy since 2009.

However, I would highly recommend that to someone who is new to a trauma as I feel it would greatly benefit someone who is experiencing trauma and has yet to work through it or know where to start with the trauma they experienced.

I think a lot of times, people do not realize when they have even been through a trauma. I didn’t really classify my grandfather’s suicide a trauma in my life until the diagnosis of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder was given.

After reading Touching Trauma, I can see areas of my life that other traumas have effected that weren’t dealt with properly – deaths, divorces, accidents, abuse – they are there, but I never really classified them as trauma.

This book helped me see that there were other traumas and I truly do believe that if I had not already dealt with most of my trauma in therapy previously, this book would be a real help in getting me through the trauma I was dealing with.

About the Author:

Cora is someone who has experienced trauma in her life, and has healed through it. Sometimes it seems that our world has to come undone in order for us to truly find our place in it, but we are never meant to stay in that place of separation and pain.

Cora began her natural healing practice in the spring of 2008, and over the next two years began to see the importance of addressing client’s traumas in order to help them experience the healing results they were looking for.

She took on her first PTSD case-studies in 2010 and the contents of this education package are the culmination of her research into the topic of trauma recovery, as well as her experience in working with those individuals.

Healing trauma is a huge deal, in terms of the effect it can have on someone’s life, but Cora sees it as only the first step in becoming more fully grounded in oneself, and moving on to create a life that is deeply meaningful and fulfilling, full of passion, fun and laughter— even amidst the yuckiness that life throws at us.