The Take On Trauma For Coaches

Author: Team xMonks | Published on: Mon, 25 Jan 2021 12:20:28 +0000

The parts of you that have helped you survive your childhood are still trying to keep you safe today. But now that you’re an adult, a lot of their methods stand in the way of everything you truly want.

Think about it like this. If you behaved in a certain way and were punished for it, parts of you will be working to keep you from experiencing that punishment again. If you never received love as a child, parts of you will continue looking for it today. Unfortunately, these parts of you never grew up and are continuing to look into the wrong places for help that they need.

What is Trauma?

The term trauma has several different meanings, and this may cause confusion. Approaching this topic and influenced by the work of Professor Franz Ruppert and others, we use the word 'trauma' to refer to the psyche's injury. Not an occurrence that causes high stress or is distressing. Both of which have an emotional and physical impact of course but do not necessarily damage the psyche. The harm occurs when the psyche does not handle the high degree of stress and has to break to survive. The individual separates from the experience, becomes numb,' plays dead,' withdrawing from the truth of what is happening emotionally and cognitively.

Psyche is one of those concepts that is often difficult to describe, but it is the core of our 'selves,' our own spirit of life, the psychological elements of who we are, like personality, unconscious and conscious. It connects the body, emotions and mind, and is influenced by our experience of development. Therefore, the term 'psyche' is a metaphor and not a real object.

Impact of Childhood Trauma

People use the word trauma in context of an event that they go through. Others associated the word trauma with post-traumatic stress disorder following an ‘existential trauma’, that is war, accidents, environmental disasters.

Now we do not like to talk without having a proof as a backing. The reason we emphasize the need to address childhood trauma, is because childhood is the most tender days of any person. In the research by Ruppert (2014) he states the most common category of trauma in our life is traumatising relationships early days in our life. For example:

• bonding/attachment trauma, where secure attachment is not possible between mother and
• infant, during pregnancy and afterwards
• early life events, for example, difficulties in pregnancy which affect the infant; difficult birth
• time spent in an incubator or away from mother, mother unable to care or bond with infant
• due to her own circumstances/health
• bonding (family/trusted community) system trauma (sexual, emotional and physical abuse)
• loss trauma - early loss of mother/father/sibling

The other category for possible trauma to the psyche is that of existential trauma (see above). Those who are affected by early trauma (of whatever kind) tend to be more vulnerable to re-traumatisation in relation to existential traumatising experience; both result from the sense that one’s life or ‘self’ is in severe danger.

Many of the traumatising experiences are not ‘remembered’ in the cognitive explicit memory, but are remembered emotionally, in the body and in the unconscious implicit memory.

What areas of trauma and child abuse should you focus on?

Any person who has endured serious abuse or neglect should seek assistance from an outside source, as the effects of abuse and neglect last a lifetime. As a childhood trauma coach and mentor, you can help unlock aspects of your client that they might have been seeking to reach for the entire session. It is this kind of transparent, nonjudgmental communication and advice that helps clients overcome their problems and regain control of their lives.

As a coach, your areas of focus should be-

• Self-awareness - Together explore what stops the client from going forward.
• Empowerment - Encourage him/her to discover the tools by knowing him/herself to motivate themselves to overcome their own problems and create solutions.
• Future - Implement solutions with a vision of what they deserve to create the future they want.
• Possibilities - Help them to open up their strength and potential to the world.
• Self-discovery - Go deep in discovering who they are, your aspirations and ambitions, and how to achieve them.
• Inner truth - As a coach, discuss who the client as a person is and their truthful inner workings of being a human.
• Practices - Talk about practices and explain how it will help them reconnect the client to himself through attitude and perception modalities.
• Measurable results - Develop a mindset of No Excuses Only Results. You can develop it by measuring progress, structuring measurable and achievable goals.
• Time frame - The key mission is to get your client out by living the life they want. Help the coachee to be on his path and set a time frame by when it can be achieved.

Leaders need to consider issues such as "resistance" and "negative" of subordinates through a lens of need to provide successful leadership. Next, read here as coaches speak about how childhood trauma defines an adult. We will also discuss internal coping patterns formed in childhood that continue to impact adult behaviour in both personal and workplace relationships.

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