Sand tray therapy involves processing images that pertain to a person's psyche. This material isn't based in the left hemisphere of the brain where we use logic and reason, rather, it is stored in the right hemisphere which is the "experience center" of the brain. The right hemisphere contains sensations, images, and memories. Hence, trauma is stored in the right hemisphere but isn't easily accessed through language systems. Sand tray therapy allows people of all ages to begin processing unconscious material through play. In treatment, we can start to regulate the brain by integrating both the left and right hemispheres.
EMDR is a somatic trauma treatment modality that integrates trauma memories within the brain. EMDR treatment involves bi-lateral stimulation through eye movements, tapping, bi-lateral sound, or bi-lateral touch with a hand-held sensory device while targeting traumatic content from a person's history. EMDR neutralizes traumatic responses to distressing memories that are stored within the body, at times through flashbacks. It has become a leading treatment for individuals with PTSD and many clients report symptom relief in a brief set of sessions.
Expressive arts therapy is an embodied approach to trauma treatment, including activities such as drawing, painting, coloring, sculpting, dance, and drama. The tactile, physical, and emotional elements of therapeutic expressive arts allow for the integration of trauma and restored brain/body capacity without having to rely on thought and language systems. The use of kinesthetic felt-sense awareness and image-making are creative ways to help the body digest traumatic material and embark on a resolution of symptoms.
RRP is a relational and experiential therapy designed to treat childhood trauma wounding. The model represents individuals in a 2-part system: the adult and the inner child. While the adult is the expert of the present, the child is the expert of the past. Many adults who have grown up in dysfunction continue to be run by big emotions, reactions, and patterns that they either don't like or are unaware of. RRP helps adults re-parent themselves in a good enough way so that the wounded child is able to heal and no longer attempts to protect and navigate the adult's world through the lens of trauma.
ARM is a dignity and competency-based, multicultural and feminist, relational trauma therapy modality used to enhance client consistency in being able to trust themselves and their internal parts, which may have had to dissociate in the past to survive. As trauma disrupts the naturally occurring bridge between the MPFC and limbic brain, ARM strengthens the bridge by building internal relational cohesion between the client and their parts, as well as by experiencing relational cohesion with the therapist.
Somatic embodiment and regulation strategies are used to recognize and resource survival response patterns in the body. Relationally centered somatic techniques are used to manage the nervous system to combat physiological flooding and emotional overwhelm, sometimes held by dissociative parts of a client's system.