Definitions

Trauma

Trauma can conjure up many images and associations. How I have learned to define it in through my years of practice and continued trainings in Somatic Experiencing (SE™) aims to resolve symptoms of stress, shock, and trauma that accumulate in our bodies and nervous systems. Trauma, from an SE lens, is focused on how it shows up in the nervous system and how that dysregulation impacts life. 
When we are stuck in patterns of fight, flight, or freeze, SE helps us release, recover, and become more resilient. It is a body-oriented therapeutic model applied in multiple professions and professional settings—psychotherapy, medicine, coaching, teaching, and physical therapy—for healing trauma and other stress disorders from a nervous system lens within a practitioner’s scope of practice.
It is based on a multidisciplinary intersection of physiology, psychology, ethology, biology, neuroscience, indigenous healing practices, and medical biophysics and has been clinically applied for more than four decades. It is the life’s work of Dr. Peter A. Levine. 

Attachment

We had no say or control in whether our needs would be met or unmet. We simply responded or adapted to the experience instinctively. That means this adaptation or attachment style is the “original blueprint” for how we perceive, connect with and relate to others and the world around us––and it often informs our adult relationships unconsciously. Our attachment system is rooted in an instinctual, evolutionary urge to connect to our caregivers, as it ensures our chances for survival. Why is that important? Because it means that we are already biologically wired for secure attachment. (Regardless of how that first attachment did or didn't form) Our innate attachment system is highly adaptable, which means we can all learn new skills and tools to help us return to our dominant state of secure attachment, enabling us to experience authentic connection, safety and joy in our lives and relationships. From Dr. Diane Poole Heller