Trauma Coping System
A God-given gift to cope with childhood abuse and other intense trauma
Trauma Healing Conference 2016
This conference will be a combination of worship, teaching, and healing. We will be presenting 4 steps to receive healing from past or present trauma. These steps will be presented in a way to both bring healing during the weekend, as well as to equip you to take these steps in a useable form back to your church or organization.
Trauma can be defined as any event or situation that makes it difficult for a person to return to a peaceful state. Whether it is childhood abuse, a loss of a child, a divorce, or a car accident, trauma comes in all sizes. God knew we would encounter stressful situations throughout our lives, so He created our minds and emotions to respond to trauma in a specific, self-protective way. Once these self-protective coping mechanisms have been activated, there is a process, also designed by God, to return the individual to a peaceful, non-traumatized state.
This healing process is often misunderstood, leaving individuals feeling stuck and hopeless in emotional pain. Sometimes this pain can devastate their relationships and other times they may bottle these feelings so deep that no one really knows the intense battle they face in their heart and mind. Whichever the case, healing is a real possibility and it has become a reality for many who have gone through these steps of healing.
A recent study indicated that “up to 38% of women were molested before turning 18 years old. This same study found that up to 16% of boys are molested before turning 18 years old.” In addition to these high numbers it is believed that only 5% of abuse cases are reported to law enforcement. This is a huge percentage of people who are on a healing journey. If you add in those who have experienced a loss, debilitating sickness, or other type of trauma, you could easily account for over half of the people involved in your church or ministry. While some of these people may have already received a great deal of healing for their pain, many have never experienced a release from the intensity.
As a leader, it can begin to feel frustrating and hopeless when people seem “stuck” in their pain or “unable to receive truth.” Each of our speakers have worked directly with individuals healing from all levels of emotional pain and trauma. They will be presenting out of their own experiences and documented successes of healing journeys for others. In addition, they will be addressing both the reasons why someone may become “stuck” as well as the steps necessary to help them continue to move forward in their healing journey.
Whether you are coming for yourself or to be a support to others, you are welcome to join us for an amazing time of worship, teaching, and individual healing.
How this site was developed:
After earning a Masters Degree in Marriage and Family Therapy, and after working for years with clients who have a high degree of trauma in their past, it became very clear that dissociation is not just a state of mental disorder, but it is a gift God has given us in order to survive intense situations. While dissociative symptoms are accepted in the mental health world as a normal reaction to trauma, much of the Christian world struggles to see this as more than an illness. Christians who do accept dissociation as a gift from God, often struggle with knowing how to get treatment that is both effective and God-honoring. Like most counselors, I began working with traumatized clients from a mental health approach. In the mental health world, the behaviors or symptoms categorized under Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) or Dissociative Disorders such as DDNOS or DID, are very common among these individuals. The most successful forms of treatment for these behaviors involve working towards an individual’s belief system through cognitive restructuring or psychoanalytic approaches. While most of the approaches deal with the individual’s belief system – in either the present or the past – each of these approaches can take a great deal of time to find the deepest belief or the core belief that is driving the behaviors. It was this realization that pushed me towards looking for a more efficient way of reaching the client’s deepest beliefs and bringing Truth and Freedom to them.
Several years after becoming a counselor, God’s plan for me began to shift into Biblical Counseling. During this change, I began to learn of various forms of healing prayer such as Theophostic and Immanuel Prayer. After some exposure and education on these forms of prayer, I began using healing prayer with my clients. The results amazed me – and continue to amaze me. What I have learned through this process has only enhanced my ability to understand my clients and to walk with them towards their healing. Just as the most effective mental health approaches address an individual's belief system, healing prayer also addresses these same belief systems, but often in a much more effective way. With God's direction and guidance, the counselor and client do not have to search for the belief in need of healing, but instead, God brings it to the surface. One belief at a time clients are healed and find their way to better lives and closer relationships with God.
Of course healing prayer alone is not enough to bring someone through the full healing process. Support systems are essential along with a knowledgeable person to guide and facilitate this process. There may be times in the journey when healing prayer is not possible for a variety of reasons. During these times, mental health techniques and practical tools and skills are necessary to continue working towards healing.
I have used all of these principles and techniques in hundreds of sessions and I have seen many clients healed of PTSD, various dissociative disorders, addictive behaviors, and faulty belief systems. I have walked with clients as they have learned to replace their unhealthy self-protective behaviors with healthy self-protective behaviors, and most importantly I have seen clients come to a deeper understanding of who Jesus Christ is and of His great love for them. I have seen the power and freedom that comes with seeking God first in every situation.
This site and its contents are not intended to be a guide to treating someone with a traumatic past, but rather an introduction to a new way of perceiving an individual who deals with these issues, as well as a source of hope and encouragement for these individuals and those who work with them. There is no traumatic past that is too intense or complex for Jesus to understand or heal. He wants to walk with each person on their own individual journey of healing, and He is not intimidated by having to earn their trust. He is faithful, and if you give Him a chance, He will prove that time and time again.
Why this site exists:
Too many people have been told that there is something "wrong" with them or that they are crazy for feeling the intense and confusing symptoms that develop from an abusive childhood or an intense traumatic situation. They may have been told that they should just get over it, just think positive thoughts and everything will be better, or the other extreme, that they will be permanently scarred with minimal chances of recovery. These things just are not true. God has a plan of healing in place for each person. The path is laid out, but each person must choose to walk it.
People who have an active TCS and who actually receive a diagnosis of DDNOS or DID are often treated by the Christian world as if their problem is sinful or even evil. They may be rebuked and told to read more Scripture and pray more to help stop the intrusive thoughts, racing thoughts, voices, or flashbacks. While prayer and reading Scripture is an essential part of the healing process, these tools are not used to shut down your mind, they are used to give you the strength to embrace your feelings and release them to God.
This site hopes to point people to God's saving grace by highlighting God's design and purpose of the TCS. No one else could have given us a tool to help us survive and cope. The TCS is just that: a tool for survival. A tool only God would have and could have given us.