Wholeness Healing Center

Navigating Old Waters: Revisiting Trauma During the Pandemic

In therapy circles and trainings, I have often heard the work of counseling described as “peeling an onion”, and often I do believe that is how it works. A client comes in, ready to work, and the outside layer is addressed, hopefully with some awareness, growth and healing. Later, the same client may return, to dig deeper, peeling another layer, when ready. What I have seen since March 2020 is an increased awareness of underlying trauma, a consciousness of developing patterns in one’s life, and a commitment by clients to return to the deeper work.

While relegated to Zoom sessions since March 2020, the focus on mental health has increased. People may have been triggered more, had more time to focus on themselves, discovered, through some isolation times, triggers from their past that have remained unhealed, and many have been more than willing to do harder deeper work. Perhaps the gift during the pandemic is more time to work on one’s self, to really embrace self-care and self-focus, with extra time available to step back and truly identify recurring patterns that may be re-enacted in relationships and behaviors. That is good, as it is bringing people to therapy again, in a different manner. For some, therapy is new and they have come to the conclusion that walking through this “new normal” may be best accomplished with some guidance. For others, former and present clients, it is an invitation to step in and deal with the rawness that for years may have been pushed aside. The umbrella of the pandemic, with the stressors causing increased anxiety and the isolation causing increased depression, have actually been the impetus for many to make the commitment to scraping off the old wounds and digging in and “de-breeding”, opening up to a greater possibility of healing and growth.

So like the onion, peeling one layer at a time, while we may “heal” trauma, each new experience may also open a window to seeing our past created patterns which we have been locked into, but which now we are ready to unlock, process, do the deep work of healing, and move on in a much better way. So the actual healing opportunities may come again and again, actually making it possible to go down the same river, which is now not quite the same, having changed over time, in a new way, with a more mature perspective or a changed perception, or more likely, an increased awareness of our part, both in our past, and in how we move forward into our future. Navigating old waters, from increased awareness and consciousness, allows for deeper healing of those past traumas. A gift of opportunity now is presented, with the additional gift of people moving into the courage to take that next step.

Tags: healing trauma, revisiting trauma, Trauma during COVID, zoom and dealing with trauma