Dr. Georgiana Cameron: Trauma-Informed Self-Care | Bouncing Back #39

People experiencing trauma are often overwhelmed by the problem, to the point that they feel that their trauma is their identity. Insights from strength-based psychology help in reasserting individual identity and autonomy in the face of trauma, which is what this episode will tackle.

Meet Dr. Georgiana Cameron

Dr. Georgiana Cameron is passionate about helping people overcome their traumas and live stronger lives. She is an educational and development psychologist who prioritizes strengths-based approaches in her work. Dr. Georgiana uses frameworks and approaches that they use to educate people, improve systems, and conduct research.

About the episode

The conversation kicked off with a discussion about the importance of resilience in people’s lives, as a characteristic that allows people to get past significant negative experiences in their lives. Interestingly, she revealed that resilience has a lot to do with the relationships that people have – communities, relationships, and bonds develop resilience in an individual.

She revealed that resilience doesn’t mean you’ll be immune to life’s problems, but rather that you can cope. And this coping can look like different things, highly subjective to the individual. There’s no one way to “do resilience.”

Trauma can be mitigated through trauma-informed self-care. She revealed the historical roots of the trauma-informed research area and discussed its applications. Most notably, she talked about its application to self-care.

There are many ways that people can experience trauma, and each requires different coping mechanisms. Thus, trauma-informed self-care can vary widely depending on the individual. Nevertheless, awareness of the mechanisms of trauma can help individuals dealing with trauma to practice self-care better.

Dr. Georgiana then talks about different approaches that people listeners can implement in their day-to-day lives. Grounding, mindfulness, and creating a cohesive narrative is essential. She also discussed being aware of trauma triggers and having a plan for encountering them.

Lastly, she discussed the everyday application of mindfulness practices to help people cultivate self-awareness, and thus develop resilience.

In conclusion

Trauma can often be overwhelming, but it doesn’t define you. There are clear and definite ways to mitigate the negative impact of traumatic experiences, and one of them is through a trauma-informed approach to self-care, discussed in this episode.

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