How trauma-informed coaching supports your business & soul expansion.
What it means, what it looks like and how it can help you?
Recently (in reference to my work as a Soul & Business Mentor to Coaches & Healers) I was asked if all my programs are trauma-informed.
My answer?
Yes.
Let me explain.
Being trauma-informed is an embodied awareness and way in which you show up, relate and respond. It is the practice of understanding the support the creation of a path forward, using coaching strategies. It’s becomes part of the fabric of who you are and so I cannot isolate it to one program. So all my programs are holistic and meet you in your wholeness.
As trauma-informed coaches, we have training in:
- Understanding the different types of traumas, the possible causes and subsequent symptoms and coping patterns.
- Being able to notice what thoughts and actions may be a trauma response.
- The wisdom, knowledge and tools to help release the stagnant energy or incomplete reflexes, supporting the client to find regulation within their nervous system, mirroring safety and offering co-regulation.
- Holding a safe space for the client and creating channels and networks for referral and interdependent relationship between clinical professionals, therapists, and coaches, in order to best serve and support the client.
Here I'll share how working together, or having a trauma-informed coach might look and feel like.
But first, a few things to note:
1. I believe that being trauma-informed is an ongoing process. It doesn’t stop after you get the certification. And a certificate doesn’t mean anything if it’s not embodied, so be discerning when you select your mentors or look up to people.
2. I believe that being trauma-informed is an important responsibility of anyone in a coach, mentor, facilitator, space holder role, in order to hold a safe space and not unconsciously project or perpetuate the trauma that inevitably exists in your client (not to mention society, because so much of it is it’s systemic, generational).
3. Trauma is not what happened to us, it's the way our body experiences/responds to the situation. Our nervous system either completes the experience and helps us return to safety, or it becomes stored (and we find maladaptive patterns or beliefs). Two people could experience the same thing and one of them not be traumatised, based on their nervous system and past experiences etc.
4. Trauma doesn’t have to be a horrific event.We have "Big T" trauma which is a challenging event, and "Little T" traumas, such as not being seen, loved or heard.
As for the embodiment of being a trauma-informed coach...
This includes healing your own layers of trauma and being aware of what may be impacting your perception, the way you relate with others and the way you coach. So that your business isn't built on trauma.
And so that as a coach:
- You can hold a safe space with clean energy and a clear mind.
- You can take people through healing experiences because you’ve been through those journeys yourself.
- You have the grounded safety, clarity and confidence within yourself to work through that with them. Because the alternative (not fully acknowledging their reality) further affirms their misbelief / maladaptive pattern.
- You have a level of self awareness to notice when trauma is triggered within yourself and you can’t truly guide your client from neutral energy or without projecting… And being able to honour that and refer them on in those cases.
But really it begins before putting on your coaching hat.
Being a trauma-informed coach begins with your business model; practicing radical responsibility from the get go, building foundations and practices that are sustainable for the long run, and formulating programs that are aligned.
A business that's sustainable and aligned, honours the nervous system so that you can show up and serve from a regulated place.
Next, it's about practicing safe marketing and sales, that doesn't use manipulative techniques or leverage people's trauma and fears; such as fear of scarcity and missing out, or fear of what will happen if they don't work with you. A discovery call feels supportive not like a pressure to conform. It's mindful and safe.
And so as your Coach, I'm supporting you in creating an authentic, aligned and sustainable business of this standard too.
I read a post earlier saying: “Not everyone has support to lean on but everyone can succeed with the right attitude and an action plan”.
Yes that can be true AND what also can be true is that it’s a bit hard for someone to to have "the right attitude" when they're storing trauma in the body. So while mild, in one sense it’s dismissive in another. Because if all it took to be successful, was an action plan, then everyone would be successful. They’re hard to stick to because we are complicated beings with mental and emotional aspects. And not all action plans work, they are evolving, like us.
I mean it’s hard to be perfect. Everything has potential to trigger someone, but it’s just about as an entrepreneur, having an awareness and knowing where you draw the line.
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We’ve all been there when we didn’t know better. But as a coach, it's your responsibility to know better. This is what I mean when it's not just about how you coach, but how you operate your coaching business and show up as a human. It filters through everything.
You can appreciate how messages like that could make people think, “What’s wrong with me, I’m not enough, why don’t I have my stuff together like everyone else”… Imagine what impact different content has on people’s nervous system… It's our responsibility as coaches, entrepreneurs and content creators to be conscious of that.
There are also certain practices that you'll notice from a trauma-informed coach that you may not get from others. Such as certain questions asked on your application form about your mental health and any other support you are receiving. Or certain boundaries that may be put in place, in order to honour both the coach and the client.
Then, there's the healing processes and practices…
Clients come to me with a desire to step into their power and magic; to show up confidently, to speak their truth and per-sue a meaningful, soul aligned life; no longer held back by a lack of self worth and confidence or fear of scarcity, judgement or failing.
As coaches and healers, these can show up as:
And so we're looking into your thoughts, behaviours and trauma that lead to these being present in your life. And then alchemising that.
This is where in my coaching practice, the mindset, subconscious and somatic practices come in.
We focus on inner child healing, shadow work, reparenting, breathwork and feminine embodiment. I may use mind-based practices such as NLP, hypnotherapy and timeline therapy and/or somatic (body-based) practices, using your felt senses, experience and expression to create release and integration. It's not just talk and it's not just engery. It's both. It's holistic.
Your healing is your expansion. Your liberation, freedom and abundance is the byproduct of healing. Of coming back into soul alignment. Of embodying your authentic self.
And yes we do that in:
You can expect subconscious resets, reparenting and emotional release to discharge, alchemise and close those loops.
Ultimately we’re creating safety, capacity and regulation in your nervous system meeting the top down (mindset) approach, with a a somatic (body-led) approach.
If you're ready to:
- Connect to your intuition
- Come into soul alignment
- Stand in your power
- Speak your truth
- Release limiting beliefs and energies
- Awaken your feminine and abundance codes
- Develop nourishing boundaries
- Reconnect to your creative sources
- Embody higher frequencies of peace and joy
- Blossom into your authentic self.
Working together could be for you.
If you desire to be met in your wholeness, to increase your emotional capacity & resilience, to know your worth, embody confidence; and pursue a deeply meaningful and fulfilling life, I'm here for you.
Download my complimentary guide to soul alignment below.
Or direct message me to discuss how working together may be of value to you, or explore working together here.