Indianapolis Trauma Therapy Center

12/23/2025

Deb Dana, LCSW says befriending your nervous system is essential in your healing journey. During your days, take some time to notice any moments that are “glimmers” - small things that feel good or safe.

Your nervous system heals in environments that:
• are free of judgement.
• offer warmth.
• respect your boundaries.
• make you feel like you belong.
• are calm, grounded, and predictable.
• honour stillness.
• hear you without needing to fix you.
• respond with love and care.
• let you move at your own pace.
• value your voice and your presence.
• allow you to be messy not perfect.
• make space for repair.
• include people who can self-regulate.
• allow you to exhale - fully and deeply.

12/20/2025

Do you usually care deeply for others, but lately it has left you feeling drained? Or did helping others used to fulfill you, but now it feels like heavy weight?

You might be experiencing compassion fatigue.
Compassion fatigue happens when caring for others starts to wear you down emotionally, mentally, and sometimes even physically. This type of trauma is often described as the “cost of caring”.

Prioritizing self-care, setting boundaries at work, and seeking support from professionals and loved ones can help you work through compassion fatigue.

Above all, remember that compassion fatigue is a normal and expected response to helping professions and caregiving roles. The exposure to others’ suffering creates vicarious, secondary traumatic stress in ourselves.

12/18/2025

Giving gifts is one of the many joys of the holidays. It feels wonderful to bring delight and surprise to those we care for. For many however, it is easy to become overly generous.

Sometimes, gift giving can sometimes leave us feeling resentful or depleted. Explore that feeling. There may be more beneath the surface if gift giving leaves a bad taste in your mouth.

Ask yourself:
Are you doing those things purely out of love for the people in your life? Or does it come from fear — Are you doing them to try to manage emotions so you won’t have to face their potential disappointment?

A good way to know is imagining yourself NOT giving the gift. Are you afraid that would negatively alter the relationship?

Trauma-based giving is strategic appeasement. Think of it as, “I will give to you, so you will not hurt, abandon, or criticize me.”

If you know you have a tendency to over-give, check in with yourself and set boundaries as you’re making your gift list.

12/16/2025

Being “trauma informed” is a framework for organizations to understand, respond to, and prevent trauma’s effects. The goal is to create a safe, supportive environment that promotes healing, empowerment, and resilience in individuals who have experienced trauma.

Trauma-informed care recognizes trauma’s effects on overall wellbeing. It shifts the focus from pathology and blame to understanding past experiences as the root of current struggles.

Traditional models of care will ask “What’s wrong with you?” and how to fix it. Trauma-informed therapy asks “What happened to you?” and “How did you learn to survive it?”

Trauma-informed care not only benefits those receiving care, but the organizations themselves can prevent further trauma, reduce burnout, and increase the trust and quality of the services they provide by adopting this framework.

For more information, visit HelpingHealTrauma.com

12/14/2025

The Window of Tolerance describes the state of a regulated nervous system. When you’re inside this window, your nervous system is regulated, allowing for connection, groundedness, and presence.

Hyper and hypoarousal happen when experiences occur that pull our nervous system out of regulation. With too much arousal, we feel anger, hypervigilance, panic, and anxiety. With too little arousal, we feel numb, depressed, dissociated, or shut down.

Trauma can narrow this window, while healing expands it.

A major goal in healing is NOT to never feel these heightened or depressed states, but to expand the capacity for staying present and grounded when life throws you difficult emotions.

Healing opens the window gives us the capacity to experience more sunlight in our eyes and rain on our skin. Both pleasant and unpleasant experiences are a part of living a meaningful life. It is worth healing for.

HelpingHealTrauma.com

12/12/2025

With the extreme temperatures coming this weekend, warming shelters and centers are open across Indiana for any Hoosier who needs to get out of the cold.

Shelters are a safe place for anyone needing to get out of the cold for a few hours or to stay overnight.
Hoosiers who need additional assistance can call
2-1-1.

Visit tinyurl.com/s7hz6uw3 for a live map of available warming centers.

(Repost from )

12/11/2025

Unfortunately, this is so true. Children need regulated parents.

Parents move on; children carry the echo.💔

12/10/2025

Where there is trauma, there is loneliness.

Experiencing trauma can profoundly affect how individuals connect with others, often leading to feelings of loneliness and a deep sense of distrust. Whether resulting from abuse, betrayal, or life-altering events, trauma can cause the brain to become wired for self-protection, making it challenging to trust others again.

You might feel alone. You might feel it isn’t safe to speak your truth and be yourself.

Isolation may bring you a temporary sense of safety, but it reinforces those wires of distrust and can lead to worsening mental health over time.

Healing involves practicing safe & authentic social interactions while giving yourself compassion for all the feelings along the way.

HelpingHealTrauma.com

12/07/2025

You may have grown up learning that being human has consequences. Walking on eggshells, staying small, and never needing anything was your attempt to stay safe. None of this was your fault.

You were doing what you could to survive.

It’s hard to unlearn these ideas after years of conditioning. Neglecting your needs easily becomes the default and it shows up in unconscious ways.

When you’re feeling cold, you may decide to just “tough it out” instead of allowing yourself to grab a blanket. It’s ok to feel warm. You have permission to be comfortable.

When you’re still hungry after a meal, you may decide to ignore it instead of allowing yourself something more to eat. It’s ok to be satiated. You have permission to eat and have energy.

When you’re showing signs of illness, you may decide to “brush it off” instead of scheduling a doctor’s appointment. It’s ok to acknowledge your body’s needs. You have permission to exist and care for yourself in any state of health.

If something’s bothering you, you might bottle it up instead of reaching out for empathy and insight. It’s ok to need the love and support of others. You have permission to reach out to your companions.

This is your reminder:
It’s ok to just BE.
Living can be really hard sometimes!
You are not a burden.
Your needs are just as important as everyone else’s. It’s ok to be human.

12/06/2025

Setting a boundary to limit alcohol during the holidays can be challenging, especially in the festive spirit of the season, but it’s an important way to take care of yourself. By drinking mindfully, you can avoid emotional escalation and stay grounded, allowing you to navigate the holidays with greater clarity and peace.

12/03/2025

Music is more than a just a way to fill silence and set the mood. Music HEALS as a cathartic release for the mind, body, and soul.

In our bodies,
Music counteracts hormones linked to increased stress, particularly cortisol, the hormone often unregulated in people with PTSD. It also provides sensory input that makes us instinctively ease muscle tension.

For our nervous system,
Singing, playing, and listening to music can help activate the vagus nerve. This stimulation reduces stress and regulates our nervous system back to a calm and present state.

Through rhythm and repetition, music can synchronize with the nervous system, sending signals of safety to the body and brain.

Emotionally,
Music can connect us to strong memories, and engaging with it gives us a safe space to feel emotions that might feel too hard to express.

🎶🎵

We are all inherently musical - from the rhythm of our heartbeat to the cadence of our breath. Don’t be afraid to let yourself sing out in the car and hum along in the grocery store.