[Sheryl Thompson]

Hi Tammy; great question considering how many approaches are available for assisting folks who have experienced trauma throughout their lifespan. Trauma is a big category and as a trauma therapist (I am a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner), I have discovered shock trauma and developmental trauma cannot be approached the same way, especially early developmental trauma. If you’re working with folks with developmental trauma, especially early developmental trauma (i.e., conception to around 3yo), you will definitely want to bring attachment-focused interventions into sessions (i.e., supporting safe and social engagement), especially as there aren’t cognitive stories to work with.

As far as literature on attachment, I am enjoying Diane Poole Heller’s The Power of Attachment right now (interestingly, another past SE student of Peter Levine’s). Bruce Perry’s book, The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog offers some great insights into the impact of early developmental trauma on little nervous systems and the developing brain.

For sexual trauma, Wendy Maltz’ The Sexual Healing Journey is fantastic for developmental sexual trauma. Getting old school, I actually liked Peter’s earlier work Healing Trauma better than Waking the Tiger. It really gets down to the basics of healing trauma through the nervous system. I have the audiobook, which is great, as the soothing voice of Peter himself guides you through the exercises. Happy reading!