Welcome to the Trauma Recovery Center/Trauma Recovery Consultants website.  Trauma can involve psychological or physical experiences, or a combination of both.  It refers to an event in which a person witnessed, experienced, or was confronted with a profound situation that involved actual or threatened death or serious injury, or a threat to the physical integrity of self or others; and in which a person's response involved intense fear, helplessness, or horror.

There are several types of physical and/or psychological trauma, most of which fall into one of three categories, and may occur at any time in an individual's life.  The traumatic experience may involve a single, intense event such as: a serious automobile or industrial accident; a serious threat to one's life or the life of a loved one; abduction; rape; robbery, mugging or other acts of personal violence; natural disasters such as hurricanes, earthquakes, tsunamis, fire, etc; and the all too frequent acts of terrorism.  In the second category, the traumatic experience may involve repetitive and ongoing events such as: sexual or physical abuse of the self; witnessing violence and/or sexual or physical abuse of others; profound physical or psychological neglect; military combat; prisoners of war, kidnapping, or other captivity; torture; prolonged illness and extensive medical procedures; etc.  The third category involves the many combinations of those events listed above and may occur simultaneously or separated by long periods of time.

Because the intense stress of traumatic events demands coping strategies which usually exceed the individual's abilities, extreme but protective psychological mechanisms are developed.  Unfortunately psychological trauma refuses to be ignored, and these same adaptations cease to be helpful and become dysfunctional after the actual trauma is past and can interfere dramatically with normal functioning.

In many cases, the individual is unable to recover his/her previous level of functioning without professional help, because the very nature of the trauma leads to avoidance of its psychological effects and becomes an obstacle to recovery.  The evaluation and assistance of a trauma specialist can help the individual understand how different types of trauma can manifest in very different symptoms and patterns of behavior, emotional response, physiological functioning and sensation, and how one thinks and perceives the world around them.  These differences in the traumatic response cannot, therefore, be treated by a single method or approach, but require the opportunity to be provided with an individualized, specialized, and comprehensive approach to trauma recovery care.

If you or someone you love has experienced profound physical or psychological trauma, there is hope and help available.  The Trauma Recovery Center provides a wide range of therapeutic interventions from assessment to treatment for trauma-related disorders.

Please take a few minutes to browse through our website.  There is hope and help available to go beyond the devastation of traumatic events, form healthier coping skills, and reclaim your life.