No to ‘One-Size-Fits-All’ …
I believe, as coaches and professionals who work with human beings, it is necessary to realize and remember that everyone’s circumstances are vastly different.
I read a lot of articles that offer a paint-by-number way to changing behavior, yet many people who are a product of abuse, trauma or significant stress can rarely follow that recipe. Their struggle runs deep and needs time and understanding to reach to the core of what’s really going on. Let’s face it, if it was as simple as ten steps to a better, happier, existence, most of us would have found our ‘better you’ by now.
Someone who has experienced trauma at any point in their life cannot always respond to simple coaching ideas and techniques in the same way as those who have not known trauma.
It’s important, also, to understand what trauma actually is as it’s often misunderstood. Many think it’s limited to PTSD or severe physical abuse, yet sometimes it years of repressing emotion, or a baby not getting all of the necessary attention in his/her early years, and many other more subtle forms of neglect or abuse. Dr. Gabor Mate, a renowned physician defines trauma eloquently:
“Trauma is a psychic wound that hardens you psychologically that then interferes with…
