Why Healing Can't Be Rushed: Nervous System-Informed Trauma Therapy in Denver

"Healing is learning to confront what lingers"

I read this in a book recently, Between Two Kingdoms, by Suleika Jaouad, and it struck me as such a valuable mantra for therapy. Many of us move through life functioning relatively well — we continue to excel at work, engage in friendships, maintain and improve on our hobbies. This is validating — often of the thing we hope for, which is to be "good" — and also distracting. Functioning externally, and doing so by being in motion, is the ultimate distractor from some icky or sticky feeling that lies quietly beneath. When we pause — at the end of the night, in a workout class, between meetings — we may experience what's really going on: that "everything is fine... and yet something is not quite right."

In other words, moving forward doesn't mean that experiences from or feelings about our past don't linger. It's the continued ignoring of what lingers that can make us feel stuck, unfulfilled, and disconnected from ourselves.

There's great benefit in realizing this — in acknowledging that there is something sticky that needs attention. However, we run the risk of moving too fast. When we notice the stickiness, we might seek treatment, for trauma or otherwise — continuing our quest to move forward. And while facing what lingers is hugely important, many of us "doers" skip perhaps the most important preceding step — learning how to meet what lingers in order to do so safely, fully, and in a way that is sustaining.

My work with patients is intentional and deep — we don't just jump to the goal of confronting the thing. We work towards facing what lingers by learning how to do so in a way that supports our nervous system. We move only as quickly as the slowest part of us. While this can take many different forms, whether we tune into your internal family system or develop resources for ourselves to support us in processing difficult emotions, it always takes time. This work is about nurturing your body and mind's need to relearn how to support itself. If this is work you are interested in doing, let's connect!