Is therapeutic coaching a good fit for anyone with trauma or cPTSD?
When working as a therapeutic coach, and not a medical professional, I am clear where the boundary is between what is appropriate as the scope of medical support, and what is within the scope of therapeutic change and coaching.
If you are currently being treated for a clinical psychological illness, then therapeutic coaching is not the right fit for you yet.
Judith Herman, a noted psychiatrist and the author of Trauma and Recovery, offers a framework of three stages to healing and recovering from trauma.
A few years ago I heard a metaphor that was used to describe the three different stages of recovery through the rebuilding of a house that had been hit by mortar fire in a war zone.
As the wounds of cPTSD and relational trauma are experienced often in a toxic and stressful environment, it felt very apt to me.
I have used it when speaking about what place trauma-informed coaching has in recovery since.
In the first stage, the building must be made safe. Appropriate personnel are engaged to plan support and scaffolding erected.
The second stage is starting to clear any fallen debris, the damage that has been done is assessed and tended to. The rebuilding start and the structure made functional.
These first two stages are the realms of medical support and past focused counselling or therapy.
The third stage is the remodelling phase and starting to do the interior design.
In this third stage, the focus shifts towards the future.
Through the coaching and mentoring framework, you start to design your life in a way to make it an enjoyable place to live.
If you are in the third stage, then trauma- informed therapeutic coaching is key to moving forward in your life from a place of living in a house decorated in shades of grey.
If life is functional and you are making do, you can start to decorate and enhance your environment, enhance the way you feel inside and how you experience life. To shift towards a life in which you are thriving, bringing in some colour and home comforts.
Life becomes a joy and pleasurable.