Trauma treatment

The Journey Inwards is an in-depth trauma processing therapy for everyone who wants to work on the effects they are experiencing after traumatic events.

In the program, we focus intensively for nine weeks on nine issues that people experience as a result of trauma.

Traumatic events can have a profound impact on your life and seriously affect how you function on an emotional and psychosocial level.

If you have experienced a trauma, you are more likely to live in a way that shields you from the outside world (to prevent repetition of the trauma) and avoid connecting with others. This causes you to isolate yourself, stay away from other people and experience feelings of depression.

Trauma isn’t what happens to you, it’s what happens inside you as a result of what happened to you (G. Maté): the aftermath of a traumatic event can produce very intense feelings.

A serious event that (usually) occurs only once in a lifetime, such as a serious car accident, rape, earthquake, assault, robbery, etc.

Traumas that are passed on from generation to generation (e.g. the Holocaust).

Traumatic events in a dysfunctional family, e.g. violence, divorce, emotional/physical neglect, incest, etc.

Unprocessed trauma symptoms can occur at all ages and are very personal. The memories may appear sporadically or frequently and involuntarily in the person's consciousness.

In many cases, the symptoms are related to anxiety or panic. But there can also be mood symptoms, such as no longer experiencing joy, anger or aggression. This is often accompanied by (physical) complaints:

• nightmares and difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep
• irritability and outbursts of anger
• reckless or self-destructive behaviour
• concentration problems and flashbacks
• increased alertness (hypervigilance)
• isolation and avoidance behaviour
• difficulty experiencing (positive) emotions

You may often have the feeling that you are no longer in your own body but experiencing everything as if you were seeing yourself from the outside. We call this depersonalisation. But you may also feel as if your surroundings aren’t real. We call this derealisation.

Life after a traumatic event can be filled with fear, panic, social isolation, resentment and anger outbursts, distrust, sleep disorders, concentration disorders, memory disorders, increased alertness, impulsivity and more besides.

Everyone deals with trauma in a different way. There are those who, after the event, immediately take time out to recover, and start therapy to process things and learn to ‘live’ again. However, others rely on ‘survival strategies’ or try not to feel the emotions caused by trauma. Emotions are ‘muted’ in different ways:

• substances: alcohol, drugs, medication
• self-harm, fits of rage, impulsive behaviour
• process addictions: eating disorders, workaholism, compulsive buying, internet addiction, gambling addiction, sex addiction, relationship addiction, etc.
• depression and burnout

All of these methods eventually end in such a negative way – hitting rock-bottom or burning out, even a suicide attempt – that the person will seek help.

The goal of trauma therapy is to be able to take charge of your life again, to feel a glimmer of hope for the future and to have the tools to live a happy life. To be able to avoid the path to destructive behaviour, co-dependency and addiction problems.

If you are interested in admission, please contact us.

Not eligible: psychosis, schizophrenia and anorexia nervosa, amongst other things. At intake, clinical screening will determine whether you are eligible.

Team

• Three clinical psychologists (chartered and affiliated with the Belgian Federation of Psychologists)
• Three experienced counsellors
• Lived-experience practitioners as evening and weekend supervisors
• External psychiatrist and doctors
• Trauma psychologist

Accommodation

Shared rooms with en-suite bathrooms

Single room possible subject to surcharge (possibility depends on occupancy)

Treatment programme

• Max. 15 clients(18 years or older)
• Minimum stay of four weeks
• Group sessions from 9am to 3- 4pm + evening activities
• Personal workbook and writing assignments
• Two individual sessions/week
• Family therapy: weekly sessions (with and without client)
  

Therapies

bottom-up and top-down therapies: cognitive behavioural therapy, gestalt therapy, trauma therapy, and an Art Therapy and Trauma Release group

Combined with:

Yoga, sport and nutrition, meditative walks, gym and sauna, cycling and weekend outings,...

Treatment is always on a voluntary basis