Healing From Trauma
Welcome, are YOU a survivor?
Sydney Williams, author and founder of Hiking My Feelings, has been on a self-healing journey to reclaim her body after surviving sexual assault, and she created this organization to support survivors of all kinds of trauma. When she had access to therapy, she was terrified of the stigma associated with seeking mental health treatment. When she finally warmed up to the idea of therapy, she couldn’t afford it. Over the past 15 years, she’s been collecting and creating tools, techniques, and exercises to facilitate her own healing journey, and now she is sharing those experiences with you.
“Neuroscience research shows that the only way we can change the way we feel is by becoming aware of our inner experience and learning to befriend what is going inside ourselves.”
― Bessel A. van der Kolk, The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma
What is trauma?
According to the American Psychological Association, “Trauma is an emotional response to a terrible event like an accident, rape or natural disaster. Immediately after the event, shock and denial are typical. Longer term reactions include unpredictable emotions, flashbacks, strained relationships and even physical symptoms like headaches or nausea.”
“If that is trauma, then everyone I know has experienced trauma.”
What “counts” as trauma?
We hold the vision of a world where trauma isn’t a competition and anyone who has experienced trauma has access to the resources and support they need to heal in a way that feels good to them. While the worst day of my life may be dramatically different from the worst day of your life, we have at least one thing in common - that we’ve survived what life has dealt us so far. We are of the firm belief that we are all way more alike than we are different, and by sharing our struggles with each other, we can co-create a safe space to bravely step into the lives we’ve always dreamed of living.
Some of the trauma I’ve experienced includes sexual assault, losing loved ones suddenly to tragic accidents, natural causes, suicide, and terminal illnesses, traumatic experiences from childhood, navigating life with a chronic illness without health insurance and more. But those aren’t the only kinds of trauma. We’ve included the types of trauma as outlined by the folks at Your Experiences Matter to help illustrate this point. The way we see it? If you identify as someone who has experienced and survived trauma, who are we to question that? Your lived experience is unique to you, and you get to define it for yourself.
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Results from exposure to a single overwhelming event/experiences (car accident, natural disaster, single event of abuse or assault, sudden loss or witnessing violence).
Source: Your Experience Matters
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Results from exposure to multiple, chronic and/or prolonged overwhelming traumatic events (i.e., receiving regular treatment for an illness).
Source: Your Experience Matters
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Results from multiple, chronic and prolonged overwhelming traumatic events/experiences which are compromising and most often within the context of an interpersonal relationship (i.e., family violence).
Source: Your Experience Matters
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Results from early onset exposure to ongoing or repetitive trauma (as infant, children or youth) includes neglect, abandonment, physical abuse or assault, sexual abuse or assault, emotional abuse witnessing violence or death, and/or coercion or betrayal. This often occurs within the child’s care giving system and interferes with healthy attachment and development.
Source: Your Experience Matters
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Creates a change in the service provider resulting from empathetic engagement with a client’s/patient’s traumatic background. It occurs when an individual who was not an immediate witness to the trauma absorbs and integrates disturbing aspects of the traumatic experience into his or her own functioning.
Source: Your Experience Matters
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A cumulative emotional and psychological wounding over the lifespan and across generations emanating from massive group trauma. Examples of historical trauma include genocide, colonialism (i.e., residential schools), slavery and war.
Source: Your Experience Matters
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Describes the psychological or emotional effects that can be experienced by people who live with people who have experienced trauma. Coping and adaptation patterns developed in response to trauma can be passed from one generation to the next.
Source: Your Experience Matters
“We don’t experience natural environments enough to realize how restored they can make us feel, nor are we aware that studies also show they make us healthier, more creative, more empathetic and more apt to engage with the world and with each other. Nature, it turns out, is good for civilization.”
― Florence Williams, The Nature Fix: Why Nature Makes us Happier, Healthier, and More Creative
Ready to heal? Here’s how we can help:
Read + Reflect with Hiking My Feelings
Life happens fast, let us show you how to slow down enough to enjoy it. This self-paced program is the book’s best friend - demonstrating how mindfulness and intention can weave into every aspect of our lives. Through 18 modules, we extract the lessons from the trail, and offer rituals, affirmations, and resources to help you kickstart your self-discovery journey. Enrollment is open year-round and the program is available on-demand whenever you’re ready to kickstart your healing journey.
Community Support
In both the real and digital world, things get noisy. So noisy in fact, that it's almost impossible to hear what someone is really trying to say. That's why we go beyond posting to engage in real conversation. Our digital platform isn't built to be a jumble of opinions, a highlight reel of curated culture or even a meeting of the minds. Instead, it's a space to exhale. We invite you to find true and diverse community that allows you to set down your struggles and pick up on what's really being said, all from the comfort of your couch or hammock.
Blaze Your Own Trail to Self-Love
Let us make this perfectly clear: there is nothing wrong with you. You are not broken. And yet, there are behaviors and patterns that you've noticed are no longer serving you. This program celebrates who you already are, the trail that brought you here, and illuminates the path of who you want to be. Blaze Your Own Trail to Self-Love is offered on-demand as a self-paced program and we host our 12-week intensive with live facilitation for folks who desire a more interactive learning experience and community support.
Wilderness Wellness Retreats
We believe that healing ebbs and flows, and what you need as you heal does, too. That's why Hiking My Feelings retreats are designed to meet you exactly where you're at. Whether you need to be surrounded by others who can empathize with your struggle or need some dance partners to celebrate your successes, we've got you covered. When we are able to disconnect from the distractions of the hyper-connected world we’re living in, we are able to reconnect with ourselves and each other in powerful, transformative ways.
a note about our programs, trauma, and therapy:
In an ideal world, every human would have free and equitable access to the mental health support they need to live their happiest, healthiest lives. Over the past several years, trauma has become a bit of a buzz word, so we want to be super clear about our offerings and the intentions behind them so you can make the best decisions for your health and well-being. Our programs and experiences are therapeutic, yes, but they are not clinical therapy. Our work is intended for individuals who are curious about the healing power of nature and mindfulness, and is not suitable for people experiencing an active mental health crisis. While we welcome folks from all walks of life and lived experiences, we also know our limitations as program facilitators and reserve the right to decline your participation in our programs or events if we feel that your needs exceed our abilities. If you are seeking mental health support from a licensed therapist, Hiking My Feelings is proud to be a BetterHelp affiliate and through our partnership, you can save 10% on your first month of therapy. As affiliates, we may receive compensation from BetterHelp if you purchase products or services through the link provided below.
