Survivors hold so much wisdom for their own recovery process. When empowered to make their own choices and trust their own intuitive guidance, their healing process really opens up. But, building an empowered, healthy relationship with yourself as a trauma survivor can be really hard.

In this continuation of my conversation with Sara Aird, a complex trauma survivor, educator, and advocate, we discuss how to learn to take care of yourself, the day-to-day nitty gritty of meeting your needs, how healthy behaviors can feel like threats to complex trauma survivors

finding wholeness and a sense of self, and the most effective, ongoing, far-reaching, long-term effective tool in healing complex trauma – curiosity.

More about Sara:

Sara is a complex trauma survivor, educator, and advocate. Through her Instagram platform @survivorwise, she shares resources and tools for trauma recovery in the context of her own healing story. Using her background in biology, education, writing, and trauma training, she breaks down complex trauma recovery into accessible and relatable packets of information offered in her Survivor Wise workbooks and courses. She has over five years of experience working and volunteering in the nonprofit sector with organizations dedicated to the prevention and healing of sexual abuse and other trauma. She is Level 1 NARM Informed Professional and has training in Internal Family Systems and Somatic Attachment. She brings her professional and lived experience into her Survivor Wise resources, where she empowers survivors to become the experts on their healing process. Her personal research and lived experience give Sara a compassionate perspective on the psychological and neurobiological impact of trauma, which makes her a valuable advocate for complex trauma recovery and survivors.

Related resources:

• Befriending the Body (mentioned by Sara)

Connect with Sara

• Website: saraaird.com

• Instagram: @survivorwise

Connect with Catherine

• Therapy + Coaching

• Learning + Support

• Empathic Changemakers Community

• Instagram

• Substack 

Edited by Catherine Quiring

Logo by Catherine Quiring