According to Dr. Gabor Maté, “Trauma is not what happens to you. Trauma is what happens inside you as a result of what happens to you.” 

Something that is traumatic for one person may not be traumatic for another.

Some other ways of looking at trauma include: too much, too soon (like an accident or attack) or too little, for too long (such as childhood emotional neglect or systemic oppression).

Trauma can result from various experiences that overload the nervous system such as childhood emotional neglect or misattunement, physical or emotional abuse, abuses of power, violence, bullying, accidents, natural disasters, severe weather or climate change events, vicarious trauma, medical procedures (planned or emergency), illness, loss, forced displacement, war, genocide, cultural or legacy burdens, racism, sexism, heteronormativity, ableism, systemic oppression or any distressing experience that overwhelms a person’s ability to cope and leaves lasting emotional, psychological, and physical effects. 

The trauma responses that you may be experiencing like strong or dulled emotions, distressing somatic symptoms or certain beliefs or behaviors are not your fault and nothing is wrong with you. Rather, you are having normal survival reactions to abnormal situations. 

Trauma recovery coaching is a specialized form of coaching that focuses on helping individuals who have experienced trauma to address their trauma and move forward in their lives.

Somatic Experiencing is a body-oriented modality developed by Dr. Peter Levine that helps transform and heal stress and trauma. This gentle approach restores a sense of well-being and brings more ease and resilience in the body and nervous system.

I provide trauma recovery coaching not therapy or counseling, therefore I won’t be pathologizing your trauma responses, diagnosing or treating mental disorders, or prescribing a treatment plan, as that all falls outside the scope of coaching. If you are currently receiving care from a therapist, I encourage you to inform them about our coaching relationship. It’s important for them to be aware of any support or guidance you’re seeking from me as your coach.

Trauma recovery coaching is a mental health profession that incorporates the modalities of coaching and co-regulation to support clients in their recovery process. We use a client-led, goal-oriented approach that aims to empower survivors to reclaim their lives and work toward personal growth and resilience.

In addition to incorporating Somatic Experiencing into trauma recovery coaching, I draw on my decades of Co-Active Coaching skills as well as internal parts work, expressive arts, mindfulness meditation and Buddhist psychology principles, a social justice and anti-oppression lens, and embodiment, yoga and movement practices.

Yes, absolutely! I’ve been successfully coaching virtually for more than 20 years. It can feel like I’m right there with you and you get to be in the comfort and safety of your own space. The relational field translates over video conference and I use my skills of intuition, curiosity, attunement, deep listening, empathy and creativity to ensure we co-create a container that’s as safe, supportive and connecting as possible. Online calls also offer more scheduling flexibility and convenience plus we can work from practically anywhere in the world!

In my experience as both coach and client, change and healing takes time. Coaching tends to be more effective when clients are committed to a longer-term process. The regular rhythm of bi-weekly sessions across 5 months allows us to build and strengthen our coaching relationship over time (which is one of the keys to trauma recovery, especially for attachment-related trauma) and provides the space to “build new muscles” through consistent practice in an intentional container.

On rare occasions I may do a one-time session with someone I haven’t worked with yet.

You’ll have the option to renew the package if you’d like to continue working together. Some clients choose to wrap up our work once the package is complete and they have reached their goals. Others stay on to deepen the work, focus on new goals or continue receiving support. Given that we’ve established our coaching relationship through the initial package, we can also look at less sessions and/or less frequency.

Yes, I understand that systems of oppression by nature disenfranchise folks of color and other marginalized identities and as such not everyone has the same access to resources. I don’t want finances to be a barrier to folks getting the support they need. I’m offering tiered equity pricing (based on class analysis work I did in the Hawaiʻi People’s Fund Giving Project and some coaching with Nikki Blak) and there is a Supported pay-what-you-can rate. Please self-identify your tier based on your level of class privilege and access to resources (see some descriptions provided below in the pricing section).

I’m currently able to offer 2 spots at the Supported level. And with each additional client I have at the Have More Than Enough tier, I’m able take on one more client at the Supported level. So, for those of you with class privilege/access to resources, please pay as generously as you can to help redistribute resources to your BIPOC siblings while helping to keep my work sustainable. You can also feel free to reach out to me at hello @ jenniferayakolee.com to discuss other options.