Healing without re-traumatization: What does Gentle Therapy look like?

By: CCG clinician, Keara Newton

When we think of trauma, we often imagine a single, life-threatening event.  In reality, trauma can be any experience (or experiences) that leaves you feeling overwhelmed, unsafe, or deeply alone - even if no physical harm occurred.  The more frightened, helpless, or unsupported you felt, the more likely the experience was traumatic. 

Emotional and psychological trauma can disrupt your sense of safety, security, and stability.  It may leave you struggling with distressing emotions, intrusive memories, anxiety, or a persistent sense of unease.  Some people may feel numb or disconnected; others find it difficult to trust themselves or those around them.  

Trauma isn’t something that we can quickly heal from.  There is no magic pill or easy button to press.  Whether trauma stems from a single event (acute trauma), repeated or ongoing experiences such as growing up in an abusive or unpredictable environment (complex trauma),  or exposure to others’ traumatic experiences (secondary trauma), healing takes time (Robinson, Smith, & Segel, 2026).

For many people, the idea of trauma therapy feels intimidating and for good reason.   Traditional approaches of counseling have often emphasized revisiting and recounting traumatic experiences in detail, sometimes without grounding and emotional support.  Strong emotional reactions may occur and are misunderstood as “resistance” or “avoidance”, which can leave clients feeling overwhelmed, misunderstood, or even re-traumatized. 

But what if healing trauma didn’t require reliving it?  What if there were a more gentle, respectful way to heal? 

What Is Gentle Therapy? 

Gentle Therapy is not a vague or watered down-approach. It is an evidenced-based, trauma-informed way of working that prioritizes safety, choice, and nervous system regulation.  

Rather than asking, “What ‘s wrong with you?” trauma-informed care asks,  “What’s happened to you?”.  This shift in thinking matters.  It centers on your lived experience, honors your resilience, and respects your pace.  You are not something to be fixed - you are someone to be supported.   

Gentle Therapy places you in the driver’s seat of your healing journey. 

Gentle Therapy is about Safety

After trauma, the nervous system often remains on high alert long after the danger has passed.  Even when life looks “fine” on the outside, your body may still be on the look out for the threat. 

Healing cannot happen when there is fear. 

This is why safety is at the foundation of trauma-informed care.  Gentle Therapy focuses on establishing trust, building emotional safety, and meeting you where you are at - especially during moments when you feel uncertain, overwhelmed, or afraid of the process itself.  

Gentle Therapy is about RELATIONSHIPS First, then the Narrative

Gentle therapy is rooted in connection.  It is about having a therapeutic partnership where you feel seen, heard, and respected.  

One of the most common misconceptions of trauma therapy is that it requires retelling traumatic stories in detail, again and again.  In Gentle Therapy, we understand that regulation and connection come before the narrative.  

This means that before a story is retold - or even if it isn’t - the body and nervous system need to feel regulated and connected.

Peter Levine, a well-known and respected expert in trauma, tells us:

“Trauma is not what happens to us, but what we hold inside in the absence of an empathetic witness”

Trust grows when therapy is collaborative, respectful, and transparent.  You will always know the why behind what we’re doing and you have the ability to say yes, no, or not yet.  

Your therapist’s role is to support you in this journey - not direct the process.   Your therapist is there to be an empathetic witness in this journey.  

Gentle Therapy is about Choice AND Control 

One of trauma’s most painful effects is the sense that your voice doesn’t matter.  Many survivors have learned, whether explicitly or implicitly, that their needs, boundaries, or feelings didn’t matter. 

Gentle Therapy aims to restore your sense of control.  You are always invited to participate in decisions about your care.  Your consent matters. 

In Gentle Therapy:

• You choose what to explore
• You set the pace and can pause or redirect at any time
• You decide what feels safe - and what doesn’t
• You are recognized as the expert in your own experience

Your therapist’s role is not to push or direct, but to support and collaborate with you.

Gentle Therapy is about Self-Compassion

Healing from trauma can feel messy, slow, and emotionally intense.  Many survivors carry deep shame or self-criticism alongside their pain.

Gentle Therapy helps you learn to treat yourself with the same kindness and understanding you often extend to others.  Self-compassion is a psychological skill that reduces shame, supports emotional regulation and helps one understand that despite the pain they’ve been through, you are so much more than the trauma you’ve experienced.  Practicing self-compassion and allowing yourself grace is something key in the healing process. 

Gentle Therapy is about YOUR body about holding what the mind cannot name

Trauma is not just “a story in the past.” It leaves an imprint on the body. It can impact us in ways that we may not be aware of.  

Research and books like The Body Keeps the Score by Dr. Bessel Van der Kolk reminds us that trauma’s effects are not only emotional—they are physiological. Nervous systems remember before words can. 

Gentle therapy doesn’t rush mind-only processing. Instead, it meets you where your body holds tension, anxiety, or shutdown.  As therapists, we walk alongside you as you develop a toolbox of strategies that help your nervous system feel safe, regulated, and connected before the narrative is shared. 

That might look like:

• Breath-based grounding
• Mindful awareness of bodily sensations
• Somatic resourcing before language
• Slow, patient tracking of experiences

Healing doesn’t always mean reliving the past.  It means learning to respond differently to the memories you carry.  

Gentle Therapy is Collaborative and Culturally Responsive

For many women and teen girls, trauma is not only about individual symptoms - it intersects with experiences of relational expectations, identity pressures, and patterns of people-pleasing or perfectionism. 

Healing gently means that therapy is: 

• Collaborative, not hierarchical
• Respectful of boundaries, not intrusive
• Tailored to your lived experience
• Rooted in your values and beliefs
• Mindful of cultural and gender influences

Therapists trained in trauma-informed approaches (like EMDR, Internal Family Systems, Narrative, Dialectic Behavioral Therapy, Somatic Experiencing, or Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) are designed to be both deep and safe, often helping clients to explore their inner world in ways that honor their autonomy and identity rather than dismiss it. 

Gentle Therapy is about Healing without Re-Traumatization

Gentle therapy prioritizes building internal resources first - emotional regulation, grounding skills, self-compassion, and nervous system stability.   Deeper work happens only when safety is established. 

Therapy that avoids re-traumatization is not about what you must endure, but what you get to build - safety, self-compassion, confidence, and connection.  

Healing is Not a Destination; It’s a New Way of Living

Healing without re-traumatization is not about erasing your past.  It’s about learning to live with it more peacefully.    

Gentle therapy does not mean avoiding the pain from the past - it is intentional, meaningful, and sustainable healing that honors your boundaries and your resilience. 

You deserve therapy that meets you where you are, not where someone else thinks you should be.  You deserve to feel safe in your own story.  And you deserve a healing process that meets you with grace, honors your story, and with compassion at a pace that feels safe for you.  

At Grace and Gratitude Counseling, we walk alongside women and teen girls with compassion, warmth, patience, and trauma-informed expertise.  We are here as empathetic witnesses, helping you heal in ways that feel safe, empowering, and restoring. 

You deserve therapy that meets you where you are. 

Healing can feel gentle, grounded, and very real. 

And you don’t have to do it alone. 

References:

Robinson, L., Smith, M. A., & Segal, J. (2026). Emotional and psychological trauma. HelpGuide.org. https://www.helpguide.org/mental-health/ptsd-trauma/coping-with-emotional-and-psychological-trauma

Levine, P. A. (2010). In an unspoken voice: How the body releases trauma and restores goodness. North Atlantic Books.

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. (2014). SAMHSA’s concept of trauma and guidance for a trauma-informed approach (HHS Publication No. SMA 14-4884).
https://ncsacw.samhsa.gov/userfiles/files/SAMHSA_Trauma.pdf

van der Kolk, B. A. (2014). The body keeps the score: Brain, mind, and body in the healing of trauma. Viking.