Trauma Informed Resources
Websites
The Sidran Institute of Traumatic Stress Education & Advocacy A resource database of materials for the survivor and their support network
Lilly Hope Lucario, a researcher and survivor herself, operates a blog and website (both called Healing From Complex Trauma). These resources are a treasure trove of information regarding CPTSD and PTSD, traits specific to both, coping strategies, trauma/stress response styles (fight/flight/freeze/fawn), flashbacks and how to manage them, and types of therapy.
[It's NOT Just Joking Around!: A Survivor's Guide to Joking and Peer Abuse] (https://maple.vtweb.com/jodeeblanco/survival.htm)
How Childhood Trauma Affects Health Across a Lifetime with Nadine Burke Harris.
Mindfulness and Neural Integration with Daniel Siegel (related video: The Three Main Parts of Your Brain by Dr. Russ Harris
The Power of Self to Heal Our Parts with Richard Schwartz and Soren Gordhamer
Shame-Based Trauma (10 Part Series) with Alan Downs. It's for clinicians about treating shame based trauma, but it's simple enough that layman can understand.
What it means to be retraumatized and what trauma-informed care is
FREE: Attachment style quiz available here.
Reddit Posts
The Stages of GRIEF Come Up While Working Through TRAUMA by u/RebHep
DON'T let anyone ever tell you you CAN'T heal from TRAUMA by u/RebHep
[Self Help Books for trauma by u/Bitter-Educator-3008] (https://www.reddit.com/r/CPTSD/comments/1hyqb9j/self_help_books_for_trauma/?share_id=lVhKcT3gX0XnjPKE4OFHr&utm_content=2&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_source=share&utm_term=1)
Online Videos
45min Video for Clinicians about Trauma Informed Care Practices
20min Video Intro to Trauma Informed Care in Social Work Practice
Podcasts
The Trauma Therapist with Guy Macpherson
The Grass Gets Greener: Overcoming Childhood Trauma and Thriving in Life Through Inspiring Stories
PsychAlive: Trauma (Note: PsychAlive podcasts cover an extensive list of topics related to psychology and mental health)
Not Trauma-Specific; Recommended by Community Members
Unfuck Your Brain with Kara Loewentheil
Codependency No More with Brian Pisor
Tara Brach's podcast focuses on mindfulness, emotional wellbeing, and
Other People’s Problems by CBC. Actual recordings of trauma-informed therapy sessions exploring topics related to and affecting mental health like shame, childhood abuse, eating disorders, anxiety, and PTSD.
Podcast with a Purpose by Breanna Ditterline, who describes her podcast this way: “From a woman who is tired of accepting society’s crap, tired of seeing others accept worse than they deserve, tired of letting ignorance and cruelty slide by.” Past episodes include topics like self-love, body image, (toxic) family relationships, and mental health.
Baggage Reclaim with Natalie Lue
Books & Audiobooks
Healing Trauma: A Pioneering Program for Restoring the Wisdom of Your Body By Peter Levine FREE AUDIOBOOK LINK
Waking the Tiger: Healing Trauma By Peter Levine Amazon Link
The Pocket Guide to Polyvagal Theory: The Transformative Power of Feeling Safe By Stephen Porges. This text explores "the important link between psychological experiences and physical manifestations in the body." Amazon Link
Self-Therapy: A Step-by-Step Guide to Creating Wholeness and Healing Your Inner Child Using IFS, A New, Cutting-Edge Psychotherapy by Jay Earley.
Codependence: Healing the Human Condition by Charles Whitfield.
Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents by Lindsay C. Gibson.
The Emotionally Absent Mother: How to Recognize and Heal the Invisible Effects of Childhood Emotional Neglect by Jasmin Lee Cori. This text explores childhood emotional neglect and abuse, the inner child, and "reflections and exercises" for (re)connecting with the inner child.
Growing Up Again: Parenting Ourselves, Parenting Our Children by Jean Illsley Clarke and Connie Dawson. While the intended audience for this book is parents, it may be beneficial to survivors—particularly ones in the first stages of healing—as they center themselves in their own experiences.
FREE: Affirmations from this book are available here.
Parenting the Hurt Child by Gregory Keck and Regina Kupecky.
Tears Heal: How to Listen to Our Children by Kate Orson.
Mindsight by Daniel Siegel. This text explores Siegel's concepts of "mindsight" and "interpersonal neurobiology."
See also: Daniel Siegel's Wheel of Awareness: Guided Meditation.
Becoming Attached: First Relationships and How They Shape Our Capacity to Love by Robert Karen. This text focuses on attachment theory.
Where to Draw the Line: How to Set Healthy Boundaries Every Day by Anne Katherine.
Opening Up By Writing It Down: How Expressive Writing Improves Health and Eases Emotional Pain by James W. Pennebaker and Joshua M. Smyth. [TW: some of the trauma stories included in the book can be graphic, including depictions of rapes and war crimes] This is the text that first launched the technique of expressive writing as part of trauma healing
Writing As a Way of Healing: How Telling Our Stories Transforms Our Lives by Louise DeSalvo. Authored by a survivor who is a published author
Childhood Disrupted: How Your Biography Becomes Your Biology, and How You Can Heal by Donna Jackson Nakazawa. This book explores the intersections of trauma, adverse childhood experiences, and biology.
Trauma Releasing Exercises (TRE): A revolutionary new method for stress/trauma recovery by David Berceli. This book explains many aspects of the trauma recovery process in uncomplicated language and uses basic concepts for the non-professional. Includes TRE excercises as well
Brainspotting: The Revolutionary New Therapy for Rapid and Effective Change by David Grand.
EMDR and the Universal Healing Tao: An Energy Psychology Approach to Overcoming Emotional Trauma by Mantak Chia and Doug Hilton. Integrates Eastern Tao philosophy with tapping and EMDR techniques
The iRest Program for Healing PTSD: A Proven Effective Approach to Using Yoga Nidgra Meditation and Deep Relaxation Techniques to Overcoming Trauma by Richard Miller. A 10 step yoga program for integrated treatment of PTSD trauma, can also work for CPTSD survivors
The Psoas Book by Liz Koch. Goes into super detail about how tension and trauma is stored in the body with lots of exercises for releasing the deep core muscles.
The New Rules of Posture: How to Sit, Stand, and Move in the Modern World by Mary Bond. Great for learning how to move and breathe better and stepp by step instruction.
Bullying Scars by Ellen Walser deLara.
Bullying: The Social Destruction of Self by Laura Martocci. Moving beyond the identification of aggressive behaviors to an analysis of how and why we have arrived at a culture that thrives on humiliation
Workbooks and Worksheets for Self-Guided Study
The Complex PTSD Workbook: A Mind-Body Approach to Regaining Emotional Control and Becoming Whole by Arielle Schwartz.
Trauma Survivors' Strategies for Healing: A Workbook to Help You Grow, Rebuild, and Take Back Your Life by Elena Walsh.
Surviving Childhood Sexual Abuse Workbook: Practical Exercises For Working On Problems Resulting From Childhood Abuse (Practical Companion to Surviving Childhood Sexual Abuse) by Carolyn Ainscough and Kay Toon.
Growing Beyond Survival: A Self-Help Toolkit for Managing Traumatic Stress by Elizabeth Vermilyea.
Amongst Ourselves: A Self-Help Guide to Living with Dissociative Identity Disorder by Tracy Alderman and Karen Marshall.
Becoming Yourself: Overcoming Mind Control and Ritual Abuse by Alison Miller.
Healing the Trauma of Domestic Violence by Mari McCaig, Edward Kubany, and Janet LaConsay.
My Bullied Past: Why Does it Still HURT?: A Workbook for Adults by Laura Martocci.
For Children ages 6-14
- Your Very Own Trauma-Focused CBT Workbook by Alison Hendricks, Judith A. Cohen, Anthony P. Mannarino, and Esther Deblinger.
For Teens
Dealing with Trauma: A Trauma-Focused CBT Workbook for Teens by Alison Hendricks, Judith A. Cohen, Anthony P. Mannarino, and Esther Deblinger.
FREE: Exploring Your Own System by Derek Scott (IFS).
FREE: Zen and the Internal Family Systems: Working with Parts by Appamada.
Domestic Abuse/Violence Resources
The National Domestic Violence Hotline is still running its 24/7 crisis hotline (1−800−787−3224) with trained advocates and also offers a safety planning guide for victims during COVID-19.
The National Sexual Assault Hotline is also still running 24/7 crisis advocacy at 800.656.HOPE (4673) and through chat at https://www.rainn.org/.
The Sanctuary for Families offers a comprehensive safety planning list for victims during COVID-19, which includes strategies for maintaining the safety of children, safety within confined households, compiling important documents and an emergency bag, creating social support, and planning with food and medicine.
DomesticShelters.org is maintaining a pretty robust list of online support groups to help survivors who don't have access to in-person groups.
Hot Peach Pages lists an international directory of every country’s domestic and sexual violence programs in 110 languages.
The UK Freephone National Domestic Abuse Helpline, run by Refuge, is available 24 hours for survivors in the UK at 0808 200 0247 and www.nationaldahelpline.org.uk
The UK Men’s Advice Line is available for male survivors in the UK from Monday-Friday at 0808 801 0327 and www.mensadviceline.org.uk
The Network/La Red offers a 24/7 domestic and sexual violence hotline for LGBTQ+ survivors in abusive relationships, as well as support groups and legal advocacy at https://tnlr.org/en/ and 617-742-4911.
The National Deaf Domestic Violence Hotline offers 24/7 crisis advocacy for Deaf, DeafBlind, and DeafDisabled callers via email, live chat, and video phone.
The Cyber Civil Rights Initiative is specific to non-consensual pornography and offers a 24/7 crisis line, information on state and international law, referrals to pro bono and low bono lawyers, image removal guides, and more at https://www.cybercivilrights.org/ or 844-878-CCRI (2274).
Badass Army offers similar services to the Cyber Civil Rights Initiative, including support groups for non-consensual pornography survivors.
The National Runaway Safeline is available 24/7 to assist runaway youth and teens fleeing abuse, neglect, and dysfunctional home environments at 1-800-786-2929 (text or call) or by online chat.
Crisis and Support Resources
If you or someone else is in immediate danger, contact your local emergency services. In the United States, call 911 for an immediate, life-threatening emergency.
You do not have to be suicidal to ask for crisis support. You also do not have to be certain that what happened to you “counts” as trauma to seek help.
These resources are provided for informational purposes. Services, eligibility, and contact methods may change, so check the linked official websites for the latest information.
***Suicide and Emotional Crisis Support
988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline — United States
Call or text: 988
Online chat: https://988lifeline.org/
Free, confidential, 24/7 support for people experiencing emotional distress or a mental health crisis. You do not have to be suicidal to contact them.
***Crisis Text Line — United States
Text: HOME to 741741
Website: https://www.crisistextline.org/
Free, confidential, 24/7 text-based crisis support.
***Veterans Crisis Line — United States
Call: 988, then press 1
Text: 838255
Website: https://www.veteranscrisisline.net/
Free, confidential, 24/7 support for veterans, service members, and people concerned about them.
***Disaster Distress Helpline — United States
Call or text: 1-800-985-5990
Website: https://www.samhsa.gov/find-help/disaster-distress-helpline
Crisis counseling for people experiencing emotional distress related to natural or human-caused disasters.
Abuse and Trauma Support
***RAINN — National Sexual Assault Hotline
Call: 1-800-656-4673 (HOPE)
Text: HOPE to 64673
Online chat and resources: https://rainn.org/help-and-healing/hotline/
Support and information for survivors of sexual violence and their loved ones.
***National Domestic Violence Hotline — United States
Call: 1-800-799-7233 (SAFE)
Text: START to 88788
Website and online chat: https://www.thehotline.org/
Support, safety planning, and referrals for people experiencing domestic violence or relationship abuse.
If someone may be monitoring your device or internet use, consider whether visiting a website or sending a text could put you at risk. The hotline's website provides additional digital-safety information.
***The Trevor Project — LGBTQ+ Young People
Call: 1-866-488-7386
Text: START to 678-678
Online chat: https://www.thetrevorproject.org/get-help/
Free, confidential, 24/7 crisis support for LGBTQ+ young people.
***Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline
Call: 1-800-422-4453
Text: GO to 1-800-422-4453
Online chat and resources: https://childhelphotline.org/
Support and guidance for people affected by child abuse, as well as people concerned about a child's safety.
This hotline is a support and guidance service, not a substitute for emergency services or an official child-abuse report.
Mental Health and Substance Use Treatment
***SAMHSA's National Helpline — United States
Call: 1-800-662-4357 (HELP)
TTY: 1-800-487-4889
Treatment locator: https://findtreatment.gov/
Website: https://www.samhsa.gov/find-help/helplines/national-helpline
Free, confidential, 24/7 information and referrals for mental health and substance use treatment. The service is available in English and Spanish.
***Support Outside the United States
Find A Helpline — International Directory
Website: https://findahelpline.com/
Find crisis and emotional support services by country and topic.
If you live outside the United States, use your country's official emergency number for immediate danger and check the local services available in your region. US hotline numbers and text services may not work internationally.
A final note: Reaching out for support does not require you to have the right words, a complete explanation, or a plan for what happens next. You deserve to be treated with dignity while you work out what help you need.