Trauma and Abuse-1Joy began her career working exclusively with crime victims.  Over the years, she has worked with thousands of trauma survivors.   She is able to unflinchingly bear witness to the horrors of abuse, sharing in the memories so they don’t have to be carried alone.

Joy knows that trauma survivors have to regain their sense of power.  They need the freedom and strength to make their own choices and to choose their own path based on their unique circumstances.

To trauma survivors, Joy says: Something terrible happened to you, and nothing can change that fact.  However, you don’t have to carry that alone.  Those events have created unique challenges for you, but in other ways, you’re stronger than people who have never been tested in that way.  Now it is up to you to make the changes in your life that you desire.  You can learn new ways to think, act, and feel.  You don’t have to do it alone.Trauma and Abuse-2

For children who have experienced a trauma, Joy uses an evidence-based treatment protocol that is taught by the Medical University of South Carolina.  Trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy addresses the negative effects of abuse and other trauma by:

  • alleviating any sense of guilt about being abused
  • anger at parents for not knowing about the abuse
  • feelings of powerlessness
  • a sense that they are somehow “damaged goods”
  • a fear that people will treat them differently because of what happened to them.

This treatment approach helps children process traumatic memories so they don’t carry them as vividly into adulthood.  Eighty percent of children show marked improvement after completing the protocol.

Joy shows children how they can put their trauma memories in a “notebook” and store it in the back of their brains like they would store a box in the back of their closets.  She helps the power of the memories fade, while increasing the child’s ability to use appropriate coping skills to deal with their emotions.

Listening.  Understanding.  Guiding.             Joy can help.