• How do you make the meetings feel safe for people to share vulnerable truths of past childhood experiences?

Feeling emotionally safe is my number #1 priority. I’ve established guidelines and boundaries for everyone to abide by. I will go over these during orientation and participants will be reminded if anyone forgets.

• How will I get in touch with past repressed emotions if I’m attending the childhood trauma group?

When we share out loud in front of other people that too have experienced childhood trauma, there is a healing that takes place, not only for ones that are sharing, but for others who participate by active listening. Most of us were not heard when we were little when our needs were not being met. Now within a safe group setting, there are people who care and want to listen. This is a healing process for all. As we listen to others share their stories, we get in touch with our own old repressed emotions which is key to letting them go. Even when stories are different from our own, listening to the “TRUTH” of dysfunctional upbringings, gets us in touch with our own truth. Many of us are not aware that we made up things in order to survive our upbringings.

Getting in touch with the truth of what happened, and grieving it, is ultimately what sets us free.

• Will I feel bad when I experience my repressed emotions?

I would love to say “no, you won’t feel bad”, however in my experience when I felt my repressed emotions emerge, I didn’t feel so well. We learn to manage our emotions (discernment), as we feel past pain and let it go. It is a process of healing the past. With patience, gentleness and kindness, we learn to love ourselves more and more each day as we learn to embrace ALL our emotions.

The doctors told me I would need to stay on my maximum doses of antidepressants that I’d been on for 22 years and they were wrong. Once I learned how to tap into my old pain, observe it and let it go, I was then able to wean myself off. Grieving our past and all that we didn’t get (that we needed), is one way to healing and freedom.

• If I decide after the first meeting that this group is not for me, can I get my money back?

Yes, I will be happy to refund your money less $25 for the first group.