Testimonials
-Diana is a gifted facilitator. I always felt safe and supported in our group. The material is challenging and the information provided each week guided us thru this process with a logical structure that felt comfortably contained. I look forward to doing further work with Diana.
-Mary K, Aptos CA
-I thought Diana did an outstanding job in providing a safe space for me to process the reality and feelings from my childhood. The sessions that were most beneficial for me were; sharing my story, the letter to my younger self, and when the past becomes the present which helped me explore my triggers. Being witnessed and acknowledged by the whole group helped normalize the dysfunction and the progress I made feels amazing!
"I think every person on this planet would benefit from this group!”
- Sue M, San Francisco CA
-I highly recommend the 8 week Childhood Trauma Grief Group. Diana Zamudio was extremely skillful in providing a safe place for participants to explore their grief around childhood trauma. The group allowed me the time and space to get acquainted, once again, to my inner child.
"The purpose of this grief group is to provide a safe space for childhood trauma survivors to explore what happened to them as children and to understand the effects that manifested as a result of being raised in a dysfunctional family. Once awareness and understanding occurs, healing can happen."
I experienced a lot of healing during the 8 weeks. The healing happened as a result of writing a letter to Our Younger Self, taking a look at what role(s) I had in my family, and the trauma that was stuck in my body. I learned what my emotional triggers were and how to work through them. In the group, participants were encouraged to share about ideas that helped them release trauma from their bodies such as journaling, meditation, art work, dancing/listening to music, to name a few. The 8 week Childhood Trauma Grief Group was wrapped up with an art project that allowed for healing and connection to our inner child.
Diana is a compassionate listener and encouraged participants to actually be a witness and present for the grief they had experienced as a result of childhood trauma. The group allowed for my inner child to re~awaken and receive healing. I am in Gratitude to the facilitation of Diana Zamudio, and all the other participants.
-Ann O, San Francisco CA
-I would definitely recommend this group for anyone that had a difficult childhood. The facilitators were excellent! I feel so blessed to have help in this area.
- Anne I, MA
-The most helpful session was witnessing/listening to others share their Childhood Trauma stories, and also the letter writing. I did not know what to expect when attending this group, but the benefits were much more than I imagined. I am thankful I attended, and I learned a lot.
-Fred C, San Francisco CA
-I found the Letter Writing and Art exercises to be most helpful. I am interested in attending the Childhood Trauma Group Part B to aid in my continual healing. This 8-week group is much like a condensed version of ACA and is tough work. It brings up the past and stuff moves making it clearer for me to move forward in life.
- Jasee G, Pacifica CA
-I'm so grateful to have had the opportunity to be in an 8 Week Grief Group with Diana focused on Childhood Trauma. I had a proper expectation of what I would likely encounter due to the privilege of having heard Diana in other grief groups as she allowed herself to go through the intense pain and grief from her past trauma...with skilled professional support, encouragement and guidance. Knowing some of what she had gone through and for how long, and seeing her come through it, and hearing her talk about it gave me the courage and willingness to attend her group.
“To me, the group allowed me to face my fears and approach my painful childhood trauma by gently bringing me into contact with it from different angles”
This was at times intense and painful and at other times soothing and healing; but more of an introduction on how to do this and what it was like in a supportive and safe group setting with experienced guidance. How much I engaged was up to me; but I truly wanted to learn how to engage as much as possible during this process. I could not have done so if Diana had not created, facilitated and maintained such a safe space.
Besides the growth gained in going through the group, I gained a clear site line of the need to proactively work on engaging with my true self and ways to do it. I now know that I can survive turning gently and lovingly into this unprocessed pain within myself and I look forward to doing it again in another group with Diana.
-Gwen S, San Francisco, CA
-I have been a member of the ACA Recovery Program for a number of years. Despite working the Steps in ACA, I found Diana's Childhood Trauma group to be extremely valuable. It was a small, closed group and a safe place to explore personal trauma at a deep level.
“Diana has a gift for sharing her own experiences, and the potential she brings for healing is inspiring”
Her compassion, and her unflinching commitment to her own recovery from childhood trauma, gives me hope for healing my own traumatic past.
-Carol P, San Francisco CA
Before joining the 8 week Childhood trauma group, I knew very little about the subject, and didn’t think that any of the difficulties that I faced growing up in my family were worthy enough to be called “traumatic”. I didn’t know that physical abuse, emotional neglect, alcoholism and divorce could qualify me as a person who grew up with trauma, since I had survived those experiences with little to no obvious bodily damage. From the outside I looked just fine and operated from a “normal” successful adult, going thru life as expected, working hard, raising a family, taking care of aging parents etc.
I learned in being in the 8-weeks of Diana’s Childhood trauma group that the scars from my particular trauma are under the surface, easier to hide, and harder to see. I discovered that the trauma from my childhood shows up in “psychic explosions”. When the littlest thing happens, or the most silliest word said, immediately my blood pressure rises and my heart races and I’m ready to cut someone’s head off. This instantaneous anger has been a part of me for as long as I can remember, but I always wanted to attribute it to my personality flaw or being to sensitive. I thought: if only I would meditate and do more yoga, I would be cured of being overly sensitive, “hot head” or '“easily provoked”. But because it has harmed my relationships with people from the past, I found great relief after participating in the 8-week group that this was my trauma surfacing, that there wasn’t something wrong with me but there might be a path towards healing and growing in ways that I never knew possible.
I learned that “psychic explosions” can be my new sign posts to pause, (and breath very very deeply), instead of acting out the explosion from my psyche and harming someone or something with all that energy. Instead, reflect on what we learned which are “Triggers” which can show up as just about anything from a family members insensitive comment, to a side eye look from my spouse, something as trivial as spilling coffee on my pants, or my young daughter whining for my attention. I’ve learned because we have all had different childhoods with differing degrees of trauma, we each have our own flavors of triggers.
-I’ve learned, the key is to: STOP - BREATH - & PAY ATTENTION to the feelings that arise.
The 8-week group was a great introduction to the world of healing through
“Feeling ALL of MY feelings”.
It opened the door for me to start noticing my habitual feelings, and learn to pause long enough so that when a strong emotion arose, I could back track and identify what triggered that emotion.
Through out the 8 weeks, Diana was generous with her listening, guiding all of us participants through an intensely emotional journey with an open heart and created one of the first safe spaces for me to practice “feeling my feelings” Diana was especially great at keeping the energy flowing, with her grounded presence, she skillfully managed to keep things feeling light, and relaxed even though we were discussing very intense subjects.
With Diana, I felt acknowledged and really heard for one of the first times in my life, that what I had to say actually mattered. That my truth was a worthy enough story to be told. I grew so much from being part of the group and I’m eager to continue learning more about childhood trauma to further my healing.
Thank you Diana for sharing your own healing and self discovery and your deep commitment to this work, and generous listening and encouragement for all of us on this human journey!!
I highly recommend Diana and this 8 week group to anyone that seeks freedom from their past and is ready to transform their lives into one of curiosity, serenity and love.
All the best, -Erika L , San Francisco CA