Benefits of Trauma Informed Movement

Trauma-informed movement considers a person’s personal story and individual needs. It assumes each person may have experienced some form of trauma at some point in their life and requires a sensitive approach when building trust with their practitioner.

The goal of trauma-informed movement is not to heal trauma, but rather to support individual needs with a sense of safety and empowering resilience. Trauma informed movement places emphasis on the process of movement rather than focusing on exercise outcomes. 

With trauma informed movement you are invited to explore movement with gentle curiosity and create choices for your body based on what you think is best for you on any given day. 

Here are a few benefits of trauma informed movement that I have seen in my practice:

• Creates a sense of safety in the body
• Avoids re-traumatization
• Validates trauma experiences
• Explores movement with gentle curiosity 
• Empowers choice in movement  
• Builds body trust and resilience

If you are a practitioner looking to add trauma informed care to your practice, here are three tips you can use:

• Ask clients permission during assessment and before providing treatment
• Give clients choices throughout sessions 
• Ask clients at each session if there is anything off limits to do or chat about

Do you practice trauma informed movement? If so I would love to hear about the benefits it has given you! Leave a comment below and we can discuss.