Hey everyone, welcome to the weekly consultation. I am your in-house trauma specialist, David Archer. I’m an EMDR therapy trainer and rhythm and processing strategies developer, specialized in complex trauma and all of that. What I’d like to talk about today is a very special topic. This is something that’s helpful whether you’re an EMDR therapist or you use any other modality. Stay tuned. Let me tell you a story.

After I was trained as an EMDR therapist, I was in Montreal, Canada, and I thought, I want to know what it’s like to be a client. I want to go and get a therapy session by a trained therapist. In my first session with this therapist, this was not the best therapist. She was much older than me, so I thought that maybe she might be very experienced. But from the moment I touched down on the couch, she was already trying to do the bilateral stimulation. At that point, she was trying to show me her technique. I showed her a technique. It’s called the Houdini. I left that session as fast as possible. I disappeared, and I was never seen again by that specific therapist.

A therapist doesn’t like when a client is going to walk out of the session, but in that specific situation, I knew that I needed to put my safety first. We are not to start trauma processing the moment that the client walks into the door. After we say hello, you might want to say, “How was your day?” You might want to say, “Can I get you a cup of water, some coffee, or something.” But we don’t jump into going in the depths of suffering right after we just met someone.

The Three-Phase Model for Complex Trauma Treatment

The reason why I’m explaining this is because today, I’ll be talking about the three-phase model that is applicable to EMDR therapy and really any other situation where complex trauma treatment is going to be involved. We’re going to talk about the three steps. These are the three phases. I believe Pierre Janet spoke about this. I believe that Judith Herman also spoke about this in 1992, and Vander Hart and colleagues also discussed it. It’s recommended by ISSSTD as well. This is a way that we can help people to do their trauma therapy in a way that is contained and in a way that takes into account the diversity of part systems that are within an individual.

Phase One: Stabilization

Stabilization, trauma processing, and integration. We’re going to break it down. Stabilization is what the therapist should have done. After saying hello, they do an intake, they get their questions, I answer the questions, everything is good. Stabilization is a lot about me as a client being safe in the present moment. It’s about me learning methods to manage my daily stresses, reducing actions that are going to get in the way of therapy progressing, maybe learning some visualizations, learning some mindfulness techniques, some ego-strengthening techniques, and making it so that all parts of me feel secure. If I feel as if there’s an emotional part that is stuck within suffering as a child, and certain triggers might make me get into temper tantrums, or make me feel a specific way, we want to make sure that that child can feel safe in the session. We want to make sure that all parts of me, both dissociative and non-dissociative parts, are getting along.

Phase Two: Trauma Treatment

After we are sure that the client knows they can feel okay in their body, that the client is okay in some form of co-regulation with another being, that they have sufficient skills and techniques, and we’ve assessed for dissociation, then we get into trauma treatment. Trauma treatment is phase two. What happens in phase two? That’s where the magic happens. When you think about EMDR therapy, that’s where phase four of EMDR therapy is. The desensitization in EMDR therapy’s protocol, but phase two in the three-phase protocol for complex trauma treatment, that’s where we’re going to look at the trauma history. That’s when we’re going to do the bilateral stimulation. That’s where we’re processing the trauma. That’s where we’re getting that good work going.

That can usually be one of the most challenging parts of therapy because sometimes it gets a little rough before it gets a little better. Sometimes that’s where the big feelings will start to come up in session. Most times, because you did your proper stabilization, instead of things being unplanned and explosive, it’s much more titrated. It’s much more balanced. It’s something that is done with the therapist and client working together. For me, when I’m using the rhythm and processing strategies to conceptualize this, I already have a list of trauma targets. The client is already stabilized. They’re going to choose what is the specific event they’d like to work on that specific day, and then we deal with it.

One by one, as we clear those trauma targets, what usually happens is we start to see harmony between different parts of ourselves. We get the ability to rescue parts of ourselves that may be stuck in the past. We’re able to help them and do a form of self-parenting where this younger version of ourselves can now feel accompanied in the present, feel safe, and all parts of the self can be at peace. We want to make peace with our memories of the past so we’re not overwhelmed by them and we’re not drawn into the past memories. We can instead be comfortable with all parts of ourselves and eventually form a coherent narrative of our lives as best as possible.

Phase Three: Integration

The third phase is integration. We are not asking clients to bring all their parts in one place. We’re not asking the person with dissociative identity disorder to skip the steps and just to integrate because the therapist feels good about it. No, you’re going to ask the client system what it is that works best. Some parts might want to integrate and some parts might want to keep their distance and that’s fine. Every system is unique. When I think about integration, I’m thinking about the client being able to feel at peace with themselves in time and space.

If I stayed with that actual therapist and they were able to address some of my trauma relating to experiences of racial trauma, relating to experiences of difficulty in the workplace, in childhood, and all of those kinds of things, then at that point, once I was able to make a coherent narrative and once I’ve cleared some of the big bad final boss dungeon dragon traumas, at that point, it might be safer to start to think, okay, maybe there’s some limiting beliefs about reintegrating into relationships with different types of people. After we clear the trauma targets, working on interpersonal things, it’s restoring trust between the different parts of oneself. Making it so that now they can trust this part of themselves with intimacy and maybe they can then learn to trust others with intimacy. Or maybe they are just re-establishing a proper line of communication with one of their parts so they can re-establish proper lines of communication with the parts of other people.

The Fluidity of Complex Trauma Treatment

We want to be able to make peace with ourselves in time and space and we also want to make sure that we are utilizing mental actions that allow us to be in the present moment without fear. By this time, we have reduced the actions that have been hindering us from engaging with therapy. By this time, we have probably dealt with some of the big bad difficult trauma targets and in the third phase, that’s when it’s about reintegrating and feeling okay with ourselves in relationship to other people.

However, I know I just told you these three phases, but there may be sometimes where there’s stabilization then you process a trauma. Something just happened in their life, a divorce, a breakup. We might need to stabilize again. We’re doing trauma treatment and then we get to integration and then something unexpected happens. “Oh wait, it’s because this trauma, this one just started to emerge that the dissociative barrier is no longer there. Oh, I just remembered this trauma. I can’t believe I forgot to tell you this thing in the first place.” Well, guess what? It’s a three-phase thing but it’s okay. Sometimes we might go back to stabilization. Sometimes we might go back to trauma treatment.

Sometimes after completing integration, maybe a year later, the person still needs some therapy and they come and check me out, and just like an oil change, we get them fixed up, ready to go, ready to rev their engine. I’m not a car guy, but I’m just assuming that’s a cool thing to say. All of that just to say this is the three-phase model when we’re working with complex trauma, working with complex racial trauma, borderline personality, specifically personality disorders that also have that trauma element linked with it.

I would just say for any of my cases where they’ve been desperately trying to find ways of helping themselves, been after one therapist and another therapist and another therapist: stabilization, trauma treatment, integration, and that’s it. This has been your weekly consultation where I just talk about mental health. If you have any topics you’d like for me to cover, let me know. Go to Archertherapy.com and just drop a contact and let me know. I want to make sure that the public is demystified about complex trauma, dissociation, racial trauma, and that we understand the importance of healing ourselves and helping our society to get better. That’s it for today. Many blessings. Take good care and peace.

Next Steps in Complex Trauma Treatment

Join a group consultation for EMDR therapy or Rhythm and Processing (RAP) and you can learn more about treating complex trauma in a supportive environment.