Survivors

Looking back to move forward

Addressing the Trauma That Holds You Back

All Gentle Path patients go through our Survivor’s Week, an in-depth workshop based on the pioneering work of Meadows Senior Fellow Pia Mellody. This essential element of our inpatient treatment program allows them to examine their childhood in a safe and nurturing environment. Patients learn to release painful emotions and heal themselves from any shame, neglect, or abandonment they experienced in the past.

Healing the Past

Unresolved childhood trauma can negatively impact present-day life. That’s why Survivors explores the origins that fuel self-defeating behaviors such as sexual addiction, substance use disorder, trauma, mood disorders, and troubling relationships. Childhood wounding is approached with compassion, and new skills are taught so participants can “re-parent” themselves. The primary focus of this workshop is processing and releasing the negative messages and emotions rooted in painful experiences from the past in order to embody the authentic self and move forward in freedom.

Healing in Three Phases

Informational

Through psychoeducation, participants are introduced to the concept of developmental immaturity and the impact of the profound relationship between the child and the major caregivers. As perceive

Debriefing

Participants explore the less-than-nurturing and/or abusive recollected childhood experiences with a focus on the accompanying associated feelings and imprinted messages, and consequent self-defe

Experiential

Participants re-examine their childhood relationships in a safe and nurturing environment through the application of Pia Mellody’s techniques for addressing childhood relational trauma. This phas

Experiential Trauma Work at Gentle Path

Survivors is just one way we introduce experiential therapy into the treatment process. We know that experiential work helps patients recognize negative emotions that trigger compulsive behaviors. Our therapies are used to help resolve emotional and mental roadblocks so they can understand how suppressing these feelings is destructive to their long-term well-being.

Experiential therapies offer patients many benefits, including a greater understanding of their authentic selves, along with promoting greater self-confidence and independence. By addressing maladaptive behaviors, patients are able to develop positive communication skills.

Our expansive array of experiential modalities include:

  • Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)
  • Equine-assisted psychotherapy
  • Expressive arts therapy
  • Somatic Experiencing

Change Your Story

Gentle Path is a safe, nurturing community composed of peers where your journey of recovery will include not just dealing with outward behaviors but examining the underlying causes. The goal is to gain the courage to face difficult issues (including grief and loss), heal from emotional trauma, and become accountable for your feelings, behaviors, and recovery. 

 

Taking that first step is hard, but there’s a new life of health and hope just waiting for you. The next chapter of your life can begin now, but only you can change your story.

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