When my mum was alive, she had 3 terrible losses in a single year just as she retired. Her dear brother died in Canada. One of her best friends died. And her dad died.
All in the same year.
She knew that these huge losses had got ‘in amongst’ her.
They bothered her so much, she couldn’t see past them. Her heart was full of them. Her sleep was interrupted by them. It was as if the pain and loss got into her very cells.
Shortly after she was diagnosed with cancer.
Some losses are so big, and deep and significant.
Perhaps you’ve had one?
Or experienced something yourself that you can’t get over?
I know I have.
In order to heal from trauma, we need a few key ingredients.
- Warmth and curiosity
- Attention – to be seen, heard, to know we matter. Someone to focus their attention on us. Not a two way conversation where we trade war stories.
- Accompaniment – so that we aren’t alone in our pain and grief. Someone to see us. To be with us. To understand us. To witness us. To honour our experience, just as it is.
The best kind of therapy does these key things.
Over the last 15 years I have benefited from some of the best therapy in the world with my beloved teacher Sarah Peyton. On the phone, Skype and Zoom.
I’ve had a lot of traumas, big and small, old and new, over the years.
The death of my Mum when I was just 23 was one of those traumas.
The main thing about these traumas is that they left invisible traces. Scars. In my brain.
The thing about these experiences that made them trauma, was that I was alone, alarmed and alone.
Sure I have some good friends, family who were going through their own loss and shock, but no one who stuck with me, kept track of me, was there consistently, showed up completely for me. Again and again. Sarah Peyton did, with her Resonant Healing.
I’m so grateful.
You’ve heard of Fight and Flight…
And Freeze?
So, with each knock, parts of my life energy became frozen with fear, with horror, with shock, with despair, with alarmed aloneness.
And I found the right person for me to look at these many strands with.
Right now I’m on a year long training course to become a practitioner of Sarah Peyton’s Resonant Healing Language work.
She is a neuroscience educator in Portland Oregan USA. She loves reading all the scientific research papers to discover what are the elements and ingredients which actually help our brain and body to heal from trauma.
In order to be on her One Year Practitioner Program, I needed 100 hours of study with her – just to be considered to apply for the course.
If you know me, you’ll know I am a life-long learner, and had easily clocked up more than double this number of hours to qualify.
As a long term client of hers, she knows my brain structures have changed and she trusts me to offer and share this work already.
As Lucy Ascham, Pain and Trauma Facilitation, I have lots of different tools to use around listening for healing. Resonance works.
Healing takes time.
This isn’t a quick 6 week course with a certificate.
This is 3 x 5 day retreats 2-10pm for 5 days this year. Weekly practice groups to give and receive Resonance. Feedback – verbal and written from Sarah herself and her trainees and co-students. Monthly community calls to share best practice with an international cohort of students of some 60 strong. Homework. For every ingredient and every element. Transcripts of my work experience for exquisite, clear and helpful feedback. Experiential sessions with one of the recently qualified practitioners to learn how it is to receive this work with different people. A whole team of supporters for technical, practical and emotional support.
Changing my own inner structures, healing my own traumas with these tools – it all takes time.
It’s attractive to think that healing can happen in a single session. Or even a neat and tidy 6 sessions. (The number set by insurance companies in the USA.)
But in my long experience it can take years.
One loose end, one thread, one piece at a time.
I am a dedicated student of my own healing. And professionally I offer 3 different tools and modalities which I have found to be most useful for myself, to you. I have dedicated evenings, weekends and holiday time to further training and understanding and equipping myself with some great skills to better serve you.
I have over 20 years of experience as a practitioner using many different tools, and I continue to learn and grow, for myself, my family and you, my community.
I’m here at your service.
If you’d like to discuss your particular situation, loss or pain points – please call me 07949 522655 and we can have a chat and see how best I might be able to support you.
With love this Valentine’s Day
14 Feb 2024
ps prices correct at time of publication and will increase