Tag Archives: #survivorstories

Upcoming Healing Support Circle Sessions 2018

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A Space to Thrive offers 2 sessions of our 12-week Healing Support Circle (HSC) each year.  Session I is offered in the Spring (January-March) and Session II is offered in the Fall (September – November).  Click here to register in FULL or to schedule a HSC INITIAL INTAKE only.  This circle is open to women, femme, and nonbinary individuals.

HSC Fall 2018

Saturdays from 10:30am-12:30pm on the following dates*
September: 1, 8, 15, 22, 29
October: 6, 13, 20, 27
November: 3, 10, 17

HSC Spring 2019

Saturdays from 10:30am-12:30pm on the following dates*
January: 12, 19, 26
February: 2, 29, 16, 23
March: 2, 9, 16, 23, 30

Fees for Healing Support Circle

  • $550.00 if paid in full before the session begins and includes an 80min individual intake assessment session; the book “Healing from Hidden Abuse,”; a journal; light refreshments at each circle; and all the creative materials used throughout the session.
  • $65 for initial intake session / $50/week pay-as-you-go fee option and includes an 80min individual intake assessment session; the book “Healing from Hidden Abuse,”; a journal; light refreshments at each circle; and all the creative materials used throughout the session.  Clients who opt for this fee plan are still responsible to pay for each of the 12 weeks in the session whether or not you attend circle that week. 

Click here to register in FULL or to schedule a HSC INITIAL INTAKE only.

*Dates are subject to change based on therapist’s schedule; clients will be notified in advance of schedule changes and a make-up session will be scheduled.  Changes may occur due to personal or professional time away from the office.

Each session runs weekly for 12-weeks and generally meets on Saturdays from 10:30am – 12:30pm.  **If there is enough of an interest (minimum 4 clients) for a weekly evening group, one will be made available.  If you are not free on Saturdays but would like to participate, please contact Jennifer at: jennifer@aspacetothrive.com or 210-382-4155.**

Trauma, Loss, and Clutter

Posted on by Thrive

Studies show that there’s a strong link between clutter (lots and lots of it) in the home and experiences of profound loss and/or trauma.  This morning my trunk is loaded with the first pile (of many) of items for the thrift store. I also filled a large city trash bin last night.

It may seem insignificant to many, but to me, this is a photo of hope. A vital sign of healing.  When you get the right combo of therapist, medicine, creative process, and resilience; and you put in the time and the tears and the work…coming back from the dead sometimes looks like 3 weeks solid of doing dishes and putting them away.

SURVIVOR LOVE NOTE: If you have overwhelming clutter in your home space, you are not alone. You are not a failure. It’s a scar from what happened to you. THERE IS HOPE!  As you address the trauma in therapy, you will begin to address the clutter in time. *Don’t start with the clutter* it will only paralyze you. The shame is real and deep, and, it isn’t yours to keep.

~coming back from the dead doesn’t happen all at once

 

Jennifer Alumbaugh, LMFT is the owner and lead therapist at A Space to Thrive.  As a survivor of complex trauma she believes in the value of her transparency around her own healing, recovery, and thriving maintenance process.  We’re all human–yes! even your therapists.  Just because we have information and resources on healing and recovery does not inoculate us against the wounds of trauma, abuse, and the actions of others.  She shares her #TransparentTherapist blogs in an effort to destigmatize mental health issues, trauma recovery, and being in a perpetual process of becoming.  Jennifer believes that her own continued therapy and wellness maintenance are a matter of ethical responsibility to her clients and her community–it is a kind of accountability for her own self-compassion and self-care practices.