What is trauma-informed mindfulness? Practising person-centred care

‘Trauma-informed’ or ‘trauma-sensitive’ mindfulness is a form of person-centred care. It places you in the driver’s seat.

You are in control of your trauma-informed mindfulness practice.

‘Trauma-informed’ means you choose when to do some mindfulness practice, whether to have your eyes open or closed, how to sit, lie or stand. When to stop. It means you decide the pace of your learning. There will be no surprises: you will know in advance what you are being invited to notice. You will be invited to stop at any time if you start to become agitated. Trauma-sensitive mindfulness is individual: it is constructed in a way that meets your unique needs.

For mindfulness to be helpful to you, a spirit of experimentation and curiosity will help you engage with practices that are supportive at a speed, and in a way, that feels safe, and brings a sense of steadiness. The aim is to help you find solid grounding under your feet . Each step is taken one at a time. This site is designed to let you investigate for yourself what helps, with support, and in a community of others also learning skills to support and care for themselves.

Trauma-informed mindfulness is a person-centred approach.

I approach my work according to the ethics and practice of person-centred counselling as expounded by Carl Rogers. I am not a doctor, I cannot diagnose a condition, or prescribe any course of treatment. Since you and I have not met, I cannot accurately know what is the best practice for you. In other words, I trust in the innate and unique path of the person and their inner wisdom to guide them towards their own healing.

When we take a person-centred approach to care, “I don’t know” may be a wise place to rest until such time as “I want to do this” shows up. But “I don’t know” is held within a supportive network of friends, family and carers. This can offer containment, grounding and safe holding, with respect and the sure knowledge that, at some level, you do know what is best for you, even if it takes a little while for that knowing to emerge.

This website does NOT offer clinical interventions. It is not designed to replace medical or clinical support or medication. Trauma-informed mindfulness may be helpful to you on your personal path towards healing, and may be part of other approaches you are using.

Begin your self-guided investigation by taking a look through the practices and further information offered on this site. If you are very new to these concepts, you might want to read about what mindfulness is and what trauma is. If you feel ready to start practising, head to the  7-day mindfulness courses section.