Sara Staggs
PsychCentral
Ghana
Contact Sara
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Check Out These Trauma Posts!
Last week I wrote that it was After Trauma’s two year anniversary. That’s a long time in the life of a blog, and also for trauma work. The previous post celebrated the top 5 most liked posts. This post is the five posts that I’m most proud of (excluding... → Read More
Two Years After Trauma: What’s New
After Trauma started 2 years ago. Since the last anniversary, I left DC Rape Crisis Center, moved to Ghana and started working with children and adults who have developmental disabilities. In the next year, I plan to move back to Washington, DC and resume... → Read More
I Want Training–Where Do I Start?
In a previous post, I discussed the development of my therapist toolbox, and how many therapists gradually integrate complementary skills that they can use with many different clients. Today, I want to go deeper where this knowledge is and how do people... → Read More
Is this Therapist a Well-Trained Professional or Unqualified Hack?
I once met an art therapist who was providing individual therapy for PTSD and had just learned what a flashback was—from the client she was treating. Yet therapist can also mean licensed clinician with years of training and supervision. Meanwhile a... → Read More
Are You Re-Enacting These Trauma Patterns in Therapy?
Patterns that reenact past traumatic relationships can be introduced into therapy by either the client or the therapist. When a client is playing out previous experiences, it can be therapeutic for therapist to skillfully manage the introduction... → Read More
4 Great Books About Trauma That You Didn’t Know Were About Trauma
I’ve been reading a lot of really good books lately that are teaching me things about trauma and I can’t resist the urge to pass along some of their wisdom. These books are not overtly about personal trauma experiences, but they teach about how systems... → Read More
Lessons from the Sea
Ever watched the tide roll in, á la Smokey Robinson? Every year seems to bring new ways to be entertained and it’s often difficult to be content watching more repetitive phenomenon, like a crackling fire or a sleeping baby. Yet both of these can be... → Read More
Body Image Trauma
As an American woman I am conditioned to dislike my body. I am especially aware of this after having lived in Ghana for more than a year, where I am most definitely not conditioned to dislike my body. Actually, I’m affirmed almost daily (no, cat... → Read More
Trauma: How to Help Firefighters and Police
In the previous post we started talking with Elizabeth Barney about trauma in first responders, like police, paramedics and firefighters. Today we continue with a discussion about trauma treatment. Q: There is often stigma for first responders to seek... → Read More
First Responder Trauma
In these next two posts, we talk to Elizabeth Barney, who has almost ten years’ experience with first responders and trauma, both as a first responder herself, and as a public health expert on responder resilience. Read more about her experience... → Read More
Travel as Treatment
Most people would agree that they feel refreshed after venturing to a new location. Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman’s Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia, by Elizabeth Gilbert further popularized the concept of a literal journey... → Read More
What Would [Role Model] Do?
I’ve been getting annoyed more than usual the last few days. I’m not sure if it’s because I’ve been dealing with some difficult people (maybe) or I’ve just been in a place that I’m more easily annoyed (maybe), but the result is the same. I’m... → Read More
Pendulum of Change: A CBT Activity
// So therapy is going well. Maybe you used to be really passive and now you’re standing up for yourself. Maybe you used be afraid to try new things, and now you dive right in. What I notice about clients who have spent their entire... → Read More
Why Are You Obsessed with Narcissists?
People diagnosed with Narcissistic Personality Disorder make up, at most, 6% of the U.S. Population and generally less in other countries (from DSM 5). Yet articles about recognizing and dealing with narcissists are so abundant that an alien reading... → Read More
Tale of 2 Disasters
Three weeks ago, Houston was inundated with 10 inches of rain. Six people died, and another of others had to be rescued from flash flooded that swept away cars and filled homes. Last week, a lot of rain was dumped on Accra, Ghana though there is no report... → Read More
Johnstown Flood: Anniversary of a Catastrophe
May 31, 1889, a small river near Pittsburgh grew to the size of the Mississippi when the South Fork Dam overflowed and then broke apart, releasing 20 million tons of water into the valley below and killing over 2,000 people. The river valley had hills... → Read More
Disaster Recovery Myths and Facts
Because PTSD is a mental health diagnosis, we usually think of trauma as an individual condition. But traumatic events happen to communities all the time and recovery happens on a community wide level. After a disaster, individual mental health recovery... → Read More
Tarot: Should It Have a Place In Your Self-Care Routine?
I generally promote evidence-based practice, so most people familiar with my work may be wondering if I got hacked. I know that Tarot isn’t for everyone, and I know that there are a lot of different ways to use it. So I’m going to be very clear about... → Read More
The Right to Say No
Because I work at a school, I get introduced to a lot of children. I usually start by holding out a hand in case they want to brush it, grasp it or go in for a hug. Sometimes a shy child draws back altogether. Unfortunately, when this happens, the child... → Read More
How to Trust People Again
If the type of trauma you experienced was abuse or assault, then there is a breach of trust and emotional harm inherent in the assault, making it difficult to trust. → Read More