Trauma Therapy Discussion with Lana Seiler, APN Lodge (interviewed on Good Morning, Vail)
Welcome back to the studio. I love Tuesdays because we get to explore the world of health and wellness, thanks to our friends at All Points North Lodge. They are located right in Edwards. And I’m here with the Director of Trauma Services, Lana Seiler. It’s so good to have you here this morning.
Thank you.
And Lana, we’ve had been having some pretty interesting discussions on Tuesdays and when it comes to trauma services, we were talking a little bit the last time we were here about just, how to even go about starting to find a therapist. But then let’s say okay, people contact you guys. You can help us find the right person, but then when it comes to therapy, I think there’s probably a lot of questions about, then what is that?
Yeah.
What can we actually expect when it comes to trauma therapy versus, when I think of like regular therapy, I think about laying on the couch and talking to someone.
Yeah. Well, yes, we still talk to therapists. Right? So therapy is really a conversation and a relationship, a lot of the time, right? Especially general therapy, when you go and talk to a therapist, you’re going to hang out with them, talk about stuff, right? And there’s a lot of research that supports the relationship between the client and the therapist is really one of the most powerful, changing parts of therapy.
Interesting.
Meaning we get better if we have a good rapport with our therapist.
Okay.
So there’s a lot of weight in the relationship. Meaning we want to find someone that we really connect with and feel comfortable with. A guy named Alan Schore, who’s a really amazing researcher and clinician did a lot of work on right brain to right brain connections. So as you and I are sitting here right now talking my right brain is lighting up and your right brain is lighting up and they’re kind of syncing, right? So therapy sort of harnesses that power. And that’s in any relationship that you have with someone, right? So you, and I’ve done this a few times. We know each other, we’ve chitchatted. So we have a little bit of a connection. And so that’s happening for us.
Okay.
And that can be a really healing process, even just that, in and of itself. And that’s why having loving, safe relationships are so important and why therapists encourage us to form those bonds with people. So there’s a lot of benefit to what we call talk therapy, which is what I’m talking about right now. Right? So there’s a lot of benefit to that. We can work through a lot of issues with therapists in that way.
And then as you get more specific in what you’re trying to address therapists have different techniques, right? We go to school for this. We have a lot of tools in our toolbox. And so if we’re looking for help with anxiety or depression, there are different techniques that therapists use for that. There’s a lot of techniques that therapists use for emotion regulation, dialectic behavior therapy is really good for that, helping people learn how to regulate, manage their own emotions.
And I’m a trauma specialist so, I do a lot of work with trauma and trauma can be a little different because, I’ll just tell you, my dear friend Arlene’s story, who does psychodrama at All Points North Lodge. She’s amazing, wonderful. And she says it really well. She says, “We experience trauma with all of our senses.” Right? When something happens to us we experience it with all of our senses. And so a lot of times we need to do healing with all of our senses. And so trauma therapy really brings in the body and we work with different parts of the brain, more of the limbic system. And that’s why a lot of trauma therapy can be art based or movement based or like in the case of psychodrama, getting up and acting something out. So you’re re-experiencing in a safe way.
Interesting.
There’s tons of different ways to do that. I just mentioned a couple of them.
Wow.
Yeah.
Oh, my gosh, see, we’re already out of time. This is so fascinating. I really would love to keep talking to you about this. So if people are watching this and thinking, “Okay, that’s kind of resonating a little bit.” But maybe they’re still a little bit curious about like, I don’t even know where to start. What do you recommend to them?
Well, it depends. I mean, I would call us, we can help. Call the main number and we can definitely help you find someone. And it depends really on what’s going on. It would start with a conversation.
Okay.
Just like we’re doing now.
Just a conversation. So Lana, thank you for being here and also just being so open. It’s so fascinating to talk to you and I really enjoy these Tuesday conversations. But if you’re watching this and you’re thinking, “Okay, maybe this is something I need to look into.” APNlodge.com is the website. And just a great place to start if you have questions. If you’re just thinking, “Okay, maybe I need a little guidance here.” They’re wonderful. Whether it’s something that maybe to you seems really minor, or maybe it’s something a lot bigger, but APNlodge.com, great website, really good entry point to just start your journey there. Coming up next. We have a look at that local weather forecast and we do have some sunshine on the way.
