Our Story
After working with clients across the trauma spectrum, Psychotherapist Xue Yang saw the need to focus her work on treating individuals experiencing acute suffering from complex trauma. While many therapists shy away from the most intense end of the trauma scale, Xue knew this is where she could make the greatest impact through The Trauma Recovery Place.
As The Trauma Recovery Place grows, we're working to extend our reach to help those who may not have access to our one-on-one therapy services. As we move forward, we aim to share and teach our Ensemble Method widely, so that those suffering the effects of trauma can once again find hope, healing and joy.
Our Beliefs
At The Trauma Recovery Place, we believe every one of us has an intrinsic intelligence that directs us toward health. We listen to, support and collaborate with this intelligence to guide us in the healing process.
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Xue Yang
Three things aroused my curiosity as a graduate student at the College of Social Work at the University of Houston, and these three things continue to inspire me as a trauma psychotherapist:
- • Humans are resilient. No matter how difficult or unbearable life appears to be, we figure out a way to endure and live another day. This spirit and energy also drive us to search for health.
- • The mind and body are connected. Complex PTSD cannot be resolved without working on both fronts – the mind must have insight and understanding, and the body must have release.
- • The loss of potential to humanity due to trauma is incalculable. When all energy is devoted to survival, there is very little left over for cultivating one’s potential.
As an intern at the Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center, I was surprised by the resilience of the chronically homeless veterans I met. I also noticed how most of them weren't present in their bodies, a state called dissociation. This observation led me to further studies as a postgraduate social work student at the Menninger Clinic; I wanted to better understand how the psyche processed and made sense out of pain and suffering.
The education I received was of great importance, however, the answer for how to treat dissociation and the distress held in the body still eluded me. This quest led me to the work of Peter A. Levine, PhD, the developer of Somatic Experiencing (SE). Dr. Levine's explanation for dissociation – that the body needs to be able to complete self-protective motor responses and release the thwarted survival energy bound within it – finally explained what I noticed in my patients. It was then that I decided to take on the arduous studies to become licensed in Somatic Experiencing. With extensive experience in treating trauma and a holistic view of the mind-body connection, I feel truly equipped and confident to help those who seek healing.
Amber R. Grant
In studying the relationship between the mind and body, I've come to know trauma as an abyss individuals desire to traverse, while pain, fear and a nervous system frozen in time keeps them stuck in patterns of dysfunction.
Through my training in integrative therapies, including craniosacral therapy, Somatic Experiencing and energy medicine, I help release restrictions in the body and gently restore the nervous system back into balance. This process results in a greater capacity for embodied aliveness and reconnection to Self, alongside a greater sense of health, choice and peace.