Description:
Advocating for the active exploration of childhood memories and the natural avoidance that accompanies them, this book provides a clear entryway into complex and childhood trauma work, particularly in cases where tangled histories and overwhelming symptoms make it challenging for both counsellor and client to prioritize focus areas.
Review Quotes:
'This beautifully written, accessible book is an important addition to the literature on Complex Trauma. It highlights the importance of finding the impact of hidden trauma in many clinical presentations. It carefully navigates the reader into how such an exploration can be sensitively and therapeutically achieved. Emphasising the role of understandable avoidance in managing the trauma Mikhailouskaya clearly articulates, through many clinical examples, how the clinician can both appreciate and work with this avoidance. She describes how to release the 'ghosts' that can be buried in many of the presenting problems that are encountered in the consulting room. This is a must-have book for any mental health worker dealing in the delicate yet debilitating area of complex trauma.'
Peter Blake, child and adolescent psychotherapist, author of Making the Conscious Unconscious
'Kate Mikhailouskaya writes fluently, clearly and directly about the challenges and rewards of assisting clients to work through their childhood trauma. Her style is direct and personal--essential for today's world in which students and beginning counsellors are often inadequately equipped to read complex professional material that is full of specialised (and sometimes pretentious) language. For those raised with the internet and 'reading' confined to short videos and a page or two of text online, Kate's writing will bridge the gap and conveys the essence of its challenging content without disguising it in jargon. Her willingness to draw upon her personal experience as both a therapist and a client is welcome. She does not shy away from difficult issues and the challenges of client resistance to 'going there', but by the same token, she offers reassurance and comfort to her reader. 'I have learned how to do this work effectively, and so can you!'
Hugh Crago, psychotherapist in private practice, formerly Senior Lecturer in Counselling, School of Social Sciences, Western Sydney University and author of Entranced by Story (Routledge, 2014), The Stages of Life (Routledge, 2017) and The Circle Unbroken (Allen & Unwin, 1999)