What is trauma therapy, and could it help me?

Trauma therapy is a broad term for therapy with a mental-health professional who is educated on the short- and long-term impacts of trauma. — Pascal Deloche/Godong/dpa

Elise Wakeland works with trauma survivors every day. The therapist’s work is difficult, she said, but it’s rewarding, too.

She wishes that everyone could see the resilience of patients who walk into her Philadelphia practice, Wakeland Psychotherapy, in the United States. If they did, she said, perhaps they would “show up” for the trauma survivors in their own lives, by asking about what happened, checking in, or just saying “I’m here for you.”