The Strength of People Living With CPTSD If you ask most people with CPTSD how strong they are, they’ll probably laugh. Not because they think it’s funny. Because most of us don’t feel strong. And when you’re dealing with trauma of any kind, it’s easy to fall into the belief that you’re broken or weak. […]
Stef Vachon on Pride and Self-Permission
Meet Stef Stef Vachon is a proud queer man, husband, father, keynote speaker, former professional figure skater, and host of the Together Moving Forward Podcast, where he explores identity, healing, self-respect, and pride through lived experience. When did you first realize something from your past was affecting you? I didn’t realize it intellectually. I realized it […]
Attachment Styles Coping Strategies CPTSD Emotional Survival Healing & Recovery Hypervigilance Self-Care
How Being Strong Is a CPTSD Survival Habit
The Hyper-Independent Heart: When “Being Strong” is a Trauma Response Growing up, I was always the strong one. The capable one. And the one who figures it out. For some people, those sentences are a badge they wear with pride. For others, especially those living with CPTSD, they’re quiet confessions. If the adults around you […]
CPTSD CPTSD Recovery Grounding Techniques Healing Journey Healing Tools Mental Health Self-Care Trauma Recovery
CPTSD Guide: Build Daily Safety Habits
CPTSD & Everyday Safety CPTSD isn’t just “a longer, worse PTSD.” It’s a deeper pattern of how the nervous system learns safety and danger from repeated trauma, especially trauma that happened in relationships, over time, or when you couldn’t escape. It can affect your emotions, your sense of self, how you connect with others, and […]
Boundaries CPTSD CPTSD Recovery Dating & Relationships Healing Journey Mental Health Self-Awareness Trauma Recovery
Why My CPTSD Makes Me a Walking Red Flag
My Nervous System is a Red Flag (And I’m Done Apologizing For It) I’m going to throw this out there: Those of us living with CPTSD are walking red flags. Yes, that may hit hard. It might even make you want to close the page. However, let’s be real, living with CPTSD often means our […]
The 3 Stages of Trauma Healing Explained
Healing Isn’t a Smooth Arc, It’s Chapters There is a definite before, during, and after period of healing. And each stage comes with its own learning curve. Some people mistake healing for one smooth arc, when in reality it’s chapters. The Before: Survival Mode Right at the beginning. Where you don’t have language yet, just […]