SITT for Clients

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We are all just trying to build a life we want to live in.

Where we come from and what we drag behind us can often get in the way of where we want to go. We either know, understand, and accept our stories, or our stories live us. This is true for all of us, but the implications are so much more painful for survivors of childhood trauma.

Have you asked yourself any of these questions?

  • Why does this keep happening to me?
  • Why are long-term relationships so difficult for me?
  • Why do I keep making these hurtful choices?
  • Why can’t I get comfortable in my own skin?
  • Why is control so important to me?
  • Why do I have to stay busy to feel comfortable?
  • Why must I perform or contribute to feel valued?
  • Why can’t I just feel content?

We all have a story.

Our story may be the single greatest influence in our lives. Our stories impact how we feel about ourselves, how we relate to others, how we move through the world, and even our spirituality. Our stories influence or choose our careers, partners, theology, values, ways of relating, and lifestyles.

We carry our stories with us from childhood into adulthood, impacting each new situation where it influences our thinking, behaviors, and choices. The less we know about our stories, the more influence they hold over us subconsciously.

“There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.”

- Maya Angelou

Our stories are complicated cocktails made of many ingredients:

  • The experiences we have had
  • The influence of the environments that we grew up in
  • The meaning we attach to those experiences and environments
  • The subconscious lessons we’ve learned about ourselves, others, and the world

Our stories, containing all of the above meaning, filter how we perceive the world and thus how we react to it. Some stories hold more trauma than others, but few of us escape childhood without some traumatic wounds. Disruptive or frequent moves, divorced parents, alcoholism, abuse, fearful circumstances, abandonment, bullying, body image insecurities, and impact from medical procedures, poverty, and prejudice all leave their mark on us as we grow. For some, our traumas are related to specific events. For others, the cumulative impact of environmental stressors is trauma in itself.

“You either walk into your story and own your truth, or you live outside of your story, hustling for your worthiness.”

- Brené Brown

Our experiences of these hurts, and the meaning we’ve taken from those experiences, leave us with unresolved stories. As long as these stories remain unconscious and unresolved, they will resurface and replay themselves out continuously in our daily lives. We will react to those hidden drives or we will re-enact them. This is what we are experiencing when we find ourselves repeating dysfunctional and destructive patterns in our lives.

We either know, understand, and accept our stories or our stories live us.

Story-Informed Trauma Therapy (SITT) is a process where you will be carefully guided through your own story, so that you can discover the meaning you’ve brought from those events into your adult life. Together with your therapist, you can face the true impact of those hurts, and find a new, more constructive meaning. You will finally be able to name and resolve the injuries of childhood, so that you can be released into a healthy and happy life.

Where to start?

Watch Box People

This short, delightful video tells a story that explains the impact of trauma and the life-giving results of trauma therapy.

Find a SITT Therapist

Review the SITT Therapist registry to locate a trained therapist near you who may be taking clients.

Learn About Your Story

Watch the Childhood Trauma Survivor Workshop. This 5-hour training explains how trauma has shaped your story.

Questions Clients often Ask

We can’t slay our dragons until we know where they live. After exposure to traumatic experiences or environments, we are constantly working for resolution, either consciously or subconsciously. The mind demands closure, and the body demands completion of the trauma response. If we don’t do it consciously and intentionally, we will do it subconsciously and involuntarily. The problem with letting sleeping dogs lie is that they aren’t sleeping. They are always barking in the background. Those traumatic experiences taught you lessons about life that continue to influence and limit you today. Childhood adaptive states later become adulthood maladaptive traits. It can be intimidating to think about talking through these painful experiences, but what we avoid, we empower. Only when we revisit and challenge those lessons can we truly be free from the power they hold over us.

Some of our stories carry more trauma and pain than others. However, all of our stories carry some pain. One of the ways that we defend against childhood harm is that we often minimize our hurts to protect ourselves from the pain they hold. That means that we may not recognize the significance of events until we explore them with the help of a professional. A parent’s divorce, frequent moves, being bullied, neglect, or an alcoholic parent can leave emotional scars behind. We all carry wounds away from our childhoods. Whether large or small, they impact us in significant ways. Exploring your story and the impact it has had on you and continues to have on you is worthwhile.
We often don’t remember for a reason. Trauma interferes with our normal memory processes. You may not have a “bad” memory; you may have “bad memories” you would prefer not to think about. If you don’t remember much about your childhood, be curious as to why. That may be a signal that you have important work to do on your story. A SITT-trained therapist can still help you walk through what you do know of your story to explore what answers it may hold for you.
Some do! Think of SITT as the toolbox that holds a therapist’s tools. SITT provides the structure and framework for the therapeutic journey, allowing the therapist to apply various recovery tools they have been trained in. This could include things like EMDR, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, attachment theory, somatic experiencing, internal family systems, and others. The SITT therapist is only limited by the tools they possess.
We all have a story. Your story impacts your life today. The goal of therapy is to improve your quality of life through a better understanding of yourself. If you find that you are struggling in life, then where you have been may be getting in the way of where you want to be. If you are browsing this website considering whether you could benefit from therapy, that may already be your answer. Take the step to explore whether it might be helpful to you.
We know that our stories are resolved when they no longer interfere with healthy living. We should be able to understand, accept, and share our stories authentically and without shame. Those are indicators that adequate resolution has occurred.
Even the best surgeon can’t take out their own tonsils. Self-reflection is a valuable tool, but we find ourselves still limited by a lack of perspective, knowledge, and objectivity. Most of us can benefit from a partner in our process that can bring insight and information that we may lack. That is one of the important roles of a therapist.
Find a SITT therapist who can lead you through your story. Embedded in your story are the sources of your struggles. Let them know that you are ready to explore your story and start the journey of healing.

Click here to go to the SITT registry for a list of SITT therapists in your area.

Story-Informed Trauma Therapy is growing, and more therapists are added to the registry each year, but it is often the case that there might not be one available in your area. Check the registry for any who are able to do telehealth remote sessions.