about Arches Counseling and Trauma Treatment
what we do
information about trauma
information about trauma
Arches Counseling and Trauma Treatment
provides innovative somatic approaches. Somatic approaches allow and encourage clients to pay attention to their bodies and to engage in movement.
ACTT also provides treatment using traditional talking approaches, such as Narrative, Solution-focused and Cognitive Behavioral Therapies.
Because consistent and predictable engagement is an important component of the therapeutic process, ACTT offers an option for established clients to receive services remotely via telehealth. See contact information below.
Other services are listed below.
Somatic Resources:
information about trauma
information about trauma
information about trauma
Trauma can be defined as any event, series of events or circumstance that happens at a level that is too much, too fast and/or too intense for a person to process. New research confirms that the body often holds the cumulative effects of trauma, both in structure and in function. Click below for more information.
trauma, oppression & BLM
information about trauma
trauma, oppression & BLM
Arches Counseling and Trauma Treatment is committed to reducing the negative effects of trauma for all the people whose lives we touch. Interpersonal trauma, or person-to-person harm, can be some of the most complex and persistent. This might be between individuals, such as within a family, or it might happen to groups of people, such as when people are held down by racism, sexism, ageism or any of the other forms of oppression
In this time when the lasting, negative effects of white racism on Black and Indigenous People of Color are irrefutable, Arches Counseling and Trauma Treatment is committed to an Anti-Oppressive Practice stance and lends its full support to the Black Lives Matter movement. We will aim to treat all people fairly and equitably, and also to examine the ways in which our actions and relations serve to perpetuate or dismantle oppression. Our goal is to elevate the spirits of each individual, eliminati barriers, until we can all be liberated from harm, allowing us to operate as our best selves and our best communities.
"No one who has ever touched liberation could possibly want anything other than liberation for everyone."
- Rev. angel Kyodo williams
other services
other services
other services
Arches Counseling and Trauma Treatment also provides
- case-specific consultations to schools by client or guardian request
- trainings for schools and organizations on Trauma-Informed Care
- trainings on Cultural Competence and Diversity
- trauma-informed yoga and movement classes for groups and individuals
about ACTT
other services
other services
phone: 802-881-1151
email: hillary@archesctt.com
Hillary Holmes is a licensed independent clinical social worker and registered yoga teacher. She is the owner of Arches Counseling and Trauma Treatment and has been working with individuals and families impacted by trauma for over fifteen years.
During this time, she has come to understand that each individual is different. As individuals’ needs vary, so too do the needs of their families.
Working individually with the client, and if requested also with families, Hillary will help explore therapy treatment goals and select from a variety of treatment approaches to use those methods best suited to the client’s unique needs.
Learn more about Hillary by visiting her Psychology Today page.
about trauma
some symptoms of chronic trauma impacts
Growing evidence shows that, in the event of a traumatic experience, information processing happens at basic levels in the brain, and does not occur in the higher-functioning areas of the brain which assist with understanding the event. People who have experienced a trauma whose impacts remain unresolved often struggle with an overwhelming sense of unpredictability, disorganization and lack of safety. Many of the symptoms listed above are rooted in an individual's sense of a lack of control, safety and/or predictability.
Many individuals who have experienced significant trauma have developed neurological pathways, or patterns of delivery for sensory input from the body's receptor system (taste, touch, smell, hearing, touch) to the brain, that were developed in response to the initial trauma. Once those neurological pathways were created, they were available to be re-used for other traumas and also for lesser stimuli such as a slamming door or emergency siren, causing the individual to have an extreme response to a non-threatening event.
Harvard University's Center on the Developing Child has created a video that demonstrates the formation of neurological pathways.
Emerging research indicates that therapeutic interventions involving sensory input can be effective in the treatment of youth who have experienced trauma.
physiological responses
The Window of Tolerance
When a person encounters any kind of stimulus, whether positive or negative, their body creates a chemical response. These chemicals, called neurotransmitters, travel along pathways built in early childhood and reinforced by the experiences of life. Often a person's response to a new situation may be habitual, based on procedural learning.
Sometimes when too many stimuli occur in a condensed period of time (trauma), a person's emotional response, or mood, may exceed the Window of Tolerance. They may have a behavioral response that looks like either too much energy for the situation (hyper-arousal), or too little energy (hypo-arousal).
why it matters
The aim of most therapy interventions is to control the upward and downward range of moods that occur for a client. Arches Counseling and Trauma Treatment also works with clients to expand their Window of Tolerance, increasing their capacity to deal with the ups and downs of daily life.
Expanding the Window of Tolerance is also a useful way to work through roadblocks that have made it difficult for individuals to process through trauma in counseling or on their own.
somatic interventions
"Bottom-Up" processing
"Top-down" counseling rely on an individual’s ability to think clearly, to process information and arrive at a new understanding. This involves using parts of the brain, including the frontal lobe and cerebral cortex, that can be unavailable or blocked if the client is overstimulated or entering a state of emotional dysregulation. People use phrases such as "overwhelmed," "tipped over" or "triggered" to describe these feelings, which can interrupt the therapeutic process.
"Bottom-up" therapeutic methods rely on increasing an individual’s capacity for somatic regulation, tapping into functions of the brainstem. These strategies include regulating breathing, heart rate and blood pressure. Allowing a client to increase their physical organization can help them expand their Window of Tolerance to allow them better access to the therapeutic process and to top-down information processing.
Sensorimotor Psychotherapy
Sensorimotor Psychotherapy is another "bottom-up" modality. In SP, a therapist can help a person focus their attention of the sensory (five senses and internal sensations) and motor (drive for movement) input that is present when processing a traumatic event. Using this information, the therapist follows the client's lead to process through the trauma. This may have been for a single incident, such as a car accident, or it may have been a chronic trauma such as an abusive relationship. Accordingly, SP can be a brief treatment modality or a helpful component of longer, ongoing treatment.
SMART
Sensory Motor Arousal Regulation Treatment allows treatment to balance the talking component of counseling with sensory or movement-based interventions that help the client address their physiological arousal state and return to the window of tolerance. SMART uses a variety of equipment and approaches that stimulate the client's tactile, vestibular and proprioceptive systems, which increase regulation.
While the therapist has a depth of experiences available to guide the client session, it is the client who is the expert on what their body needs in any session. As the client's development proceeds from session to session, their needs often shift. Safety and increasing the client's capacity for self- and co-regulation are always the main goals.