3 Ways to Be Trauma-Informed While Leading Tapping
Tapping (also called the emotional freedom technique, or EFT) has commonly been studied and applied in trauma spaces. In this post, I’ll discuss how to lead and teach tapping in a trauma-informed way, and in another post, I discuss 5 different ways that tapping can be applied in trauma spaces.
Every person on this planet has experienced some type of trauma (even more so after the pandemic), so even though we don’t know what each person has been through, there are ways we can interact with people to minimize reactivating their trauma or otherwise causing harm. It doesn’t mean we have to walk on eggshells around everyone we encounter, but there are a few key principles to consider and precautions to take. This is the basis of being trauma-informed.
Because trauma almost always involves a person’s lack of control or choice in a situation, and because reactivation of trauma can show up as visible emotional and physical responses, the main things to consider in trauma-informed tapping are transparency, agency/choice, and observation.
Transparency. Transparency can show up as explaining to people what the tapping technique is, how you might be using it with them, explaining what any potential side effects are, and what to look out for when they tap- even if it's not a negative side effect (for example, tapping can make you yawn or sigh because it activates the parasympathetic nervous system, which is actually a good thing!). This minimizes any element of surprise, which can be harmful for trauma survivors.
Agency/Choice. When I work with my clients one on one, I might have an idea of what I want to do during our session, but one of the ways I bring agency and choice into the session is by checking in with them before we start and giving them options on how to proceed. I’ll say something like, “I’d like to process the traumatic memory this way, or we can start with this other technique today, how does that sound to you?” And even if they say, “lady, you're the practitioner, I'm here because I trust you”, I still like to ask them how they feel. They might say, “you know what, that doesn't feel safe for me today”, or “yeah, let's go for it”. And then I know that they feel really ready even if it might be a difficult or intense thing to process.
Observation of their response. Because tapping can reactivate trauma or other other intense emotions, part of being trauma-informed is being aware of when someone you're tapping with starts to get activated or upset. It’s important to learn how to recognize the emotional and physical signs of when a person isn’t feeling safe or that the tapping might be a little bit too much for them at that moment. If that happens, you can use tapping techniques that specifically calm the nervous system down. I always bring agency and choice back in by offering that, if it feels too intense, we can always stop tapping.
If you're interested in learning more about trauma and tapping and how they work together, and how you could use tapping yourself or in other trauma spaces that you are in, please check out more information about my upcoming EFT/Tapping ‘Train the Trainer’: www.jillwener.com/tappingtraining.