William Arendell

Trauma-Focused Social Work Practice
Trauma can have profound and lasting effects on individuals, often manifesting as emotional dysregulation, anxiety, and difficulty forming healthy relationships. In social work, addressing trauma requires approaches that go beyond talk therapy to engage both mind and body. Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is a structured therapy that uses bilateral stimulation to help clients reprocess traumatic memories, reducing their emotional intensity and enabling adaptive coping. Somatic Experiencing Therapy (SET) complements this by focusing on the physiological impact of trauma, guiding clients to notice and release tension held in the body. This dual approach helps clients process traumatic experiences cognitively and physically, supporting holistic healing and greater resilience.