By: Susan Perez
For many people, trauma is not a single event left behind in the past; it is a quiet force that continues to shape daily life, relationships, and creative potential. In Creating After Abuse: How to Heal from Trauma and Get on With Your Life, Dr. Lisa Cooney offers a compassionate and practical framework for understanding how trauma lingers in the body, and how healing can open the door to fuller self-expression, authentic connection, and meaningful forward movement.
Written for those who sense there is more available to them than mere coping, the book offers guidance for moving beyond fear and self-doubt into fuller participation in life.
Acknowledgment as the Gateway to Change
Rather than pushing readers toward immediate solutions, Cooney begins with a foundational shift in perspective. She emphasizes that healing does not begin with force or positivity, but with honest recognition.
“The very first step is acknowledgment without judgment,” she explains. “Most people try to change their lives while simultaneously denying, minimizing, or intellectualizing the impact of their trauma. But what we refuse to acknowledge, we cannot transform.”
This moment of acknowledgment, Cooney notes, often releases a surge of energy that had been locked in resistance. “When someone finally says, ‘Yes—this happened, it affected me, and I’m ready for something different,’ an enormous amount of energy becomes available.”
From there, healing becomes less about fixing the past and more about restoring internal safety. “Without safety, no amount of mindset work will stick. With it, change becomes not only possible but inevitable.”
Redefining What Trauma Really Is
A central theme of Creating After Abuse is the dismantling of common misconceptions that prevent people from recognizing and addressing their own trauma.
“The biggest misconception is the belief that trauma is only ‘big,’ dramatic events,” Cooney says. “In reality, trauma is any experience that overwhelms your capacity to cope.”
She points to experiences such as emotional invalidation, chronic stress, and internalized shame as forms of trauma that often go unrecognized. Another misunderstanding, she adds, is the belief that time alone heals wounds. “Time doesn’t heal it—presence does. Without intentional work, the body holds on to the unresolved patterns.”
Cooney also challenges the idea that trauma can be resolved through thought alone. “Trauma is stored in the body, not the mind,” she explains. “When people try to bypass the somatic component, they often feel like they’re failing. They’re not failing—they’re using the wrong tools.”
Restoring Safety in the Body
Unlike approaches that rely solely on insight or analysis, Cooney’s work centers on restoring a felt sense of safety. Trauma, she explains, often disconnects people from their bodies as a form of protection.
“My approach begins by teaching the body that it is safe to feel again,” she says. “Trauma disconnects us from our sensations because, at the time of the event, feeling was overwhelming.”
Through practices such as breathwork, grounding, and somatic awareness, the nervous system can begin to regulate. “Once the body feels safe, shame begins to dissolve naturally,” she notes.
The agency plays a key role in this process. “When someone learns they can make choices about how they breathe, how they move, and how they respond internally, they reconnect with their inherent power.”
Rebuilding Trust, Creativity, and Connection
Trauma’s effects often surface in disrupted relationships and unfinished projects—areas that require openness and trust. “If your nervous system is constantly scanning for danger, intimacy and creativity become secondary priorities,” Cooney explains.
One practice she introduces is the use of “micro-truths,” small moments of honest self-attunement that rebuild trust from the inside out. “When you’re honest with yourself about your sensations, your needs, and your boundaries, you build self-trust.”
She offers a simple starting point: “Pause three times today and ask yourself, ‘What is true for me in this moment?’ Don’t judge the answer—just notice it.”
What Becomes Possible After Trauma
In her work with survivors, Cooney has witnessed transformations that continue to affirm her approach. “I’ve watched clients who spent decades feeling broken suddenly reconnect with joy,” she says. “I’ve seen people who couldn’t speak about their trauma stand on stages and inspire thousands.”
What stands out most, she notes, is how quickly change can unfold once safety and truth are present. “Those moments remind me that no one is too far gone, too damaged, or too late. Healing is always possible.”
In Creating After Abuse, healing is not framed as a return to who someone was before trauma, but as an emergence into something new—an authentic sense of self that, as Cooney describes it, “often feels like coming home.”
Creating After Abuse: How to Heal from Trauma and Get on With Your Life is available now on Amazon.
Disclaimer: The content of this article is intended for informational purposes only and does not constitute medical or psychological advice. Readers are encouraged to seek appropriate professional guidance for any specific health, psychological, or personal concerns.
