A 500 Ft, Illustrated view of C-PTSD Recovery

What follows is probably best described as version 587. Although I've marked the illustrations as Version 3. The illustrations have gone through a few iterations, but the content, has gone through hundreds. I have no doubt there will be a hundred more iterations to come, and we need to start somewhere.

I am a student navigating my way through an MSc in the area of complex trauma and I have a lifetime of navigating the self-care, self-development, personal growth, human behaviour world. Ultimately, I found myself in this world as my Highly Functioning, Sometimes Highly Successful Self navigated life between Secretly in Despair, to Suicidal Ideation, despite my life demonstrating all the reasons in the world why I should be deeply content.

I would spend 25 years in the Mindset world looking for answers only to find myself come to a grinding halt before I would discover, C-PTSD and the Brain-Body-Mind-Soul approach to recovery.

A background in business development, tech start up, enterprise sales, communications and human behaviour has given me a healthy respect for communication, frameworks and methodology that move us a few stages into the process, before the frameworks fall into the background and used as nothing more than a guideline as we navigate the reality of a program.

My point is, taking the mind on an educational journey is often where things start. Once the mind understands the bigger picture and ideal outcome, it can more easily navigate the journey from one point to another, particularly when the journey deviates at times. This 500 Ft. View is simply an Awareness exercise. C-PTSD is both Complex and Simple. I'm focused on the 'simpl'e for this article.

To borrow from Teleology, I'd like to start with the 'End in Mind'

The outcome of this journey is to restore a brain-body-mind in communion with your soul, that co-creates with and through the material that once was unspeakable, to what is now unstoppable in a form of Service to society. You are mostly Present.

When Does One Start?

I'm afraid I don't have a packaged, easy to point to starting point, but I will say that we will either heed the signs and inner prompts, or we will find ourselves come to a grinding halt that will force an inner examination. I guess one is proactive, and other reactive. As it goes I set out all proactive for 25 years in the Mindset approach before coming to a grinding halt and then reactively embracing the Body-Brain-Mind approach.

Where Does One Start?

The good news is that the entry points to recovery are infinite. And the way you engage recovery is yours - there is zero right or wrong ways to do this. What I have found helpful is to get my head around WHAT the overall process looks like to more easily navigate recovery.

I think I spent the first 3 years in this fumbling my way through it, and now looking back, I am better able to organise the 'What" as I understand it just now. I share it here with you, in case it is helpful.

What follows is a high level, illustrated overview of C-PTSD Recovery, that narrows into a more granular explanation. In order, find following:

1. The 500 Ft. Illustrated View of C-PTSD Recovery

2. The Role of The Body in C-PTSD Recovery

3. The 8 Stages of Growth from C-PTSD

4. The 50 Ft. Illustrated View of C-PTSD Recovery

5. Worth Noting...

You can download the latest version of the HiRes PDF by hovering over Free Resources in the menu above, and dropping down to C-PTSD Recovery. As of 12 March 2024, Version 7 has been made available.