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Alternatives to Therapy

  • Writer: Marley Cote
    Marley Cote
  • May 1, 2024
  • 7 min read

Here is a list of alternatives or supplements to therapy. The resources on this list are not listed in any particular order. Though there are many things listed here, there are many more that you may come up with on your own or within your community! 


As you recover from trauma, it is important to be creative, flexible, and curious. 


Organizations


Unsilenced 

  • “Our mission is to stop institutional child abuse by empowering self-advocates to promote lasting social change.”



PTSD Coach Online

  • “PTSD Coach Online is for anyone who needs help with upsetting feelings. Trauma survivors, their families, or anyone coping with stress can benefit.”

  • FAQs

  • Handouts



Wildflower alliance



Hearing Voices Network

  • “Founded in 2010, the Hearing Voices Network USA represents a partnership between individuals who hear voices or have other extreme or unusual experiences, professionals and allies in the community, all of whom are working together to change the assumptions made about these phenomenon and create supports, learning and healing opportunities for people across the country.”



The Yarrow Collective

  • “We envision a community where coercive care is no longer necessary because individuals experiencing mental distress have a broad array of effective, accessible, and safe pathways towards their own unique definition of mental wellness.”

  • Peer Support groups (in-person Fort Collins, CO and some virtual)

  • Online Groups

  • Youth Support



FolkTime

  • “By promoting a recovery-oriented support system that focuses on hope, choice, and connection, FolkTime provides training, support, and advocacy for the most vulnerable in our communities.  FolkTime is a leading organization dedicated to promoting mental health and wellness through peer support services. With a rich history spanning over 4 decades, FolkTime has established itself as a trusted and respected provider of peer support services in addition to training and technical assistance in the field of peer support. Their mission is to create inclusive communities where individuals facing mental health challenges can find understanding, connection, and support from their peers.”

  • Peer Connection Centers (Oregon City and Portland, OR) 

  • Online Support Groups


Resources


Peer support


  • Peer Respite

  • “A peer respite is a voluntary, short-term, overnight program that provides community-based, non-clinical crisis support to help people find new understanding and ways to move forward. It operates 24 hours per day in a homelike environment.Peer respites are staffed and operated by people with psychiatric histories or who have experienced trauma and/or extreme states.”

  • Available peer respites

  • App: WhiteFlag

  •  “WhiteFlag is a mental health movement designed to help people in need of support find immediate connection with people who have been there too. The beating heart of WhiteFlag is our app, a peer-to-peer messaging experience that instantly connects people seeking help with the support they need. Users are matched based on shared experiences and challenges.”



Meditation

  • Creating a sense of groundedness or feeling present within the body

  • A place in nature, a place you’ve been before, a place you’ve never been

  • Recommended to avoid places you used to hide as a child or dissociate 

  • Connecting with safe others internally

  • Animal, sacred being, or thing of nature 

  • Recommended to avoid pets as they can be a source of comfort and grief 

  • Body check-ins/scans

  • Noticing distress in the body and practicing conscious, deep breaths 

  • Noticing what relaxation or comfort feels like inside the body

  • Noticing what distress feels like and looks like inside the body

  • Being with parts of self

  • Being with the parts of you who needed a safe, secure adult

  • Reminding the parts of you that you will protect them

  • Reminding parts and self that you are an adult now with choices/options

  • Showing love, acceptance, and compassion to the parts of you most misunderstood or unseen

  • “Unblending” from parts who hold intense memories/emotions by becoming more grounded/present with the current moment 

  • Reconnecting with forgotten parts of self

  • The parts who hold traumatic memories and emotions

  • The parts who hold creativity, fabulousness, humor, play, curiosity 

  • Self-Havening

  • “Self-Havening is a wonderful stress management and resiliency building self-healing tool. It's easy to learn and apply. You'll notice the effects within minutes as this combination of cognitive behavioral therapy and psychosensory approaches work immediately to reduce anxiety and create calm.”

  • Insight Timer 

  • A free app that offers guided meditations, motivational talks, yoga classes, sound baths and more

  • iChill 

  • A free app that can help by guiding you in the use of the Community Resiliency Model, a set of wellness skills. You will learn simple information about how stress affects the mind and body.

  • Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) 

  • “This online MBSR training course is 100% free, created by a fully certified MBSR instructor, and is based on the program founded by Jon Kabat-Zinn at the University of Massachusetts Medical School.



Safety plan



Exercise

  • Martial arts

  • Kickboxing

  • Muay Thai

  • Jiu-jitsu 

  • Taekwondo 

  • Tai Chi

  • Aikido 

  • Judo

  • Jeet Kune Do

  • Capoeira

  • Hapkido

  • Yoga

  • Vinyasa yoga

  • Hatha yoga

  • Iyengar yoga

  • Kundalini yoga

  • Ashtanga yoga

  • Yin yoga

  • Restorative yoga

  • Jivamukti yoga

  • Dance

  • Tap dance

  • Folk dance

  • Hip-hop dance

  • Argentine tango dance

  • Jazz dance

  • Capoeira

  • Lambada

  • Salsa dance

  • Swing dance 

  • Running

  • Weight lifting 



CranioSacral Therapy

  • “A gentle, hands-on method of evaluating and enhancing the functioning of a physiological body system called the craniosacral system - comprising the membranes and cerebrospinal fluid that surround and protect the brain and spinal cord.”

  • Find a Practitioner



Acupuncture 

  • “A technique in which practitioners insert fine needles into the skin to treat health problems. The needles may be manipulated manually or stimulated with small electrical currents (electroacupuncture)”



Body modification

  • Piercing

  • Find a Member of the APP

  • Tattooing

  • Experimenting with clothing, hair, makeup, overall appearance 

  • Allowing self to play with what feels true to your whole identity 

  • Allowing parts of self to reclaim expression, identity, and appearance 



Gardening

  • From having a plant to an actual garden, depending on what is available and realistic

  • Practicing caretaking and mindfulness with the plant(s)

  • Noticing their growth and development

  • Noticing what it’s like to speak to and touch the plant(s)



Animals

  • Oftentimes, animals can create a sense of safety when it comes to attachment

  • If you have a pet, be mindful and intentional when spending time together, playing together, and cuddling together. 

  • Noticing the companion’s breathing, heart rate with yours

  • Noticing the feel of their fur/skin on your finger tips

  • Noticing the smell of them

  • Noticing if they attune to your distress and excitement 

  • Noticing if you attune to their distress and excitement

  • Practicing and receiving caregiving behaviors 

  • Volunteering at a local animal shelter to spend bonding time and caretaking time with animals.

  • Farm sanctuaries often rescue animals from slaughterhouses, dairy farms, and other exploitative industries. The cows, chickens, sheep, pigs, and horses at farm sanctuaries can often offer healing and understanding.

  • Farm Sanctuaries Directory



Nature



Journaling

  • Writing letters to perpetrators, failed rescuers, parts of self, or to your younger self

  • Writing letters to your emotions, memories, body sensations

  • Writing letters to your defenses and survival strategies (e.g. self-harm, substance use, eating disorders, people pleasing, perfectionism, dissociation, inner critic) 

  • Allowing parts of self and emotions to write to you about what is wrong and what is needed

  • Completing or attempting 30-day journal activities 

  • The Neurodivergent-Friendly Workbook of DBT Skills



Art

  • Drawing

  • Painting

  • Poetry

  • Creative writing 

  • Similar to journaling, you can use art to process through emotions with the same prompts. For additional work, practice bilateral stimulation by beginning the art  with your dominant hand, then switching halfway through the activity to your non-dominant hand until it feels completed/processed. 



Music

  • Listening to music

  • Listening to and reclaiming music that may have been banned or forbidden

  • Listening to music that is mood-congruent

  • Moving your body as you feel the music/vibration of sound 

  • Creating and/or producing music 



Activism

  • (Re)connecting with survivors and creating groups

  • Speaking out about your experience

  • Speaking out to safe, trusted loved ones

  • Speaking out to safe family members 

  • Speaking out publicly (if safe, if what the individual wants) 

  • Writing about and sharing your experience 

  • Joining efforts to create or support legislation to end the TTI

  • Connecting with lawyers to pursue lawsuits, obtaining records, challenging statute of limitations 

  • Calling, writing letters, emailing your local representatives about the TTI and its impact on you and fellow survivors

  • Educating and creating trainings for the community about the TTI and its impact



Volunteering

  • Volunteering with youth

  • Big Brothers/Big Sisters

  • Organizations that offer compassionate care to suicidal and/or homicidal youth

  • Volunteering with organizations fighting the TTI and/or creating legislation targeting the TTI/other forms of institutional child abuse

  • Offering support to fellow survivors 



Recommended books

*This book can be very activating for survivors due to its content 

(e.g. dehumanizing humans in psychiatric facilities, mentions of imperialism and 

the Vietnam War) as well as allegations against the author for sexual 

harassment.

  • While this book can be helpful to some survivors, it is important people are aware of these very serious concerns and issues within the book and with the author 

  • If looking for an alternative, please look into Complex PTSD (Pete Walker) or The Body Remembers (Babbette Rothschild) 


 
 
 

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