Healing Sexual Trauma Workbook: Somatic Skills to Help You Feel Safe in Your Body, Create Boundaries, and Live with Resilience

by Erika Shershun MFT

Overview

Overcome shame and stigma; and bring a newly felt sense of safety, awareness, and life to your body. 

If you’ve experienced rape, sexual abuse, molestation, or sexual trauma, you may feel as if you’ve lost your sense of self. You may have difficulty setting boundaries or building satisfying sexual relationships. Sometimes, you may even feel like your body isn’t your own. You aren’t alone. The scars of sexual trauma exist not only in the mind, but also in the body. And in order to heal, build resilience, and discover a sense of hope, you must address both.

Drawing on the powerful mind-body techniques of somatic therapy, The Healing Sexual Trauma Workbook is a step-by-step guide to overcoming the psychological effects of sexual trauma, and increasing positive body awareness and vitality. You’ll find tools to help you create an internal sense of safety and become more embodied and present. You’ll also discover ways to establish boundaries; move beyond intense feelings like shame, fear, and guilt; and deal effectively with triggers.

Finally, you’ll learn how to cultivate self-compassion and the confidence needed to live your best life. What happened to you isn’t your fault, and it doesn’t define you. With the right tools, you can live a full and satisfying life beyond sexual trauma. This workbook will help guide you, every step of the way.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781684036509
Publisher:	New Harbinger Publications
Publication date:	07/01/2021
Pages:	208
Sales rank:	117,263
Product dimensions:	7.90(w) x 9.80(h) x 0.60(d)
Age Range:	5 Years

About the Author

Erika Shershun, MFT, is a licensed psychotherapist and supervisor working in private practice in San Francisco, CA. Specializing in treating survivors of sexual assault and incest—and a survivor herself—she facilitates an ongoing weekly group, Surviving and Thriving: Healing Sexual Trauma. A graduate of the California Institute of Integral Studies clinical psychology MA program with a concentration in somatic psychology, she is a member of the California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists (CAMFT), and the United States Association for Body Psychotherapy (USABP). Erika welcomes and values diversity, including all races, sexualities, genders, body sizes, and abilities. To contact her please visit www.healingsexualtrauma.com, www.erikashershuntherapy.com, or follow her @erikashershun.

Table of Contents

Introduction 1

1 Learning to Feel Safe in Your Skin 3

2 Understanding Your Body's Responses, Cultivating Mindfulness and Self-Compassion 25

3 Sensations Are the Language Your Body Speaks 45

4 Trauma Memories and Triggers 67

5 Making Sense of Dissociation, Flashbacks, and Fear 87

6 Boundaries Are an Ongoing Process of Choice 105

7 Strengthening Your Resilience with Emotional Intelligence 127

8 Grief for All You've Lost and Reclaiming Your Sexual Power 157

9 Your Empowered Self 171

Thanks 187

References 189

Interviews

Shershun resides in San Francisco, CA.

Editorial Reviews

Erika Shershun has managed to create an invaluable handbook for the many courageous survivors of sexual trauma who are working hard to find their way back to a life of normalcy. What is particularly notable about this, among so many others, is that Shershun knows the territory directly, having found a way to access her own considerable gifts of healing both herself and others. She provides a clear path toward finding one’s way.”
—Don Hanlon Johnson, PhD, professor of somatics in the School of Consciousness and Transformation at the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS); and author and editor of several books, including Bone, Breath, and Gesture and Body, Spirit, and Democracy

Don Hanlon Johnson

This workbook is a must for anyone struggling with unhealed trauma. Erika gives tangible tips to safely move through trauma in an empowering and validating way. Learning to listen to your body and emotions is scary and hard, but Erika’s workbook makes this practice gentle, which is so needed. So many trauma survivors will be able to reclaim a part of themselves after finishing this.”
—Stevie Croisant, founder of We Are HER

Stevie Croisant

In this vital and beautiful workbook, Erika Shershun guides us through the process of understanding our sexual trauma, and ultimately working toward a place of thriving. What really emerges for me from these exercises is that she is equipping survivors with the tools and processes that embolden us to move beyond surviving to flourishing. Erika is inviting survivors on a powerful journey of transformation—and I’m grateful to her for entrusting survivors to be the drivers of that process.”
—JoEllen Chernow, cofounder and codirector of Survivors Know

JoEllen Chernow

Erika Shershun has written a much-needed, empowering resource for sexual assault survivors. Her Healing Sexual Trauma Workbook explains how trauma impacts the body, mind, and soul. It provides a comprehensive array of worksheets, body-based exercises, and support tools for recovery. It addresses concerns common to survivors that are often overlooked in treatment. And it compassionately offers the guidance, hope, and support that all survivors of sexual assault need and deserve.”
—Susanne Babbel, PhD, MFT, author of Heal the Body, Heal the Mind; and blogger for www.psychologytoday.com

Susanne Babbel

I highly recommend this compassionate and gentle book to both clients and practitioners as a tool for healing sexual abuse using somatic practices. This step-by-step guide is an excellent source of information to help survivors better understand their body’s reactions. In addition, it offers valuable instructions on everything from grounding to tapping exercises, and from practicing self-compassion to how to handle triggers and flashbacks.”
—Beverly Engel, licensed therapist, and author of Escaping Emotional Abuse and It Wasn’t Your Fault

Beverly Engel