Holistic Self-Care and Wellness Dimensions with Demetria Nickens
May 29, 2024Episode 5
Demetria Nickens
What Are Some Daily Methods Of Self Care To Manage Trauma?
Unlock the secrets to holistic self-care with Demetria Nickens, a seasoned trauma recovery coach and certified mental health first aid instructor. Demetria joins us on Dove's Inner B.E.A.U.T.Y. Podcast to unpack the eight dimensions of wellness outlined by SAMHSA, offering practical methods to address and manage trauma. Discover how integrating physical, emotional, financial, and intellectual wellness into your daily routine can significantly enhance your overall happiness and well-being.
Curious about the hidden impact of your busy lifestyle? Demetria challenges the conventional view of busyness, prompting us to reflect on whether our packed schedules are a form of escapism from emotional introspection. She provides invaluable strategies to help listeners identify and address the motivations behind their habits. Tune in for thought-provoking insights and actionable advice on managing trauma and fostering emotional health, regardless of how hectic your life may be.
What Are Some Daily Methods Of Self Care To Manage Trauma?
Unlock the secrets to holistic self-care with Demetria Nickens, a seasoned trauma recovery coach and certified mental health first aid instructor. Demetria joins us on Dove's Inner B.E.A.U.T.Y. Podcast to unpack the eight dimensions of wellness outlined by SAMHSA, offering practical methods to address and manage trauma. Discover how integrating physical, emotional, financial, and intellectual wellness into your daily routine can significantly enhance your overall happiness and well-being.
Curious about the hidden impact of your busy lifestyle? Demetria challenges the conventional view of busyness, prompting us to reflect on whether our packed schedules are a form of escapism from emotional introspection. She provides invaluable strategies to help listeners identify and address the motivations behind their habits. Tune in for thought-provoking insights and actionable advice on managing trauma and fostering emotional health, regardless of how hectic your life may be.
Welcome to the Dove's Inner Beauty Podcast, where we foster emotional awareness, one individual at a time. Leading the way is Demetria Nickens, a certified mental health first aid instructor and trauma recovery coach with over two decades of experience in fostering emotional awareness in others by engaging their mental health.
Speaker 2:
Discover practical everyday self-care methods to manage trauma in our insightful interview with a mental health expert. Welcome back everyone. This is Garfield Bowen, co-host slash producer, back in the studio with Demetria Nickens. Demetria, how are you doing today?
Speaker 3:
Hey, hey, hey, I'm good, I'm good.
Speaker 2:
Listen. So what are some daily methods of self-care to manage trauma?
Speaker 3:
So, honestly, when you think about self-care, I think people don't think about it. They only think about oh, I'm going to go get my hair done, I'm getting my nails done, I'm just going to relax, right? They think about just this idea of relaxation. However, I think when you think about self-care for trauma, you have to think about the all eight dimensions of wellness. So SAMHSA, the Substance Abuse, mental Health Organization right, they came up with this idea of the eight dimensions of wellness and it's really a holistic way to think about it, right? So, your finances, your environmental, your emotional, your physical, your organizational, intellectual, right? All of these eight dimensions of wellness, right, and thinking about them, all of them, right. And so when you think about healthcare I'm sorry, self-care for trauma, it's important to genuinely consider well, what do I do for my physical health? Okay, great, I go exercise, but what do you do in terms of what motivates you to go do something for your physical health too, right? So, not just think about the thing that you do, but also think about, well, what is the motivation behind it? Right, because with trauma, it's something that may be stopping you from going to do that thing, right, is it something trauma related? So, when you think about emotionally right, I'm trying to take care of my emotional well-being Great, you know. Are you journaling? You know, are you. But are you doing something such as thinking about how you react to emotions, right, how you, you know, if you're angry, do you throw things, you curse, right, how do you really think of, think through what that looks like for your life and have you ever just stopped and thought about it?
Speaker 3:
So, when I think about self-care, it is not just the thing that you're physically doing, but how you sit with, who you are as an individual and how you're making those decisions, and through all of your eight dimensions, right. So, whether that's your money, your finances, that financial piece of self-care, you know, do you take care of those finances in your house? And you know what is it that you're doing, that's, you know what are you spending your money on? Right, you know how are those decisions impacting you. You spending your money on, right, you know how are those decisions impacting you. So, when you think about trauma, trauma impacts all things, right, and so it's important to recognize that and to be able to say, okay, well, what do I do for these, all of these eight dimensions, and not just my emotional health, but every dimension of health that you can think of, to foster goodness and happiness and wellness within you.
Speaker 2:
This is some deep stuff here.
Speaker 3:
Yeah, take care, it can get deep Wow.
Speaker 2:
What about those with busy schedules that just are overwhelmed? What do they do?
Speaker 3:
I would say that they should think about. Is this busyness a part of your trauma? Do you stay busy in order to not consider your reactions to things, to not think about your emotions, to avoid sitting with yourself, right? Is this busyness a part of the trauma that you don't even recognize, right? If you stay busy, you don't have time to think about yourself. You don't have time to think about the negative things that have happened in your past, right?
Speaker 3:
So I would argue that maybe even the busyness itself could be part of a problem, right? And that you have to stop and evaluate that. You cannot pour from an empty cup, and so, if you keep yourself busy 24-7, are you really helping or doing what you're so busy doing? Are you really helping people? Are you just continuing to pour from an empty cup where you're really not pouring into anyone else? You're just continuously staying busy just to be busy. So I would question the busyness, actually, with someone like that, right, really thinking about well, why do you stay busy all the time? Why don't you take time for yourself, right? What is it that you know like? What is it? Is it money? Well, what's the motivation behind the money, right? What is that?
Speaker 2:
Where did that come from? I'm about pulling the thread One of my favorite phrases pulling the thread on the why for people, so that they really can take care of who they are. So we use the phrase getting your head right. I don't know if it aligns with this, but is there, like you know, and many people looking for quick fixes. Is there any nutrition, yogurt, yoga, prayer or just something we can do that can kind of set us in the right direction?
Speaker 3:
I think it's not necessarily. I think quick fix is, you know, when you're thinking about trauma. Unfortunately, trauma isn't a quick fix. However, I will say that I think it starts with understanding you and being able to sit with yourself. Right, if you can start to sit with yourself, then you're headed in the right direction. A lot of people can't sit with themselves because of whatever, for whatever reason, and so this is why a trauma coach is necessary, right, this ability to say this person that's willing to sit beside you because they've been there to sit with you.
Speaker 3:
In that, in some of that, when that gets hard, even if that's 20 minutes in a day, you know once a week, to say, hey, sit with yourself for a few minutes, and what does that feel like? If that's just breathing, does that breathing make you cry? You know there's something there. So to me, I wouldn't say trauma is never going to. Unfortunately, there's no quick fixes in trauma. However, I think there are ways to bite at it in short snippet and then it gets you to where you eventually really want to be.
Speaker 2:
Once again, you got some good stuff here. Love it, demetria, you have a wonderful rest of the day. We'll see you in the next episode.
Speaker 3:
Thank you.
Speaker 1:
Thank you for tuning in to the Dove's Inner Beauty Podcast, where we foster emotional awareness, one individual at a time. For a complimentary consultation, visit DovesInnerBeautycom or reach out to us via email at InnerBeauty, at DovesInnerBeautycom.