Show Notes

Kayla: Welcome back to the Designer Practice Podcast, and I’m your host Kayla Das.

Do you help clients heal from traumatic experiences and you want to grow your arsenal of clinical interventions to better support your clients?

Or perhaps you’re looking to build your clinical skills by taking trauma trainings before you start working with clients who’ve experienced complex trauma.

In today’s episode, Monique Hoving, a Marriage and Family Therapist and Registered Clinical Counselor, will explain the Trauma Regulation and Integration Process, or otherwise known as TRIP. How it can help support clients processing traumatic experiences.

Hi Monique, welcome to the show. It’s so glad to have you here today.

Monique: Yeah. Thank you. And thanks for having me. And thanks for making the time to take a look at T. R. I. P. That’s amazing.

Kayla: Yeah. I’m super excited to hear all about it. And I think our listeners are as well. But before we dive in, please introduce yourself, where you’re from, and tell us a little bit about you and your own practice journey.

Monique: Yeah, sure. Thank you. So, I’m actually based on Vancouver Island and I have my private practice called Relationship Worx. I have been a practitioner for about 12 years. My journey started actually in Australia, where I actually did my four-year bachelor degree in clinical counseling. I actually studied the Gottman approach in Australia. And that made me very curious about learning more about working with couples. And then after 11 years in Australia. I moved to Canada to do my master’s in Marriage and Family Therapy. And so that’s been my clinical journey.

And during that time, I’ve always been very interested in working with trauma only because clients presented it any time that I was at a practicum site or after even my bachelor degree. And I just started to realize how little we actually learn about treating trauma during our educational journey.

So that’s a bit of a nutshell of where my journey has been and clinically how it’s led up to me being more curious about really wanting to, yeah, learn more about how to effectively work with trauma.

Kayla: So, tell us a little bit about the trauma regulation and integration process or TRIP. Like, how does it work? What is it?

Monique: Yeah, so basically when you look at how we function as a human we are an integrative being. And one of the things that I started to notice is that a lot of the times that we are being trained, it’s focusing on one element, either on our emotions and emotional processing or our cognitions or somatic. And. It didn’t make sense to me that if we are an integrative being, then why are we using a modality that only highlights and treats one area of us being human?

And so what started to happen is that I was trained in a particular set of techniques during my master’s program that works when I open at a time. And that led me to do an amazing amount of discoveries about how our brain and body and nervous system work. And it made me realize how important it is to actually integrate all these different elements that are impacted when we experience trauma. And so, I started to combine eye-brain techniques together with trauma focused, emotion focused strategies, incorporating somatic strategies. When you work one eye open at a time, you start to realize that the brain actually fragments and compartmentalizes significantly upon attachment distress, or traumatic experiences. And having actually been taught by Gordon Neufeld’s daughter during our master’s program, I started to really understand the depth of attachment dynamics. And so, T. R. I. P. really combines all those elements that make us human. That I believe are absolutely essential to work from an integrative perspective as trauma impacts all of that.

And so, yes, as I’m sure trauma does affect our emotions, our cognition, our body, our attachment to ourselves, but also the attachment with other people. And so, it was just essential to combine all these elements in an effective modality that cares and heals the trauma that people have lived through.

Kayla: That’s amazing. So, how does it work? What’s the process to TRIP?

Monique: So basically, what happens is that there are three consecutive processes that I’ve developed. And so how it works is that once a client actually has decided on a particular theme or topic that they wish to work through, that’s when the client actually is invited into the first part of the process called the projection process. The interesting thing is that once a client has chosen what they’d like to process. And I’ll tell a little bit more about that because clients do not have to have explicit memories. So, I just want to talk a little bit about that later on. The client can literally say to me, I don’t know what it is, but I just feel off and I’ve always felt off and I don’t know what it’s about.

Or the client might have a very chronic somatic symptom. And they’re not sure what it’s tied to and it just, no matter what they try, it just won’t go away. So, I just want to clarify that, that you don’t have to have explicit memories in order to work with TRIP. So once the client has chosen what it is they’d like to process, I invite them to cover one eye. It doesn’t matter which one they get to choose. TRIP invites a lot of choice and permission, which really empowers the client to take ownership of their process.

So, once they cover one eye, the interesting thing is your brain and nervous system will instantly connect to that experience, and what is the bizarre thing is that one eye is connected to the experience as if it’s still happening, whereby the other eye tends to be connected to how you survived and responded. to the experience. So, it’s almost like a past and present kind of an experience. And so, in the projection process, often what happens is that instantly I appear different to the client. And it ranges from mild to wild, meaning that all of a sudden, I might look like I have very angry eyes all the way to me looking like somebody with a beard.

Like I have clients instantly describe me as appearing differently or having an emotionally felt different experience. All the way to, they actually don’t know who I am. So even with clients that I’ve been working with for six, seven years, the minute that they choose to work on something that happened when they were 14. Well, obviously I wasn’t part of their life back then. So once the brain connects to that experience, that filter comes to the surface. And then the client says to me, “Well, you look familiar. But I don’t really know you.”

And it was such an interesting learning experience to know that that’s how the brain connects to the past experience. It’s not connected to the here and now. Because of dissociation. Because of compartmentalization. And that it instantly doesn’t recognize the relationship in the here and now. So the projection process really highlights the attachment projection. So that’s first and foremost, is that as the therapist, you will learn to assess what is actually showing up from an attachment perspective that is projected onto the therapist because the client might actually report– and as a therapist, you will learn different questions to ask. And you will actually start to realize that, “Oh, all the woundings that were experienced in the past are actually being perceived as if the therapist will also be angry or judgmental,” and so there’s this cognitive, visual, and somatic response to the therapist once the client has actually chosen a topic to process.

And so, it’s on the one hand, it’s assessing the attachment projection, but secondly, it’s that your nervous system– because it’s attached to your retina. So, at the back of your eye, your retina is actually a direct part of your nervous system. And so therefore your nervous system is instantly responding to how you are being perceived and how you perceive the therapist as the client is not the same between your left eye and your right eye.

And so, on the one eye, they may not recognize you because of the link to the past. And then when we switch to the other side, the client goes, “Oh, it’s you.” Why? Because that is the eye that is connected to the here and now that is connected to your survival mode. And all of a sudden “Oh yeah, no, I do recognize you here.” In that first process, we really help the nervous system by changing our distance by either moving myself backwards or forwards, or to the left or to the right. Why? Because when you think about a lot of trauma, it either has often happened right in front of your face. And so often the nervous system remembers exactly what that felt like and feel threatened either by the closeness, or if it’s, for example, attachment abandonment, me moving backwards really starts the nervous system to create a strong distortion because I am now actually moving backwards, which triggers abandonment for the client.

So, the way to regulate the client is possible by navigating the attachment proximity in that first process. I don’t know, is that, does that kind of make sense what I’m trying to explain?

Kayla: That’s so interesting. And someone who isn’t trained in trauma therapy, this is fascinating. And I know there might be some listeners out there kind of thinking this sort of sounds like EMDR, but a little different. Does this relate to EMDR? Or is it different? What’s the similarities and differences?

Monique: First of all, I’m not trained in the EMDR, so I can’t really speak to the specifics, but I have trained EMDR consultants. I train with therapists that use EMDR. It is massively different.

First of all is that we actually combine five different approaches, right? So basically, the difference is that we really, work first of all, one eye open at a time. It completely changes what comes out to the surface. Therapists that are being trained in TRIP will now tell me, Monique, how did we ever do therapy with both eyes open? Because we do not have differential access to the brain, the body, and the nervous system with both eyes open. So that’s first and foremost is that’s the access to ourselves and the internal world.

Second, it’s that we then actually regulate the nervous system through emotion focused strategies, we actually do sense making in TRIP, which basically from an attachment perspective, we help the client to understand what is happening between you and me here. So as part of all the three processes that we do, there’s a lot of sense making, like, “what are you experiencing in the here and now? Does that remind you of anything? Does that feel like an old or a new experience that we have right here?” And so, one of the things that clients that I work with who have a lot of chronic somatic symptoms will tell me is that that is what has differentiated TRIP from some of the somatic therapies for them is that they actually start to understand what this actually means. What are the somatic symptoms that are coming to the surface? How does it tie to emotional regulation, to the different parts of themselves, and the early childhood attachment dynamics?

So, the three processes are so interweaving constantly, the five different therapeutic elements that we engage so you constantly work with the different parts of you that are connected to the past or the present coping experience. It highlights the external attachment dynamics that are now actually internalized. And so that’s how it’s very, very different. Also, the three processes that we go through it’s very different from what I understand EMDR protocols actually suggest. So that’s as much as just on the surface want to share, just because there’s so many things that actually differentiates TRIP from really anything out there in a way.

Kayla: Yeah, I think that’s really great differentiating. I’m not trained in EMDR either. So, there may be some listeners that aren’t, but they know like eye movement, the sensory piece. And that’s why I wanted to learn a little bit about what does differentiate it. And it totally makes sense everything that you have identified.

Monique: There’s actually 1 piece that I like to highlight if that’s okay. What really differentiates TRIP as well? So, when we look from an attachment theory perspective, what I’ve actually discovered is that our attachment experiences shape us as we know, right? I mean, most of us that know that attachment experiences lay the foundation for how we not only see the world and relate to the world. But it also teaches us how we relate or don’t relate to ourselves.

And so, one of the things that a lot of attachment wounding and trauma does, it abandons our own emotions, needs, expression of our attachment longings. And so, what starts to happen in TRIP is that how the attachment wounding has affected us, has left us with the parts of us that are wounded, that are directly connected to that experience so that’s the part that still has access to the painful experiences.

But then, if the wounding environment didn’t care for us, didn’t take responsibility for regulating us and helping us, the coping part of us often copies the strategies that were used in the wounding environment, such as dismissing the trauma, dismissing the pain, minimizing it, or very harsh criticism. So what starts to happen is that the coping part of us, that is typically connected to the other eye, actually emulates the strategies that were used on us.

First and foremost, because if I have a harsh critical environment, first of all, I’m shaped by that. So I learned to copy it. But second, it becomes protective because if I actually am extremely critical now internally to myself, the next time my attachment figure says something harsh to me. It won’t actually bother me as much because I have now learned to treat myself way harsher. So, we call that in TRIP, staying connected at all costs. And the other eye goes, “well, actually that was way too painful. We’re never going to trust anybody.” So, the other side wants to stay protected, at all costs.

So, one of the key theoretical foundations in TRIP that is kind of differentiating TRIP from maybe some other therapies is that this internal attachment conflict that we now live with plays out every day. So, we have the wounding part that still lives with the experience as if it’s still happening. We have the coping part that has copied the attachment woundings. So unfortunately, we actually re-wound ourselves on a day-to-day basis without realizing. And one of the things that I’ve discovered is that it’s one of the things that sustains chronic somatic symptoms, is this internal conflict of staying protected at all costs to attachment figures, whether they’re dead or alive. And the other part of us that wants to stay protected at all costs. And the harsh part is, it is costing. Why? Because neither dynamic actually connects back to what we need. It doesn’t connect and take into consideration our own emotional experiences. And therefore, we actually continue to abandon ourselves in different ways. So, I wanted to kind of really highlight that because that is one of the core theoretical foundations that differentiates TRIP from a lot of the other approaches.

Kayla: That’s so fascinating. I’m curious when therapists are trained in TRIP, which skill sets can they expect to develop or improve upon as a result of the training?

Monique: Yeah. Oh, wow. Yeah, it’s a lot. So, at the moment, the TRIP training is 48 hours. And what they will actually learn is first and foremost to learn how to use the eye brain techniques that originally were from the OEI modality that I was trained in. But I further enhanced them and change them for further regulation and integration.

They will actually start to really understand how to use these new eye brain techniques. They will learn how to actually respond therapeutically differently, two different parts with one eye open at a time from an emotion focus perspective.

They will learn what I call the somatic blueprint. Now, your body does not respond with the same symptoms with the left eye open or the right eye open. So, they will actually learn how to engage in somatic regulation and then how to integrate that experience using the combination of attachment theory, somatic strategies, emotion focused strategies and the parts work.

The other skill that is extremely crucial in TRIP is what I call permission-based language that is used across the three processes. But in specific, we have the second process is the permission process. And I can tell you a little bit more about that. But so, when you’re talking about the skill set is they will learn the integrative skill set to then facilitate the three processes being the projection, the permission, and then ultimately the compassion process where we actually integrate all the trauma experiences that the client chooses to work through.

So, in a nutshell, they learn the integrative skill set. And to then use that to facilitate the three core processes that make TRIP.

Kayla: Amazing. So, if a listener is interested in learning more about TRIP and being trained in TRIP how can they connect with you? How can they learn about it?

Monique: Sure. So, first of all there is in a specific website for therapists called triptraumatherapy.com. And so that’s the website that’s really launched for therapists to learn more about the modality. It also lists an entire TRIP trained directory for therapists that have been trained. Because sometimes therapists say, “well, that’s all nice and well, but I really would like to try it before I do the training. I want to do a session myself.” So, there’s actually therapists that are listed in this database where you can actually book a session with a therapist that is trained in this. But also on the website, it will obviously talk a lot more about the processes and also what you would be learning in the different trainings.

So far, there are now five different trainings that have been developed in TRIP. And so, yeah, lots of things to learn about how this functions and what you would be learning once you become a TRIP trained therapist.

Kayla: That’s fabulous. So, if you’re interested in learning more about TRIP and being trained in TRIP, check out triptraumatherapy.com.

That’s triptraumatherapy.com

Or scroll down to the show notes and click on the link.

Monique, thank you so much for joining us on the podcast today and explaining the trauma regulation and integration process and how it helps clients.

Monique: Yeah. Thank you. And thanks for having me. And let me dive into some of the different elements of this process. I really, really appreciate your time.

Kayla: Thank you everyone for tuning into today’s episode and I hope you join me again soon on the Designer Practice Podcast.

Until next time. Bye for now.

Credits & Disclaimers

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