“We don’t see the world as it is—we see the world as we are”- Dr. Thuy

An eccentric psychologist uses unconventional but effective experiential methodologies to transform the lives patients with complex trauma.

Psychological Significance

Change occurs when people shift their perspectives about the issues they encounter. 

In this series we demonstrate experimentally how trauma re-enactments in the group therapy process can stop the memory amplification that people create to add to their memories of their traumas over time. The memory amplification happens (because or when) people repeat traumas in their minds through mental imagery and in the world (Through news, experiences, etc) in their attempt to heal trauma. Without a more directed and intentional process, they ultimately compound their original trauma memories. Creating a trauma that is more powerful and impactful over time.

When I recreate these traumas in a safe and therapeutic group process, the patients have a corrective memory of the experience and it lessens their urge to replay the trauma, while also giving them more access to a truer perspective of how they think and feel and a better understanding of what they need.  

Mission of Once Upon a Trauma:  

  • Inspire others to see themselves and the world differently 

  • Promote the idea that change in the Self is made through perspective shifts and new ways to (discern, decode, or decipher)  

  • Change the perception of therapy and encourage the attainment of positive mental health

  • Create a social movement extolling the virtues of connecting to ourselves and others in more deeper, more meaningful, and personal ways. (or ….ways in our relationships.)

The emotional and intellectual rigor of the show is infused with humor, wit, insight, and levity to lift the human spirit of viewers who are experiencing feelings of loneliness, unworthiness, fear, low self-esteem, or being unloved.

“People Heal People” is the show’s most significant concept which is delivered to viewers in two ways.

  • Through the representation and re-creation of another person’s story and their ability to overcome drama and change their lives, viewers can vicariously experience the process themselves. One person can save many.

  • The group therapy process and the relationships shared between and amongst the group members are what leads them to their deepest healing and self-learning. This self-awareness and introspection leads to the hero we are looking for, and it is ourselves.

Therapy Modality We Are Using:
Evocative Psychotherapy

Evocative Psychotherapy: The Art of Healing Trauma

Evocative Psychotherapy is a unique synthetic psychological approach to the treatment of trauma. Combining the best elements of psychodrama, somatic experiencing, interpersonal neurobiology, and archetypal psychology, the essence of Evocative Psychotherapy is healing-through-evocation: the "calling forth" of deep developmental and relational traumatic wounds in order to experience and transform them safely. The work in Evocative Psychotherapy takes place in a carefully contained, yet highly creative group process that activates change and transformation on both the conscious and unconscious levels of the individual. Evocative Psychotherapy progressively challenges clients to work their edges and transform their pasts, teaching them how living-out unhealed trauma in the present can itself create even further trauma on top of their deep pre-existing hurt.

The small group cycle that is at the center of Evocative Psychotherapy gradually introduces participants to its core tenets and exercises so that they are prepared to work on successively deeper levels of their painful memories. Each individual has a unique experience in Evocative Psychotherapy; the features of their past traumas are engaged and worked in a way highly specific to their needs, all while experiencing tremendous support and encouragement from their fellow group members. Evocative Psychotherapy is a powerful adjunct to individual psychotherapy, and clients will emerge after each session with novel insights and experiences that they can bring back with them to process in their individual work. In many cases, Evocative Psychotherapy catalyzes clients to break through defensive postures and patterns they have held for years, even a lifetime, freeing them to pursue an expanded, connected relationship first with the Self and then with others.

Tenets of Evocative Psychotherapy

Evocative Psychotherapy or “EvoPsi” is based upon a new, cutting-edge approach to the treatment of trauma. Evocation comes from the mid-17th century Latin word evocativus - which means “called forth” - and is defined as the act of bringing forth strong images, memories, or feelings to mind.

This concept is brought to life in a unique and diverse group setting in which re-enactments of great psychological significance are created for each patient and then are dramatized in session using fellow group members to play the role of important figures from the patient’s life- mothers, fathers, siblings, or even perpetrators of past trauma.

Evocative Psychotherapy works with the reality that most trauma is created interpersonally and is effectively healed or transformed through positive and emotionally corrective human interactions. The spontaneous and experiential nature of Evocative Psychotherapy naturally calls forth unconscious psychological material in order to make it more conscious. These re-enactments involve powerful and compelling moments of heightened tension and drama that are profound, transformative and moving for participants and witnesses.