In the world of trauma treatment, especially complex PTSD, few therapist trainers are as widely recognized at Dr. Janina Fisher. She offers in-depth trauma therapy training, short webinars, and books that go in-depth. We know, though, that sometimes even a small dose of Janina Fisher quotes can be a balm and an inspiration. Everything Janina shares with us is pure gold. She is a pioneer in the field, and her psychotherapy modality (Trauma-informed Stabilization Treatment, or TIST) offers a remarkable method that helps therapists make a real and lasting difference in the lives of their clients, reducting therapist stress and burnout, and increasing true healing.
Janina Fisher Quotes
“No recovery from trauma is possible without attending to issues of safety, care for the self, reparative connections to other human beings, and a renewed faith in the universe. The therapist’s job is not just to be a witness to this process but to teach the client how,” – Dr. Janina Fisher
“We began then to see trauma-related disorders not as disorders of events but as disorders of the body, brain, and nervous system. The neurobiological lens also resulted in another paradigm shift: if the brain and body are inherently adaptive, then the legacy of trauma responses must also reflect an attempt at adaptation, rather than evidence of pathology.
Through that neurobiological lens, what appears clinically as stuckness and resistance, untreatable diagnoses, or character-disordered behavior simply represent how an individual’s mind and body adapted to a dangerous world in which the only “protection” was the very same caretaker who endangered him or her. Each symptom was an ingenious solution by the body to create some semblance of safety for the developing child or endangered adult.
The trauma-related issues with which the client presents for help, I now believe, are in truth a “red badge of courage” that tell the story of what happened even more eloquently than the events each individual consciously remembers.” ― Dr. Janina Fisher, Healing the Fragmented Selves of Trauma Survivors
“My job [as a therapist] is to help the client notice mindfully, not just intellectually, notice mindfully each part as it arises in the course of the conversation, in the course of daily life.” – Janina Fisher, Ph.D., Healing the Fragmented Selves of Trauma Survivors (Academy of Therapy Wisdom Online Training)
Join Trauma Informed Stabilization Treatment Webinar by Dr. Janina Fisher
Helping Trauma Survivors Get Unstuck: A Fragmented Selves Approach in Therapy
In This NEW Janina Fisher Webinar you will learn:
How to understand perplexing clients using the TIST perspective so you can see the fragmented selves at work.
How to organize a treatment plan using the TIST model so you have an effective approach to care.
How TIST helps shift even the most stuck clients so they can finally make progress.
How to relieve your frustration and prevent burnout with more effective trauma treatment.
on April 4, 9-10am PDT / noon-1pm EDT / 5-6pm BST
“The brain’s innate physical structure and two separate, specialized hemispheres facilitate left brain-right brain disconnection under conditions of threat. Capitalizing on the tendency of the left brain to remain positive, task-oriented, and logical under stress, these writers hypothesized that the disconnected left brain side of the personality stays focused on the tasks of daily living, while the other hemisphere fosters an implicit right brain self that remains in survival mode, braced for danger, ready to run, frozen in fear, praying for rescue, or too ashamed to do anything but submit.”
― Janina Fisher, Healing the Fragmented Selves of Trauma Survivors: Overcoming Internal Self-Alienation
“There are so many questions we can ask. The idea is we’re not searching for answers. We’re searching for curiosity because we want to light up this part of the brain. That’s what creates the pause… We light up this part of the brain, and the client goes, “Oh.” – Janina Fisher, Ph.D., Healing the Fragmented Selves of Trauma Survivors Training, Academy of Therapy Wisdom
“We make a mistake as therapists; we go straight for the vulnerability that’s simply going to be threatening to most trauma survivors… So I say let’s go first to validating they fight and flight parts´ defense of that wounded child.” – Dr. Janina Fisher, “Unresolved Trauma and Addiction Disorders”, Academy of Therapy Wisdom
“Helping clients to avoid identifying with symptoms and feelings of their parts is an important element of “parts language”, a foundational technique we use with our TIST trauma therapy clients. As we help clients notice distressing feelings and impulses as those of trauma-related parts, there is often a settling—as if the parts feel heard and can relax a bit now.” – Janina Fisher, Ph.D., Healing the Fragmented Selves of Trauma Survivors (Academy of Therapy Wisdom Online Training)
“One of the things that is counterintuitive is that when we use parts language, it actually helps our clients to take responsibility for their actions. There is something about saying, “I tried to kill myself and I have to take responsibility for that,” that’s very, very difficult for many people to do. It’s much easier for them to say, ´My suicidal part got the best of me… My alcoholic part got the best of me… My self-harming part [or my anorexic part] got the best of me.” – Janina Fisher, Ph.D., Healing the Fragmented Selves of Trauma Survivors Training, Academy of Therapy Wisdom
“Let’s not call it a narcissistic wound; it’s not a wound to pride, it’s a wound to the heart, that’s really what it is.” – Dr. Janina Fisher, “Unresolved Trauma and Addiction Disorders”, Academy of Therapy Wisdom
Ready for more than a little inspiration? Start with a free online trauma training with Janina Fisher, or a host of our other esteemed faculty. Most of our free trainings are available on demand, last under an hour, and will give you valuable insights you can apply to your very next client session.
Thank you for your dedication and service to mental health. We look forward to seeing you, to serving you, and to helping you do even more good in the world.
