95: Trauma Survivor with Lou Lebentz

Sometimes we meet people in life for the first time that we feel like we’ve known for years.  That was exactly what it felt like when I met my guest, Lou Lebentz, a few years ago through the PSA (Professional Speaking Association)

She is a well-known UK psychotherapist, EMDR specialist, trauma clinician and Founder of “Trauma Thrivers” a hugely popular trauma informed Facebook community for those in recovery from trauma and addiction.  

Previously, Lou worked in rehab at the Priory Hospital Roehampton, and before that, in both the Rag Trade and the Radio Industry.  The change in career choice made possible because of her own struggles with mental health and desperately seeking suitable treatment and wellness

Lou’s current mission now she recognizes trauma sits underneath most mental health conditions is to move beyond individual work so she can educate and trauma-inform groups.  

Lou says, “If I could help enlighten as many people as possible on how to recognise and rectify trauma within themselves and others.  Not only would that help us all do the personal work required but we could also stop repeating the mass re-traumatisation within our society, our species and ultimately our world.

Some key points from our interview:

• How she believes that human beings are unbreakable despite feeling broken at times
• How she recognises she had one trauma after another from a young age, but also feels affected by her mother’s generational trauma 
• How she was abused by a female babysitter at just aged four, but couldn’t speak about it for many years
• How she experienced sexual violence at 19 when she was raped 
• How her avoidance of all the hurt and trauma led her to numbing out by using alcohol and believed that happiness was found in money and material things 
• How she’s grateful that her drink was spiked with LSD as it led her to psychosis, rehabilitation and weeks in a psychiatric hospital, but it was also a turning point for her and woke her up to her trauma
• How she retrained as a trauma therapist to help others trauma survivors to shine again

Websites

https://traumathrivers.com/

Socials 

https://www.facebook.com/groups/traumathrivers/

https://www.instagram.com/traumathrivers_loulebentz/

https://www.facebook.com/loulebentztraumathrivers

https://www.linkedin.com/in/loulebentz/

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9oIwwwD_ZDlleY_WOpH9Xw

Podcast

https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-trauma-thrivers-podcast/id1561794822

Hosted by Madeleine Black, the show will share stories of all the amazing people Madeleine has met on her own journey as an author/speaker and these stories will heal, motivate, inspire and bring hope when they share their wisdom and knowledge with her.

You can find out more about Madeleine, her story and her memoir, Unbroken,  from her website: https://madeleineblack.co.uk/

Watch edited highlights on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/c/MadeleineBlackUnbroken

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Watch Short Vlog Versions on our You Tube Channel HERE