The Foundation of the 3-Phase Trauma Recovery Model
The Foundation of the 3-Phase Trauma Recovery Model
Why Stabilization Is the First Step in Trauma Recovery
In trauma therapy, we often use a three-phase model of healing to guide the process:
Stabilization – Building internal and external safety
Processing – Working through trauma material and memory
Reconnection & Growth – Reclaiming identity, meaning, and forward movement
Each phase matters, and each one builds on the other.
Some people don’t want to start therapy because they’re worried it will mean having to “talk about it”. Others expect that we have to jump straight into the heavy things. While the pacing is always a collaboration between therapist and client, the truth is that we don’t begin by diving into the deepest pain. We begin with Phase 1: stabilization—where healing truly begins.
What Is Stabilization?
Stabilization is the process of building enough safety—both inside ourselves and in our daily lives—so that we can handle distress without becoming overwhelmed.
Think of it like laying the foundation for a house. If the ground is unstable, if the foundation is weak, the entire structure is at risk of cracking or collapsing under stress. In trauma recovery, instability can show up as emotional flooding, dissociation, unhealthy coping, or relationships that feel unpredictable. Without stability, trying to process trauma can feel like trying to build on shaky ground.
Stabilization is not about avoiding the past—it’s about preparing for healing by building the skills and trust that make deeper work possible.
It’s the phase that helps us gradually develop the capacity to look at hard things—to turn toward pain with more steadiness, more choice, and less fear that we’ll be consumed by it.
This phase focuses on:
Helping the body and nervous system feel safe enough to stay present
Learning to recognize survival responses (fight, flight, freeze, fawn)
Practicing regulation tools like grounding, orienting, and breathwork
Creating consistency and boundaries in daily life
Strengthening the therapeutic relationship—learning what safety feels like with another person
Why Safety Must Come First
There’s a common adage in trauma therapy:
“We go slow to go fast.”
Trauma hijacks the nervous system—it tells us we’re in danger even when we’re not. That’s why logic alone doesn’t help. Your brain might know you’re safe, but your body doesn’t believe it yet.
Without that foundation:
Processing becomes dysregulating
People may feel stuck, numb, or emotionally flooded
Shame increases, and self-trust decreases
Therapy can feel unsafe or ineffective
It allows for being able to be more present, be more curious, and allow memories to be reprocessed in a safe manner and pace without becoming flooded.
That’s why we begin with the body, with resourcing, with pacing, with relationship. Safety is the soil that healing grows from.
A Note on Trust, History, and Readiness
For many people—especially those with complex, relational, or generational trauma—safety and trust don’t come automatically. Whether the wounds come from childhood, systems, or community history, it’s common to carry symptoms that point back to our past:
Rage
Numbing or dissociation
Unhealthy coping
Emotional shutdown
Isolation or distrust
These are not character flaws. They’re survival strategies—adaptations that made sense at one time, even if they no longer serve us.
Phase 1 matters because it helps us recognize those patterns without shame—and begin to build the capacity to stay present, even when that hasn’t felt safe before. It’s a time to practice new skills, strengthen inner awareness, and begin replacing old strategies with something more supportive.
For example, have you ever been triggered—and then coped in ways that made you feel worse afterward, or left you stuck in a cycle that didn’t truly help? Many of us have used “unhealthy” coping skills to avoid, numb, remedy, or feel in control. These might include overworking, withdrawing, lashing out, perfectionism, or substance use. They were creative survival responses. But healing asks us to get curious and explore new ways of responding.
As someone with Alaska Native heritage, I also recognize how deeply these survival responses can be woven into families, communities, and cultural history. Many in Native communities live with the echoes of:
Boarding school trauma
Disconnection from land, language, and tradition
Generations of silence, loss, and survival
Even when unspoken, these histories are carried in the body, in the nervous system, and in how we connect with others and ourselves.
Stabilization is not one-size-fits-all. For many people with complex trauma, we might spend more time here—and that’s not a setback. It’s a process of creating, and sometimes remembering, an internal sense of safety. For some, that safety might come not through a worksheet, but through land, rhythm, community, or spiritual practice.
A Simple Tool to Practice
When you're overwhelmed or your nervous system is activated, sometimes the most powerful step is to pause and repeat:
“I am safe. I can handle this. Just breathe.”
This simple phrase can remind your body and mind that you are in the present—and you are not alone in this work. It’s one way to come back to center when things feel too much.
Stabilization Isn’t a One-Time Phase
Even as we move into later stages of trauma work, stabilization continues to be important. We come back to these tools again and again, especially when life feels overwhelming.
Spending time in this phase is not wasted time—it’s the foundation that makes everything else possible in recovery.
Up Next in the Series:
Part 2 — Processing the Past in the 3-Phase Trauma Recovery Model