Guided Audio Resources for Healing

Resources for Healing CD Cover - image of green maple leaves with rain highlighted by sun

Why Did We Create An Audio Resource?

Guiding folks through visualizations, grounding activities, or other exercises is part of the counsellor stock-in-trade.  Here at the Victoria Sexual Assault Centre (VSAC) we often start our healing groups with some kind of a guided activity to help participants settle and be more present (in terms of their attention).  We end those sessions in a similar way.  The goal is to support people to put away the things (emotions, thoughts, etc.) that may have been brought up in the group, before they return to their daily lives.

Several years ago, we decided that our our  clients should have access to these guided activities even if we weren’t around.  Up until then, counsellors would occasionally tape a resource (e.g.a relaxation exercise) for an individual client.  There was no convenient way to make this available to many people, it was time consuming for the counsellor, and of course the audio quality of these recordings was limited.

Guided meditations and visualizations are nothing new, and are increasingly accessible through Youtube and various apps.  You might therefore wonder, why not just search out a few that we recommend, or encourage folks to hunt around for what they like?  Of course, there is nothing wrong with individuals doing their own research (in fact, I often recommend these  guided audios on the topic of self-compassion).  However, we wanted a go-to resource that we could use with confidence, knowing it would align with our approach and our way of speaking about things.

What is Resources for Healing?

Resources for Healing is the result of  months of work, research, and some serious herding of cats (in all fairness, we are a busy lot and this project was, of course, fit in between our regular activities).  The production of this resource also required some of us to step out of our usual role of counsellor and into that of (sound the fanfare) recording artist!  We were gently guided through this process by the Women’s Radio Collective at the University of Victoria’s radio station – CFUV 101.9.

Listen to Resources for Healing or download it for free here!

Why Listen to Resources for Healing?

Each of the resulting 8 tracks (not to be confused with an 8-track tape!) has a different resource, many of which we consider to be fundamental skills for establishing emotional safety.  Because trauma can result in an on-going disruption of the ability to regulate emotions,  these skills can be particularly relevant for survivors of sexualized violence.  Creating a foundation of safety is necessary for healing; thus, our CD has guided directions and imagery to help one feel grounded, connect with an inner healer, relax, create an imaginary safe place, contain distressing thoughts or emotions, or simply to breathe deeply.

… presents fundamental skills for establishing emotional safety.

Where Can I Access Resources for Healing?

Resources for Healing was initially produced as a CD and is available at our Centre on a sliding scale fee of $3-15.  Is is also available on our website where you can listen or download it for free!

By the way, if you were wondering what your author sounds like, check out track 7.  It’s 14 minutes and 11 seconds long, leaving me with another 49 seconds for my fame allotment – stay tuned!

 

 

 

 

 

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