Meet Maria
My name is Dr. Maria Bargeman and I am a trauma recovery specialist.
I chose this specialty because when I was the patient, nobody taught me how to advocate for myself in the right way.
And the reality is you might end up with a therapist or psychiatrist who isn’t a good fit for you or with a mental health professional who’s using the wrong approach that doesn’t work for you.
Learning how to navigate the trauma recovery journey can be overwhelming and disorientating.
A lot of people are claiming to be ‘trauma-informed’ these days, but the mental health system still largely doesn’t really understand the recovery process.
In fact, the best most clinicians will offer you is life-long symptom management. The concept of full recovery isn’t even discussed.
The Nerdy Stuff
10+ years as ER and intensive care nurse
Too many years pursuing the fancy advanced degrees
Doctorate in trauma-informed care
5+ years as a clinical professor
Unashamed multi-year experience as a mental health patient
Creator of The Zones of Trauma Recovery™ and The Trauma Treatment Map™
Schooled in the art of navigating a broken mind. Our bones can break, our hearts can break, and sometimes our minds do to – there’s no shame in this. And the great news is our minds can also fully heal!
My mission: revolutionize trauma care because there is a better way and every trauma- affected individual deserves to move past surviving into fully thriving
#Truth: trauma theory will only take you so far.
I have been on quite the journey over these last several years!
I nearly lost my life to PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) and recovery was very hard.
#Fact: when it comes to trauma, the idea of mind over matter is not only unhelpful, it can be really harmful.
I helplessly watched my mind shut down and at one point I fully lost the ability to read
– I couldn’t recognize letters or words. I just saw strange squiggles and lines.
Yep, things were pretty bad. While I had wonderful healthcare providers who I could tell really cared about me, I often felt like a guinea pig in treatment - let's try this, it didn't work, let's try that, it didn't work - rinse, repeat. What did work?
Finally giving myself permission to be my best advocate by creating my own recovery plan perfectly tailored to me because I know me best.
Second really important #fact: you know you best.
The truth is, there is no one-size-fits-all when it comes to trauma recovery.
There's no one-size-fits-all when it comes to trauma recovery.
The Zones of Trauma Recovery™ emerged during the darkest times of my healing journey, under the blue skies at my parents' farm, where I spent a few months recovering from a suicidal episode.
It was here that I asked myself - if I could do anything, what would my life look like?
And I realized I wanted to create a sense of meaning and purpose out of great difficulty by using my experience and clinical education to help others.
You deserve to move past surviving into fully thriving
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