Dr. Betsy Campisi
Ph.D. Cultural Anthropology
Certified Trauma Recovery Coach
Certified Life Coach
Reiki Master
Trauma Survivor
Why I Created the Joy Recovery Project
I wasted nearly 12 years in talk therapy for PTSD without resolving the trauma at all. Then my therapist abandoned me. Literally.
Here's what happened:
I first sought therapy for the depression that was preventing me from working on my doctoral dissertation. Ironically, I was writing about how a group of Cuban refugees held in camps in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba processed their trauma through artwork and communal activities, and developed an identity around their experiences. The problem was that I had no idea how badly I was suffering from trauma from working in those camps with them!
Talk therapy improved the depression enough for me to write my dissertation, but it did nothing to heal the PTSD.
To make matters worse, I had just finished the first draft when my mother was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. I was her main caregiver and she was my best friend. What transpired after that layered more trauma on top of the refugee camp trauma that had originally resulted in the PTSD.
Since now I had complex PTSD (which my therapist did not seem to even know about), I continued for nine more years with the same therapist even though it really did nothing. I didn't know any better. I didn't realize that I should have been expecting healing to occur.
One day my therapist told me she needed a vacation. Two weeks later she refused to return. No closing session and no referral to another therapist. The last thing she told me, while I protested this, was "you will always have PTSD." That felt like a slap in the face even though it was actually a testimonial to her failure to help me. I don't know whether it was the stubbornness I inherited from my mother, but that statement made me determined to prove her wrong.
Starting down my own healing path
The Joy Recovery Program
The Joy Recovery Program is a holistic four month experience that will help kickstart your healing. You will learn about the different types of traumatic experiences, what they do to your brain and nervous system, and practice self-healing techniques that been shown to work.and work on issues around shame, grief, low self esteem and self-compassion. Then you set your goals and move forward in life with more confidence and hope. If you have severe or complex PTSD and are in talk therapy, it will help you make faster progress.
It has taken me a long time to find the keys to my healing. This does not have to be your story. You can start healing now with the Joy Recovery Program.
If you resonate with this, why not book a free consult and see if it feels like a fit for you?
After all of that, I felt cynical about talk therapy so I didn't try to find another therapist. Instead, I started on my own path. first by slowing down and then by working on mindfulness about my behaviors.
I made huge strides, and felt better than I had from talk therapy. Then I went to a weekend workshop at the Kripalu Yoga Center called Breath Body Mind, taught by two psychiatrists. At first, I couldn't do the breathing rhythm properly, but by the end of the weekend I felt like a breath of fresh air had swept through my brain. I was so impressed that I became a Level 1 teacher.
The Breath Body Mind class was the reason I call my coaching business, "The Joy Recovery Project." With a more balanced nervous system I could feel joy again; it wasn't just that the yucky trauma feelings were going away. This is because when you push down trauma you also suppress your ability to feel joy. When you resolve the trauma, even if by merely regulating your nervous system, the joy can re-emerge!
For the past five years, I have been taking class after class, doing research and experimenting with the techniques that work best for trauma healing. I have also become a certified trauma recovery coach.