Anna Morton

I grew up in a rural area outside of Belfast, Northern Ireland. We lived in the heart of a farming community with fresh vegetables, dairy products, and meat being delivered straight to our front door. My memories lend to my thinking life was simple and I was part of a closeknit community. However, in the latter part of my childhood I bore witness to an impending civil war. As the situation worsened my nuclear family made the decision to immigrate to Canada.

In adulthood, through my experiences with academia, work, life, and personal counselling, I came to understand the impact that events in my childhood had on my well-being. From a counselling relational lens I am cognizant to how collective trauma and intergenerational trauma influences our path and contributes to our trauma experience. We are affected by those who have come and gone before us. Further, we are also impacted by those we are in proximity to, who we are constantly in co-regulation with.

Our well being, our capacity to be present, to be truly in relationship with others, and to have a deeper understanding of self is directly correlated to the attachment and trauma histories of our parents or caregivers. We want and need to be in connection. The brilliance of the human condition is we have an innate capacity towards healing, we are drawn to health.