Teresa Gil
Teresa Gil, Ph.D., is the author of Women Who Have Been Sexually Abused as Children: Mothering, Resilience, and Protecting the Next Generation. Her groundbreaking book highlights the intergenerational impact of trauma and outlines conditions necessary to break cycles of adversity through an exploration of the challenges and strengths of women navigating motherhood after childhood trauma.
Ph.D. Clinical Psychotherapist
It is part of the human condition to be challenged and experience pain, but those who live in impoverished economic conditions encounter and bear a larger biological, psychological and social burden than their counterparts with economic privilege.
—Teresa Gil, Ph.D.
Universities,
Colleges and Conferences
As a college and university professor, as well as a conference speaker, Teresa Gil teaches social work and psychology, equipping the next generation of professionals with the skills to address the complexities of trauma and its effects on individuals, families and communities. She inspires students to engage in meaningful change across systems.
Teresa also delivers training and courses on:
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Healing from abuse
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Working with the inner child
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Breaking cycles of dysfunction
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Fostering resilience
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Strengthening therapeutic relationships
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Enhancing resilient communication
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Working with diverse populations
Interviews
Breaking the Silence
with stories of strength and survival
Unraveling the veil of silence and capturing the experiences of mothers who were sexually abused as children, Teresa Gil's book offers a first step in both supporting mothers and disrupting the cycle of intergenerational abuse that keeps them isolated and alone in their mothering challenges and successes.
Each story reveals the concerns, needs, difficulties and fears these mothers confront as they parent their children while struggling with their own past experiences.
When working with abuse survivors, it's important to include the body as part of treatment. Prolonged and chronic stress states, as experienced in ongoing and cumulative abuse and maltreatment, economic poverty and the associated stressors, have both short- and long-term consequences.
After a trauma, if there is no calming person to help the person regulate their physiological stress response and abuse experience, the body will stay in the trauma experience. Instead of moving forward, the person becomes frozen in time and is at risk of viewing all future experiences through the lens of the trauma and a body that is wired for fight-flight-freeze. A body frozen in time cannot learn from new experiences.
A hyper-aroused state, wired for attack or flight, or a hypo-aroused state of collapse, makes it difficult to learn new information. Learning new and rational ways of thinking and behaving is a privilege of a non-traumatized body—a body that is out of real or perceived danger. Mind-body therapies help to reset and repair the hyper-aroused and/or hypo-aroused physiological states.
The expression of feelings is a critical component in the healing process. In fact, repression of feelings can cause distress, anxiety and depression. Survivors of abuse need a therapeutic channel to express strong feelings and have them acknowledged, understood and respected.
Some survivors fear disastrous outcomes for expressing themselves, and when they attempt to assert their needs, feelings or wishes, they are confronted with the original traumatic experience in which their efforts at self-assertion were dangerous and/or futile.
It is important to support the client in their attempts to be visible and remind them that some of their beliefs, feelings and behaviors were means of coping. As adults, the strategies that once helped are no longer adaptive. Traumatic experiences that are hidden and unexpressed continue to perpetuate the undercurrents of abuse, and the old ways of thinking and behaving are re-creating childhood dynamics of powerlessness and a lack of protection.
Many of my clients experienced an enormous amount of emotional upheaval in their lives through cumulative traumas of abuse, neglect, violence and loss. To interrupt the cycle of childhood re-enactments, the past must be explored, articulated and regulated.
When the client feels safe enough in the therapeutic process, the therapist and client can explore how the trauma has impacted their life, self-perceptions, behaviors and choices. They can also explore the dysfunctional dynamics that keep the client hostage to the past.
Holistic Healing
If we do not work on three levels—body, feeling, mind—the symptoms of our distress will keep returning, as the body goes on repeating the story stored in its cells until it is finally understood.
—Alice Miller, Psychologist
Author
Teresa Gil, Ph.D.
Teresa Gil, Ph.D., is a psychotherapist, trainer, professor and author trained in Internal Family Systems (IFS), Polyvagal Theory and Compassionate Inquiry (CI) with Gabor Mat and Sat Dharam Kaur. Her work explores the lasting effects of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) on adult functioning—how they impact the nervous systems, physical health and mental well-being. Committed to fostering healing, she takes a holistic and compassionate approach to therapy, emphasizing emotional, physical and spiritual well-being.
Teresa's mission is to empower individuals, families and communities to thrive by addressing the root causes of adversity, strengthening resiliency and fostering healing across generations.
Contact: t.gil@hvcc.edu
