Cards to Inspire Growth, Foster Resilience, and Awaken Potential
Within the Post-Traumatic Growth Deck, Dr. Arielle Schwartz integrates her love of photography with her passion for healing through 54 images paired with guidance to illuminate the path to trauma recovery, foster resilience, and encourage post-traumatic growth. These cards offer gentle guidance and inspirational images with opportunities for self-reflection, accompanied by practices that will support you on your healing journey.
Your history does not need to define your future. These cards will expand your lens to focus on possibilities instead of just your problems, allowing you to become the alchemist who is capable of turning the lead of traumatic events into the gold of self-awareness. You are invited to move through and beyond the pain of your past as you identify the resources you need to cultivate purpose and meaning.
The Big Picture
This deck follows the arc of a Hero or Heroine’s journey in which we feel thrown into a dark night of the soul by loss or trauma. The process of trauma recovery invites you to journey inward on a quest for your Self. Trauma recovery occurs in three phases. Likewise, this deck is organized into three sections. You can think of this as the map of your healing journey:
Cards 1-18: Self-Discovery — Planting the Seeds of Potential
The first section focuses on building your coping resources to help you handle challenging emotions, disturbing symptoms, and distressing memories. The goal is to establish a sense of safety and stability within you. You can think of this as a process of planting the seeds for your growth.
Cards 19-36: Transformation — Cultivating the Fertile Ground of Resilience
Just like in a garden, the new sprouts of your growth require careful tending. The second section guides you to develop self-acceptance and self-compassion, which will assist you as you enter into your hero or heroine’s journey. You can learn to courageously turn toward your pain at a pace that feels supportive for your growth. As you release the pain of the past, you cultivate the fertile ground of resilience.
Cards 37-54: Awakening — Blooming Into Post-Traumatic Growth
In the third stage of trauma recovery, you recognize that you are stronger than you realized. You have entered the phase of post-traumatic growth. You understand that you are here to create a meaningful life in alignment with your values and strengths. It is time to discover who you really are and were always meant to be. Integrating the wounds that once may have been a source of shame or confusion allows you to reclaim a sense of dignity. You are now able to walk in the world with the knowledge that you are so much more than your trauma or pain.
How to Use this Deck
There are several ways to use this deck. You may want to work with the cards in order by starting with card number 1 and moving through the deck sequentially. However, the healing path is circuitous; therefore, you might prefer to explore these cards in a more spontaneous manner. Spread the card deck out in front of you in an arc and see if there is a title or image that you are drawn to. If you like, lay out the cards face down and pick one intuitively. Allow your inner knowing to lead the way. Trust that you will be guided to find a theme that will provide you with the support you need. Once you have chosen your card, pause and notice how you feel as you look at the image. Observe your response to the title. Then, read the description in this guidebook.
You might choose to journal about your relationship to this theme. I suggest placing your card somewhere special such as on an altar or in your journal as an anchor for your transformational journey. The length of time you spend with each card is up to you as you might stay with any given theme for a day, a week, or for many months.
Over time, I hope these cards will become companions that help to build your resilience and encourage you to bloom into your full potential.
For therapists: You can use this card deck with individual clients to support trauma treatment. Invite them to choose a card that reflects their current experience and explore what it means for them. Within group therapy, you can facilitate a healing community by inviting members to choose a card that resonates with their current experience and share with the group what it means for them.
Box Opening Share
As the hero or heroine of your own story, you are here not simply to survive but to become the creator of your life. It is time to discover who you really are and were always meant to be.
About Dr. Arielle Schwartz
Arielle Schwartz, PhD, is a psychologist, internationally sought-out teacher, yoga instructor, and leading voice in the healing of PTSD and complex trauma. She is the author of seven books, including The Complex PTSD Workbook, EMDR Therapy and Somatic Psychology, and The Post Traumatic Growth Guidebook.
Dr. Schwartz is an accomplished teacher who guides therapists in the application of EMDR, somatic psychology, parts work therapy, and mindfulness-based interventions for the treatment of trauma and complex PTSD. She guides you through a personal journey of healing in her Sounds True audio program, Trauma Recovery.
She has a depth of understanding, passion, kindness, compassion, joy, and a succinct way of speaking about very complex topics. She is the founder of the Center for Resilience Informed Therapy in Boulder, Colorado where she maintains a private practice providing psychotherapy, supervision, and consultation. Dr. Schwartz believes that that the journey of trauma recovery is an awakening of the spiritual heart.
Support for your Healing Journey
Looking for resources to support your healing journey? If the embodied self-compassion practices resonated with you, subscribe to my vagus nerve yoga classes on my YouTube Channel and learn more about this approach to healing in my books.
