Trauma Learning Library
Our Trauma Learning Library is a place for educational resources, definitions, videos, podcasts,
and recommended learning related to complex trauma, dissociation, trauma responses, and
trauma-based mind control.
Common Audiences Served
Fern & Audrey’s audience has largely grown through counseling to people who have endured severe abuse with a spiritual component, sometimes resulting in trauma-based mind control for a survivor.
When someone experiences physical, sexual, emotional, or spiritual abuse, it can be very overwhelming. They may not understand what is happening and why. To cope with such difficult situations, a child builds a defense mechanism to help them live through it. This defense mechanism is like a shield that protects them and helps them deal with unbearable situations. Fern & Audrey assist individuals in discovering and embracing the language of their hearts, enabling them to live authentically through love rather than defensive behaviors. People can cultivate deeper connections with themselves and others by understanding and communicating their true emotions.
Examples of complex issues we help counsel include:
- Ritual Sexual Abuse
- Satanic Ritual Abuse
- Developmental Trauma
- Trauma-based Mind Control
- Sexual Abuse-Child Sexual Abuse/Assault, Molestation, Rape, Sexual Harassment
- Emotional Abuse
- Loss and Violent Traumas
- PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder)
- Abandonment, and others
The CDC-Kaiser Permanente Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Study is one of the largest investigations of childhood abuse and neglect and later-life health and well-being.
What is Trauma-based mind control?
Our Definition: Trauma Based Mind Control is repetitive trauma and abuse a person endures that causes him or her to be submissive to another in their thoughts, will, emotions and choices.
Commonly Reported Reactions to Trauma are:
- Anxiety or fear of danger to self or loved ones, being alone, being in other frightening situations, having a similar event happen again.
- Avoidance of situations or thoughts that remind you of the traumatic event.
- Being easily startled by loud noises or sudden movements.
- Flashbacks with images of the traumatic event come into your mind suddenly for no apparent reason, or where you mentally re-experience the event.
- Physical symptoms such as tense muscles, trembling or shaking, nausea, headaches, sweating, and tiredness.
- Lack of interest in usual activities, including loss of appetite or interest in sex.
- Sadness, feelings of loss, or aloneness.
- Sleep problems, including getting to sleep, waking in the middle of the night, and dreams, or nightmares about the traumatic event.
- Problems with thinking, concentration, or remembering things (mainly aspects of the traumatic event).
- Preoccupation with thinking about the trauma.
- Guilt and self-doubt for not having acted in some other way during the trauma, or for being better off than others, or feeling responsible for another person’s death or injury.
- Anger or irritability at what has happened, at the senselessness of it all, at what caused the event to happen, often asking “Why me?”.
Our courses help participants:
- Understand how the mind and body adapt to overwhelming experiences
- Recognize trauma responses with greater clarity and compassion
- Develop shared language for emotions, relationships, and internal conflict
- Build a stronger foundation for understanding dissociation and complex trauma
Characteristics of People Who Have Suffered Trauma-Based Mind Control without knowing it
- They have an inexplicable feeling that their own family is dangerous, and that they don't feel safe with their parents or siblings.
- They feel guilty all the time but don't know why.
- They have a sense of self-loathing and that they deserve to hate themselves.
- They have a sense that God can't forgive them and doesn't love them, no matter what the Bible says.
- They feel detached from normal family relationships—with their spouse, children, parents, or siblings. Women in particular fear sex or find it traumatizing.
- They fear their problems are too complex to be solved.
- They feel attacked by the quotation of Scripture which ought to ordinarily comfort them.
- They interpret all of the above as a "spiritual attack" by the enemy (Satan or demons).
The Role of Dissociation in Trauma
All individuals experience dissociation; it is an adaptive response to trauma. Fern and Audrey specialize in addressing dissociation and its effects.
Dissociation is a disruption of the normal integration of experience. When a person uses dissociation as a defense mechanism, it is how a person organizes incoming information about life. This term is often misunderstood--if you break down the word and its prefix, it is: Dis (apart, or away from) Sociation (meaning to associate or to be connected.)
Dissociation is when you divide attention into two or more streams of consciousness. It is 'highway hypnosis'. An example being when on a long trip we were surprised that we went through two tunnels and 40 miles as we see the sign for our exit coming up. While we are glad that we are almost at our destination, it can be a bit unnerving that we don’t remember the trip in any detail. Dissociation compartmentalizes information and affect (emotion).
When a child experiences traumatic events that are unsurvivable, the child will learn how to organize the sensory information from these events by NOT having the events stored in the mind together to hold the memory intact as well as NOT having overwhelming emotions of the events connected to the child him/herself.
Another dissociative function or ability is to alter identity or create distance from self. (Putnam, 1999) A child surviving recurrent traumatic events will create another self to separate from what is unsurvivable and from what does not make sense. When a little girl has a bad daddy that hurts her at night she will create a little girl that “knows” about the bad happening and she will create another little girl that goes to school and does “not know”. The little girl that does “not know” can learn her ABC’s and interact with the other children at school. This use of dissociation by creating distance from self by creating “another” protects the child. When a child endures traumatic events, a God-given gift of dissociation helps the child survive what is unsurvivable.
However, God never intended us to live out of defense mechanisms, which are given to us to help us survive, but a defense mechanism is not sustainable to live for an entire life. The child's solution of dissociation eventually becomes an adult's problem. And that problem is what originally helped a child survive to keep a child’s mind safe no longer works. Eventually, a child becomes an adult and needs to learn how to grieve losses, understand emotions, develop emotional regulation skills, and live out of their heart---not a defense mechanism.
Symptoms & Signs of Dissociative Disorders include:
- Significant memory loss of specific times, people, and events
- Out-of-body experiences, such as feeling as though you are watching a movie of yourself
- Mental health problems such as depression, anxiety, and thoughts of suicide
- A sense of detachment from your emotions, or emotional numbness
- A lack of a sense of self-identity
Dissociative disorders usually develop as a way of dealing with trauma. Dissociative disorders most often form in children exposed to long-term physical, sexual or emotional abuse. Natural disasters and combat can also cause dissociative disorders.
Letters of Recommendation
"Adherence to the centrality of biblical truth and the person of Jesus"
I am pleased to write this letter of recommendation for Fern and Audrey. I have been privileged to get to know their work first-hand, collaborating in the interventions with one of my clients. Fern and Audrey stand out as exceptional in what they do in three significant ways.
First, they are extremely professional in their approach to all that they do, from scheduling contacts to personal engagement. They understand ethics and boundaries and respect these completely. While maintaining this level of professionalism, they are still able to be warm and personal, establishing excellent rapport and providing absolute levels of safety in the healing process.
The second area of exceptional ministry is their commitment to personal and professional growth. Although their educational background does not include formal training in psychology, they have invested untold amounts of resources and time into developing their knowledge and experience, equaling or even exceeding what I do as a licensed professional. Their knowledge of cutting-edge research in the field is compelling and admirable. This investment in ongoing learning is a reflection of their commitment to excellence in what they do, which I hold in high esteem.
Finally, one of the most compelling aspects of what I have observed in my collaboration with them is their adherence to the centrality of Biblical truth and the person of Jesus, while simultaneously remaining open to ongoing revelation and understanding. They are willing to have pre-suppositions challenged, which allows them to be open and affirming of perspectives brought in by their clients, without losing their theological foundations. Thus, they provide security in the healing process and in the faith context.
I am happy to recommend Fern and Audrey without reservation. I am very cautious when recommending interventions to my clients, particularly those that are very vulnerable and fragile already due to their life experiences. When I do, it is only to those in whom I have a deep level of trust in all of the areas mentioned above. Fern and Audrey are some of the few professionals I see as such, who I can without hesitation recommend to anyone in need of their specialty. I trust this perspective is helpful.
Sincerely, Carmen Ranalli Morrison, Ph.D
Licensed Psychologist
Lifegrowth Psychological Services
Boyertown, PA
"I learned more in 5 days with Fern and Audrey than all my graduate education."
I can't thank Fern and Audrey enough. As a therapist who has been working with trauma survivors for over 20 years, I thought I was pretty well equipped to help. I came with one of my clients for a week-long intensive and I learned more in those 5 days about the impact of trauma on the brain and body, and the complex implications of conditioning and shame, than I did in my entire graduate education.
The facility we stayed in was beautiful and they have thought through every detail to make sure those who come to feel safe--emotionally, physically spiritually. And the best part by far is the love and kindness that they show to everyone. Not only did we feel loved while we were there, but they have maintained a relationship with us, and stayed in contact as a much-needed resource since our return.
We are incredibly grateful for our ongoing relationship with Fern and Audrey and highly recommend it as a place of healing and hope.
Jean Crane, MA, LMHC
Care to Change
Avon, IN
Educational Resources
Dr. Michael S. Heiser
Dr. Michael S. Heiser
Dr. Michael S. Heiser
Visit Dr. Michael Heiser website for biblical studies, books, resources and more or join his Facebook community or his YouTube channel for more information.
The late Dr.Michael Heiser was a personal friend of Fern & Audrey. Michael is greatly missed here on earth but we celebrate his heavenly presence with Jesus.
A variety of blog entries about angels and demons, the doctrine of original sin, the image of God, and more are available at Miqlat.org, a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation that seeks to be a refuge for Christians looking for serious biblical content and like-minded believers committed to being the Church overseen by Dr. Michael Heiser.
The Bible Project
Dr. Michael S. Heiser
Dr. Michael S. Heiser
The Bible Project is a non-profit animation studio that produces short-form, fully animated videos to make the biblical story accessible to everyone, everywhere. They create blogs, videos, podcasts, and study guides that explore the Bible’s unified story.
Read The Bible Project blog or join their Facebook community.