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Join Steven & Friends TONIGHT for "Healing differences of Grief & Trauma!" with Warriors for Life (WFL)

Join our Volunteer, Air Force Veteran, Peer Support Specialist, and Writer/Author Steven Bates TONIGHT for "Mid-Week Musings!" edition of Warriors for Life (WFL) Online, sponsored and presented by Victory for Veterans, Inc. (VFV). 


We are asking everyone to share who we are and what support that Victory for Veterans, Inc. (VFV) is providing via WFL. If you know someone who is a veteran, first responder or a family member/caregiver, please ask them to join us for at least one meeting so they can learn more about what we do and how they can share their wisdom with others who may be able to learn from them.



TONIGHT's Topic:  "Healing differences of Grief & Trauma!"


 "We all experience grief and trauma in our lives at various times and from various incidents.  The problem is, there is no end-all, one answer fits all solution to healing from either grief or trauma.  Each presents its own unique challenges to the healing process and requires individualized approaches and methods to facilitate the healing.  There are similarities to a lot of the healing processes but grief and trauma are as different as PTSD is to depression.  Both affect us in physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual areas, and each of those areas has different manifestations of presentation."



Grief is a natural, adaptive process of adjusting to loss, while trauma freezes the brain in a survival state, making healing harder because it's stuck in fear, replaying the event, and struggling to integrate the loss as history, often requiring specific trauma-focused therapy to unstick the brain and allow for natural grieving to occur. Key differences lie in the core emotion (loss vs. terror), brain response (integration vs. survival loop), and treatment goal (adapting vs. processing the threat).



Grief: A Natural Process of Loss


  • Core Experience: A natural response to the absence of something or someone important, focusing on the pain of absence.

  • Brain Response: The brain gradually adapts and integrates the loss as part of personal history, even if painful.

  • Symptoms: Deep sadness, yearning, anger, guilt, numbness, but generally less intense fear.

  • Healing Goal: To learn to live in a world without the lost person/thing, eventually finding meaning and moving forward. 



Trauma: A Survival Response to Overwhelm

 

  • Core Experience: A response to a terrifying, life-threatening, or overwhelming event (like assault, disaster, or sudden violent loss).

  • Brain Response: The brain gets stuck in a "survival loop," perceiving the loss as an ongoing threat, leading to flashbacks, hypervigilance, and difficulty processing.

  • Symptoms: Flashbacks, nightmares, feeling on edge, emotional numbness, intense fear, and difficulty feeling safe.

  • Healing Goal: To process the terrifying event and deactivate the survival response, reducing fear and allowing for integration. 


Why Healing Differs


  • Trauma Blocks Grief: Traumatic grief (when grief follows a trauma) is harder because the traumatic fear overwhelms the natural grieving process, preventing you from mourning the loss and keeping you stuck in the horror of how it happened.

  • Different Brain States: Grief allows for gradual integration, while trauma traps you in a reactive, defensive state, making it hard to accept the reality of the loss and move forward.

  • Focus of Pain: Grief's pain is about absence; trauma's pain is about terror, powerlessness, and the threat to safety. 


Healing Approaches


  • Grief: Often involves support, time, and processing emotions (e.g., stages of grief).



  • Trauma: Often requires specific trauma therapies (like EMDR or Trauma-Focused CBT) to help the brain process the event and release the fear, enabling natural grieving to resume















Join Air Force veteran, author, and Peer Support Specialist Steven Bates as we discuss the differences in healing between grief and trauma tonight with the Warriors for Life Peer Support Group presented by Victory for Veterans.


Warriors for Life (WFL) Online "Mid-Week Musings!" edition presented by Victory for Veterans, Inc. (VFV) — Wednesday (TONIGHT), February 4, 2026, @ 4:30 PM PT, 5:30 PM MT, 6:30 PM CT, & 7:30 PM ET



Thank you,


Steven Bates

Air Force Veteran, Writer/Author, Peer Support Specialist, &

Volunteer Facilitator, Victory for Veterans, Inc.


“Honor & Respect Always — Warriors for Life!”

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