Trauma-Informed coaching in a time of collective overwhelm
In today’s world, trauma is not an exception — it’s the atmosphere. Whether personal or collective, acute or cumulative, it’s something most of us carry in some form. Coaches are now witnessing more and more clients arriving in sessions not just with individual goals, but with bodies shaped by grief, anxiety, disconnection, and fatigue from living in complex times.
This doesn’t mean coaching must become therapy. But it does call for something essential: nervous system literacy, attunement, and the ability to stay present with the body's signals — yours and your client's.
What do we mean by trauma?
As Thomas Hübl notes, “The definition of trauma is not the experience itself — it’s the body’s response to that experience.”
Trauma is not just a major life event. It can be anything that overwhelms the nervous system’s capacity to cope — especially if it happens in isolation or without support. What looks minor on the outside can leave a lasting imprint inside.
In the body, trauma shows up as patterns of fight, flight, or freeze — and it doesn’t dissolve once the event is over. The imprint lingers in our physiology, often reactivated by everyday interactions that resemble the original overwhelm.
Why trauma-informed coaching matters — always
A client may show up asking for help navigating a conflict at work. But what if that conflict stirs up the same sensations they experienced as a child when faced with rejection or fear?
Even when the story is new, the nervous system remembers.
Trauma-informed coaching isn’t about treating trauma. It’s about recognising how the nervous system shows up in the coaching space — and following it with care, not force. It’s about pacing, attunement, and co-regulation. In practice, this means:
Noticing subtle shifts in tone, pace, posture, or breath.
Offering grounding rather than advice.
Listening to what the body is saying — even when the mind hasn’t caught up yet.
Attunement: the nervous system in relationship
When the nervous system feels truly met — when the client feels felt — something softens. This is the alchemy of attunement. It opens the space for greater self-awareness, self-trust, and possibility.
Sometimes this means changing the pace of a session.
Sometimes it means pausing to breathe together.
Sometimes it means saying: “Let’s slow down here — what are you noticing inside?”
Coaching in a world on fire
Today’s clients are not just bringing personal histories into the room. They’re also carrying the collective weight of war, climate crisis, injustice, and digital overload.
But before we can help them hold it — we must build the capacity to hold ourselves. Trauma-informed coaching begins within. It’s not just about learning new tools. It’s about building the inner spaciousness to stay connected, grounded, and available.
The nervous system as a guide
Your nervous system is your most intimate compass. When you coach from this place, you don’t just help your clients move toward their goals. You help them return to themselves.
This is the invitation of trauma-informed coaching:
To listen. To attune. To honour the body’s truth.
And to walk alongside — not ahead — on the path of integration.
Written by Delphine Oliver