These are questions many of us have no real answers to. We’ve been given a circumstance we have very little control over in the form of a worldwide pandemic: a situation that even those of us with high levels of anxiety and catastrophizing tendencies could not have prepared for.

We have been faced with this reality now more than ever: we are not fully in control. And that desire to control the uncontrollable is often what makes us feel anxious and overwhelmed.

You have experienced something that has negatively impacted your well-being. Maybe it was a one-time experience or maybe it has been recurrent, but the consequences have been long-lasting. Maybe the experience feels too big for you to overcome or maybe you feel it’s too small to be deserving of help, but if you have been negatively impacted, you should know that you can always ask for help.

When most people think of trauma, they think of significant and uncommon experiences: things like rape, a car accident, or domestic violence. And yes, those experiences are extremely traumatic, but trauma can occur in other less obvious ways as well. You can experience trauma from breakups, experiencing the loss of a loved one, inequality or exposure to violence.