North Star Conversations Transcript: Safety is the Precondition—Tovah Means, LMFT

Brandon Gimbel (00:00)

I imagine that, if not the primary, one of the primary overarching goals for your work is developing safety.

Tovah Means (00:06)

Yeah, first it's safety, which is an ongoing process. Never stops. Because what happens: you start noticing you're dissociating, and then you really start to work on it, and you realize, "Oh shoot, I built my life around this dissociation. This isn't my authentic self." And then people's life starts, in some ways, falling apart—maybe in good ways— but it feels scary, so then you have to work on safety. In order for someone to process trauma, they have to feel safe with their provider—starting the process of talking about what safety is.

Brandon Gimbel (00:32)

Safe enough to continue engaging.