Seven-Phase Trauma Recovery Model

How Seven-Phase Trauma Recovery Model Works

Seven-Phase Trauma Recovery Model operates as the structural backbone of Annie’s clinical work. It carries the metaphorical architecture of the proverbial house of life: foundation, framing, upper floors, and the structural inequities (terra firma) that the whole house rests on.

• Phase 1: Safety. establishing physiological and relational safety before any trauma processing.
• Phase 2: Stabilization. nervous-system regulation tools, including guerrilla regulation tools for driven women who cannot leave the office.
• Phase 3: Naming. giving language to what happened. Psychoeducation as foundational work.
• Phase 4: Processing. working through trauma memories with appropriate clinical methods (EMDR, somatic, narrative).
• Phase 5: Integration. weaving processed material into the broader life narrative.
• Phase 6: Reconnection. to self, to others, to meaning. The slow return to full presence.
• Phase 7: Generativity. giving back what was learned. The arc of recovery completes itself in service.

Who Seven-Phase Trauma Recovery Model Serves

driven women working with the proverbial house of life. Specifically, leaders, physicians, entrepreneurs, executives, and the women who have built impressive external lives but feel a heaviness internally.

Where Seven-Phase Trauma Recovery Model Lives

Seven-Phase Trauma Recovery Model appears in the following places in Annie’s clinical work:

• Individual therapy with Annie
• Executive coaching with Annie
• Annie’s forthcoming book, The Everything Years (W.W. Norton, 2027)

Citation

If you reference this framework in your work, please cite as:

Wright, Annie. (2026). Seven-Phase Trauma Recovery Model. Annie Wright, LMFT. Retrieved from https://anniewright.com/seven-phase-trauma-recovery-model/