For Betrayed Partners
As a betrayed partner, you know that you’ve been traumatized. What you probably don’t yet fully grasp is how severely you’ve been traumatized, and the many areas of your life that are being affected. In addition, because sexual betrayal so thoroughly destroys the trust in a relationship, the impact is felt in every area of your life with your partner. The parenting, the finances, the sexual relationship, your physical health, relationships with friends and family, all these areas and more are negatively impacted by the experience of betrayal trauma.
The Betrayal Trauma Crisis and Risk Assessment Tool is designed to walk you through various areas of your life, helping you see and understand the full impact of your partner’s betrayal. In the immediate overwhelm that follows the discovery of cheating behaviors, it can be hard to sort out the kaleidoscope of feelings and the tangible effects of infidelity.
This tool has been created to help you examine your emotions and the different parts of your life that have been impacted by the betrayal, and to help you identify steps and actions you may need to take to protect and care for yourself. It may bring to your attention things you had not previously thought about, but that, upon reflection, very much need your energy and focus. Hopefully, it will help you move forward in ways that feel empowering.
Inventorying the impact of betrayal on your life in this way is a difficult and sometimes painful process. It brings an unbearable reality into even sharper focus. However, seeing, naming, and owning your new post-betrayal reality is a foundational step in moving forward toward healing.
For Therapists
The Betrayal Trauma Crisis and Risk Assessment Tool is designed to to guide you, the therapist, in making a thorough assessment of the ways that betrayal trauma has impacted your client, and to alert you to the presence of crisis issues that need immediate attention, support, and intervention. This tool will assist you in developing a comprehensive treatment strategy for addressing the various impacts of betrayal trauma. It will also help you prioritize the order in which treatment should progress, guiding you and your client as you work to identify top-level needs and concerns.
