Adults often carry within themselves unexperienced childhood traumas, which form an emptiness - a “hole” in the soul. What if there was not one traumatic event, but several? What if a child's entire life is a traumatic event? Judith Herman, author of Trauma and Healing, proposes a three-step model of healing that includes: Creating safety Reconstructing the history of trauma - remembering and mourning Restoring connections between the survivor and the community B The article discusses an example of working with a client at the third stage of healing. The work uses a metaphor using plasticine and various “improvised means.” Accepting that life in danger is OVER, and you need to adapt to a new life sometimes takes a lot of time. Working with a metaphor facilitates and speeds up this process. Example from practice. Permission for publication was obtained from the client, the name has been changed. The client is a young girl, let’s call her Yana. What was happening in her parental family resembled a natural disaster that could not be controlled. Yana was not only a constant witness to serious conflicts between her parents, but also a sexual object for her father’s satisfaction. As often happens, the mother did not notice anything. Or she pretended not to notice. Yana felt as if she was in the eye of a hurricane. Now the girl lives separately from her parents, an independent life. Yana is at the third stage of healing, in the process of restoration, or rather, establishing new, healthy connections with society. “The hurricane is OVER”, while everything around is destroyed. Yana feels empty, useless, as if she is alone in a hostile world. I suggest that the girl create her own world after a hurricane from “improvised means”. Yana uses plasticine, small toys, as well as existing ones - previously sculpted plasticine figures. The photo shows “the world after the hurricane.” The almost naked doll “lying on the ground” is Yana herself. Her white hair seemed to have turned gray from experiences. The world around us is complete devastation and chaos. These are uprooted flowers, torn up earth, and only a stump remains from the tree. Yana was brought to this place by the wind, her house was destroyed. The girl was shaken badly, her whole body hurt, especially her legs and neck. She flew in a group, squeezing her head into her shoulders. The first character Yana notices is a wolf. The wolf is a predator. He can eat the girl. Besides, this is a hungry wolf, who also survived the hurricane. - I look at the wolf and I’m afraid. And suddenly I see that the wolf is also afraid. When you look into the eyes of the wolf – FEAR – for a long time, fear transforms into acceptance. Yana unconsciously knows about the presence of the wolf – the inner predator, and recognizes him when she meets him. She even knows how to behave with this part of her personality. The wolf noticed that the girl accepted him and decided to take care of her. He shared a piece of raw meat with her. The hungry girl accepted his gift, she ate the meat, saturated with strength. “The wolf and I eat the same food.” And we become close through this. The girl eats raw meat, like an animal, accepting and transforming her animal nature and aggression. After eating, she gains strength and can sit down. The wolf leaves. After encountering traumatic circumstances, many people are not aware of their internal aggression. The experience of violence causes fear of one’s own aggressive feelings, which can lead to “irreparable consequences.” Suppressing one’s own aggressiveness can lead to depression and phobic disorders. Restoring connections with split-off and projected parts of the “I” is one of the main goals of therapy. It is normal for a person who has experienced trauma to experience anger of varying intensity, up to and including anger and rage. Animals gather around Yana: a horse, a bunny, a chicken and a cat. Of all the animals, the cat stands out. His figure is without front paws, the girl explains this damage as the consequences of a hurricane, “the cat’s front paws were damaged during the hurricane.” She has a special connection with the cat, the girl believes that,a cat that has experienced physical trauma understands it better than other animals that have maintained their integrity during the hurricane. Yana gets up and finds the fabric. to cover your chest. She explains this action as a desire to take care of the “most sensitive” part of the body. And because she wants “her own family,” and in the future she will have to “breastfeed the child.” At this stage of the work, it is clear that Yana is having thoughts about the possibility of starting a family. Then the girl invites the animals that came up to her to search together of people. Only the cat accepts her offer. The cat is a pet; it will not survive alone in the “world after the hurricane.” Despite his injured paws, the cat decides to go with the girl. They go together, taking meat with them. A guide helps the transition from one age stage to another; he appears when changes are necessary. When the time comes for a girl to grow up, someone appears to help her with this. With harmonious relationships in the family, this is a mother or another more experienced woman whom the girl trusts. But, in Yana’s story, this is a cat with damaged paws. In fairy tales, the cat often accompanies the hero on his way to growing up. This is the main assistant and friend. First of all, Puss in Boots comes to mind. But the hero whom the cat accompanied was a man. And the cat had a powerful resource in the form of boots. Shoes, particularly boots, have many symbolic meanings. First of all, it facilitates movement, creates comfort and stability. Yana’s assistant moves with difficulty, perhaps this symbolizes her difficulties in the process of growing up. In addition, the girl is accompanied by a male character - a cat. Most likely, male energies still predominate in it. Our heroes, while traveling, enter the forest. In ancient times, the forest was a place for initiations - tests that must be passed in order to confirm one's maturation. In the forest, travelers meet wonderful, caring gnomes. The gnomes offer the girl and her cat companion home and security, everything necessary for life. The plot is reminiscent of the famous fairy tale “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”. - If I didn’t know who gnomes are, how would you explain this to me? - These are forest people, they are like children. I think they are asexual. I feel like a teenager with them, when there is already an understanding that people are men and women. But it is difficult to understand how to behave for representatives of different sexes. It’s as if I’m learning universal human interaction skills with gnomes. Relationships with gnomes are indeed reminiscent of the relationships of teenagers who have not yet fully accepted their sexuality and gender differences. They are just learning to build boundaries, to determine what is “possible” and what is “not allowed.” Dwarfs are similar to men, but they are not men. By communicating with them, Yana masters the first skills of good relationships. It is possible that gnomes are a collective image of a caring parental figure. Father's? The relationship between the girl and the dwarves is reminiscent of the relationship between father and daughter. A relationship that has never existed in a girl’s life. Yana lives in the house of the gnomes, accepts their care and attention, and treats them with respect. The gnomes even make prosthetic paws for the cat. One of the gnomes fries meat for the girl in a frying pan. It is as if he is helping Yana transform her aggressive impulses, making them more suitable for use. Then the gnomes give Yana a dress. The dress is a symbol of femininity, as if allowing a girl to grow up and be attractive. Yana spent some time with the gnomes in their house, then decided to continue her journey to find people. With the realization of her attractiveness, she can move on - continue the process of growing up. The cat chose to stay with the gnomes. - The cat cannot replace a man for me. He's better with gnomes. The cat thinks about himself. I thank him for being there. The gnomes gave the girl a supply of food, and she set off. This concluded our meeting today. Yana is on her way, she is moving towards a man, she no longer needs a cat as a guide. She has enough strength to move independently. The injured person has.