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You Cannot Rise Without Rooting: The Essential First Step
‘Rooting’, a step often missed in therapy, involves building the scaffolding or foundations from which to grow. It is what determines whether change becomes sustainable or collapses under pressure. And yet, it’s the phase most therapies unintentionally underestimate.
What Does It Mean to “Root” in Trauma-Informed Therapy?
To root is to create the internal and external conditions that make healing possible.
It’s the stabilising work that often looks slow, subtle or “not enough.” But rooting is the foundation every transformation depends on. But because it is often less tangible we often overlook it, especially for clients navigating anxiety, stress or trauma. Our brains are wired to place value on more tangible things such as visible progress, quick results, structured coping strategies or behavioural changes. The kind of steps many people expect when they begin psychological support. In practical terms, rooting includes:
• Nervous system safety and regulation
• Basic needs regulation
• Emotional literacy
• Internal narrative
• Curiosity to our patterns
• A sense of belonging (within yourself and with others)
These aren’t the glamorous parts of healing. There’s no dramatic breakthrough moment. But they are the invisible forces that make breakthroughs stick.
Why Most Therapies Skip the Rooting Phase
Many therapeutic approaches are built to focus on insight, awareness or just on ‘fixing’ problematic behaviours through changing cognitions. They often prioritise:
• Cognitive reframing
• Exposure
• Values clarification
• Challenging core beliefs
• Goal-oriented change
These tools are powerful when someone is rooted enough to use them. But without a stable root system insight collapses into overwhelm.
Change becomes performative.
Instead of feeling genuinely different, you may try to appear to be by masking distress, copying coping strategies or pushing through emotional overwhelm. This is incredibly common for people living with long-term trauma, where survival once depended on performing stability rather than feeling it.
I see clients often blame themselves for ‘not being ready,’ but the practical barriers getting in the way often only become visible once they start trying to make changes. In my experience, the real issue that surfaces is that their foundation was never supported. Without this essential rooting, the stabilising work that creates nervous system safety, emotional regulation and a sense of belonging, even the most well-intentioned therapy or coping strategies struggle to take hold.
When the foundation isn’t built first, change can feel overwhelming, fleeting or performative rather than deeply transformative.
How to Know If Your Foundation Needs Strengthening
Start by asking yourself…
• Do I know what safety feels like in my body?
• Do I have enough energy and structure to support growth?
• Do I feel emotionally resourced, or constantly in survival mode?
• Am I trying to change before I’m stabilised?
• Is my healing driven by shame or self-compassion?
If your system is overwhelmed, exhausted or unstable, rooting is the essential next step, not a step backwards.
Rooting Is Not Slowing Down. It’s Setting Up for Sustainable Recovery
The truth is this…
The deeper the roots, the higher the rise.
Therapy needs to shift from a model of ‘change first’… ‘stabilise later’. To one that begins with the foundational work that makes transformation possible.
This is particularly important in our work as therapists. I see firsthand how clients seeking support in Surrey often come to therapy for childhood trauma and long-term emotional dysregulation. Whether in sessions in Guildford or online, our focus is on building strong foundations through trauma-informed therapy, so that every client can develop stability and resilience.
We currently have January therapy appointments available in Guildford, Surrey and online for clients seeking support. If you are experiencing long-standing patterns, we can help you build the roots you need to rise. Contact us to book an initial consultation.
FAQs
What is trauma-informed therapy and how is it different from traditional counselling?
Trauma-informed therapy focuses on safety, stabilisation and understanding “what has happened to you” rather than “what is wrong with you.” It prioritises nervous system regulation, emotional literacy and rooting before introducing deeper therapeutic work.
How do I start therapy?
Therapy spaces in January book quickly. You can begin by contacting us for a consultation where we explore your goals and discuss whether short-term or longer-term therapy would best support your healing.
What is “rooting” in therapy, and why is it important?
Rooting is the foundational work that creates stability, safety and emotional regulation before deeper therapeutic change can happen. It involves cultivating a sense of belonging within yourself and with others. Without this foundation, even well-intentioned therapy can feel overwhelming or performative. In our therapy in Guildford and online, rooting is central to helping clients create lasting, meaningful change.
