Trauma Therapy: What It’s Really Like with Dr. Jacob Ham and Elizabeth Ferreira

Trauma Therapy: What It’s Really Like with Dr. Jacob Ham and Elizabeth Ferreira

From Being Well with Forrest Hanson and Dr. Rick Hanson by Rick Hanson, Ph.D., Forrest Hanson

April 13, 2026 · 1h 16m

About this episode

Dr. Jacob Ham and Elizabeth Ferreira discuss the realities of trauma therapy, including challenges, mistakes, and the evolving nature of their work.

In this very special episode, Dr. Jacob Ham and associate therapist Elizabeth Ferreira join me to discuss their work as trauma therapists. They talk openly about the messy, unglamorous reality of struggle, mistakes, and repair that characterizes trauma work, its nature as both art and science, how their work has changed over time, and what they’ve learned along the way. Topics include self-disclosure, working with shame and grief, dealing with situations where the client wants an apology, the difference between trauma work and more manualized approaches, therapist training and supervision, and “polishing the mirror.” I loved listening to Dr. Ham and Elizabeth talk during this episode. It’s a truly unique one, and I hope you enjoy it. About our Guest: Dr. Jacob Ham is a clinical psychologist, Associate Clinical Professor at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and the Director of the Center for Complex Trauma there. He's the clinician featured in Stephanie Foo’s wonderful book What My Bones Know. Key Topics : 0:00: Introduction and nervousness 6:21: The role of disclosure 11:34: Mistakes, rupture, and repair 23:20: Sharing grief 33:04: Supervision and parallel process…

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