Am I right in thinking that you are using the term retrieval to refer to letting historical traumatic memories raise to the surface so you can process them. I'm happy to share a little of how I approached this...
Until well into my adult years I pushed the memories of my abuse under the surface - they were just too overwhelming for me to deal with. This worked (to a large degree) enabled me to get on with my life - school, career, parenting and such. However when my life became a little less busy the memories started to resurface - did this to the extent that they caused me symptom - nightmares, anxiety. In the beginning I tried to ignore them...deal with them on my own...was not very successful.
Long story short in the end I made the decision to work with a trauma therapist - was a help. She had the skill to help me pace the work I needed to do and good ideas on how to keep myself as functional as possible during the process. If you are interested in this approach you could contact your family doctor - as they may be able to write you a referral.
Hope what I have shared helps.