Trauma Therapy
Trauma can have a massive impact on our ability to live a full life. We can experience trauma when any frightening or life threatening event happens to us. This can be a single event or a series experienced over a number of years. These experiences could include being in an accident or witnessing one, bullying, surviving a serious illness, physical, sexual or emotional abuse, loss or bereavement, domestic abuse, assault, living through war or conflict, neglect and frequent lack of attention in childhood.
We all cope with these events differently. Some of us will have no long lasting symptoms. Others will experience difficulties that will have a big impact on their lives. We now know that the experience of trauma is both psychological as well as held within the body; long after the event is over, the body continues to respond as if the danger is still there. So we can experience anxiety, depression, flashbacks and panic attacks, angry outbursts, shame, intrusive thoughts, insomnia, a lack of joy in our lives, difficulties in relationships and multiple health problems. We can feel frightened, confused and overwhelmed.
I use evidenced-based techniques and strategies, to work through trauma-related body responses so that my client feels safe and in control, before working with the emotional responses and looking at making meaning of the trauma. By understanding the neuroscience of trauma and what happens to the body; we can learn how to reduce and manage trauma symptoms and to work with trauma memories effectively.