“Trauma is a fact of life. It does not, however, have to be a life sentence.”

The word trauma comes from the Greek word meaning ‘wound’ and when left untreated, traumatic events and early trauma can have a huge impact on us in a multitude of ways.

Trauma therapy does not mean that the therapy will be focused on a traumatic event or events but rather, the emphasis is on treating the effects of the trauma in your life right now.

This takes its toll and can result in us feeling mentally and/or physically tired where everything begins to feel like an effort. Our levels of vitality and ability to enjoy – or maybe manage – life suffer and we feel stuck and unable to change, which only further reinforces our beliefs.  

Working with a therapist who has specialist training in working with trauma gives you the combination of understanding coupled with the right tools that you can utilise to interrupt old patterns and clear a pathway to feeling freer and more resourced.  

I am trained in a variety of techniques specifically focused on working with trauma, including EMDR and Sensorimotor Psychotherapy. For more information about my approach to working with trauma or to book an initial consultation, get in touch.

EMDR therapy

EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing) has proven to be an effective treatment for PTSD and other trauma. EMDR is an evidence-based approach and is recommended by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE). EMDR is a therapy that is used to help people recover from distressing events and the problems arising from those events such as flashbacks, upsetting thoughts or images, depression or anxiety. Although EMDR was initially developed to treat Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) but EMDR can, and is increasingly used, to treat other issues such as depression, anxiety, emotional abuse.

When a distressing or traumatic event occurs, we may feel overwhelmed and in turn, our brains are unable to fully process what is happening. When this happens the memory of the event can becomes ‘stuck’ in the brain and we then re-experience the event in full force whenever the memory comes to mind. EMDR aims to ‘unstick’ the memory so that is can be reprocessed so that it is no longer experienced in the same way.