When we experience trauma, whether from a single event or ongoing adversity, the body and mind often respond with intense survival mechanisms designed to protect us. These responses are necessary in the moment. But they can change the physical structure and chemical activity of the brain and nervous systems. The prefrontal cortex becomes underactive, reducing our ability to regulate emotions. The amygdala can overestimate danger, leading to an on-edge feeling. And the hippocampus can decrease in volume making it difficult to make sense of our memories and separate past threats from present day safety.

This is why my practice is Trauma-Informed.

I will never be sat there thinking ‘what’s wrong with you’, instead it will be ‘I want to understand what’s happened to you AND what should have happened to you but didn’t, and how that has impacted you’.

I will be working at your pace. As therapists, this is important to say. But through a trauma-informed framework, it’s even more important. I am trained to ensure we are working at a safe pace, not pushing you too far, whilst also gently and collaboratively moving you forwards.

It’s important to reiterate that our anxiety does not always stem from past events, but some of us are facing long-term anxiety due to difficult childhood experiences or the burden of past challenges. Therapy is a powerful took for not only address how anxiety is showing up for you now, but also for addressing the effects of trauma and helping you heal so that you can move forward with your life.

I use evidence-based approaches that are not just about talking, instead we will work together to support you to process past traumas or challenges, whilst also managing how they are showing up through anxiety today, the combination of both has the power to create fundamental change. In our sessions, we can bring light to unconscious beliefs, move through grief and re-connect with your yourself, life, your family and your friends.

Therapy that’s trauma-informed

  • Inner child therapy aims to address emotional and psychological wounds from our childhood. It’s very unlikely that I will meet a client who has not sustained some level of psychological wounding from childhood. As a therapist specialising in anxiety, I want to know how it’s impacting you now. Psychological wounds can contribute towards our anxiety, or can create low self-esteem, depression, perfectionism, people pleasing, loss of identity, difficulty maintaining relationships, and more. The process of inner child therapy is twofold; we work in the past time to explore how a younger version of us may still hold pain from difficult experiences. We work in the present time to identify where and how this old pain is being triggered, reframing old beliefs and negative thought patterns and using our adult self to reparent the younger versions of ourselves. This work can help us to feel more resilience to emotional challenges presented to us as adults, and less likely to feel pulled back into an anxious younger version of ourselves.

  • When we grow up with emotionally unavailable, inconsistent or unpredictable caregivers, we may develop an insecure attachment style. But these attachment styles are not fixed, with therapeutic work, and a healthy dose of self-compassion, they can change. Attachment-based therapy aims to support you to heal your attachment wounds so that you can move from an anxious, avoidant or disorganised attachment style to a secure attachment style. Through this work, you can regain your trust in self and others, ease intense feelings, and improve your self-esteem.

  • While ACT is not a trauma-specific therapy, it can be a valuable ingredient to trauma therapy. The foundational approach of ACT incorporates mindfulness and acceptance, encouraging us to stay present and observe our thoughts and emotions, and make space for difficult emotions and make way for healing. This can be helpful for us if we struggle with big emotions, intrusive thoughts or any form of avoidance. These intrusive thoughts, like self-blame, which can be related to traumatic events can become less important, losing their sting. Ultimately ACT is about re-directing us towards our values so we can build a more meaningful life.

  • Exposure therapy for trauma helps people heal by safely facing and processing memories that may have historically been avoided. When we experience trauma, our brain struggles to fully process it. To cope, we avoid. We avoid people, places, thoughts and anything else that reminds us of what happened to us. Short term, this is effective, it keeps us safe from triggers. But long-term, avoidance continues to teach our brain, and our bodies, that the memory is an active danger, making fear and anxiety grow stronger over time. In exposure therapy, we safely revisit what’s happened to you, until eventually it loses its intensity and power over you.

  • Somatic Therapy is a body-oriented therapeutic approach that helps individuals resolve the lingering physical and nervous system impacts of trauma. Instead of traditional talk therapy whereby the event is often analysed, Somatic Therapy focuses on physical sensations with the aim of calming the brain’s threat centre (the amygdala) and restoring emotional regulation.