Trauma therapy is different to many talking therapies due to my area of specialism.  I work proactively with my clients, leaving no stone unturned, aiming to provide professional psychotherapy with heart. With complex trauma and PTSD, it’s so very important to be thorough because memories need to be fully processed in order to heal – just talking doesn’t cut it and can further embed memories. Together we create a wellbeing toolkit so that you have many resources to help to keep you feeling balanced through our work together.  We may use a cranial electrotherapy stimulation (CES) device, proven to reduce anxiety, depression, pain and insomnia.

Stage 1 begins with a full assessment, history and trauma interviews, diagnostic tools checking levels of depression, anxiety, PTSD and other mental health conditions.  The creation of a lifeline, looking at positive and negative events in your life, means that from the very beginning, we know exactly what we’re working with and all of the events in your life that will have led you to this point.  I provide psychoeducation throughout our therapy to help you to understand and normalise how your trauma has impacted you, so that you’re not afraid of the physical and mental effects, thereby reducing feelings of guilt and shame associated with the feeling that ‘something is wrong with me’ which can be a common reaction to trauma.

Stage 2 consists of safety and stabilisation processes.  These are used to reduce flashbacks, phobia effects and the visual and physical impact of intrusive memories.  You will learn grounding tools, visualisation and breathing techniques, meditations, containment and safety strategies.

Stage 3 will consist of emotional regulation work.  PTSD creates emotional instability and we need you to be able to cope with the depth of processing your trauma outside of our sessions.  The STAIRS protocol is a platform to create that stability, looking at emotions, behaviour, thinking patterns, how you interpret events, exploring avoidance patterns, addictive behaviours – such as shopping, sex, sugar, even keeping yourself too busy with no time to think.  We explore boundaries, relationship patterns and difficulties, schema’s and core beliefs and assertiveness.  There will be homework each week – everything you do outside of the session means that habits are embedding your learning in your neural pathways – the more work you do outside of sessions, the less sessions it will cost you, saving you £1s!

During Stage 4 we will begin processing trauma memories and create an appropriate treatment plan, depending on what type would be best for each trauma.  These consist of a range of evidence-based trauma therapy treatments:

Narrative Exposure Therapy (NET)

Imagery Rescripting Reprocessing Therapy (IRRT)

Prolonged Exposure Therapy (PET)

Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT)

Exposure, Relaxation & Rescripting Therapy (ERRT) for Post-Trauma Nightmares

Integrative Somatic Therapy

I am IFS informed and work with complex dissocate conditions. I can support you should you need official diagnosis with conditions, writing supporting letters to your psychologist/psychiatrist and work with multi-discaplinary teams such a the Community Mental Health Team, CAMHS, support or social workers.

Sessions are £90 per hour, bar the lifeline session at £135 as its 1.5 hours long.

Therapy is also a precious, cosy space just for you.  A safe haven where you can drop your guard and be your true self.  You can also be heard and accepted no matter what you bring.

Therapy and facing your past isn’t easy, but it is worth it.  Imagine living life without the symptoms you battle with.  We can thoroughly support your healing journey and you can grow, change and end therapy feeling empowered, peaceful and strong.