You may find yourself constantly overthinking, scanning for danger, struggling to relax, feeling overwhelmed by emotions, or becoming stuck in patterns that no longer seem to make sense. You may be highly self-critical, find it difficult to trust yourself or others, or feel as though your nervous system is always on alert.
As a trained trauma-informed practitioner, I understand that these responses are not signs that something is wrong with you. Rather, they are often intelligent adaptations that developed in order to help you survive difficult or overwhelming experiences.
What Does Trauma-Informed Mean?
A trauma-informed approach recognises that experiences such as abuse, neglect, assault, bullying, loss, medical trauma, relationship difficulties, childhood adversity or ongoing stress can have a lasting impact on the nervous system.
Rather than asking "What's wrong with you?", trauma-informed practice asks:
What happened to you?
How has it affected you?
What meaning have you made from your experiences?
What have you needed to do to survive?
This approach allows us to understand symptoms such as anxiety, hypervigilance, perfectionism, people-pleasing, emotional overwhelm or emotional shutdown within the context of your life experiences.
The Power Threat Meaning Framework
My work is influenced by the Power Threat Meaning Framework (PTMF), a compassionate and non-pathologising approach developed by clinical psychologists.
The PTMF moves away from seeing people as disordered or broken and instead helps us understand how experiences of power, threat and adversity have shaped the ways we think, feel and respond to the world.
This framework recognises that many of the difficulties people experience today may once have been necessary survival strategies.
For many clients, this can be an enormous relief. Instead of feeling defective or flawed, they begin to understand themselves with greater compassion and curiosity.
How Trauma Can Affect Us
Trauma affects people in different ways. You may experience:
Anxiety and chronic worry
Hypervigilance or constantly scanning for danger
Panic attacks
Difficulty trusting others
Shame and self-criticism
Perfectionism
Emotional overwhelm
Feeling numb or disconnected
Difficulty sleeping
Relationship difficulties
Low self-worth
Feeling stuck or unable to move forward
Freeze responses or paralysis when making decisions
These responses are often the nervous system's attempt to keep us safe, even when they are no longer helpful.
How I Work
I offer an integrative approach that is tailored to your individual needs. Every person's experience of trauma is unique and there is no one-size-fits-all approach.
My work may include:
Creating emotional safety and stability
Psychoeducation about trauma and the nervous system
Exploring patterns of survival and protection
Developing self-compassion and self-understanding
Nervous system regulation techniques
Mindfulness and grounding
Breathwork
EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques)
Havening Techniques®
Hypnotherapy
Exploring identity, meaning and personal strengths
Supporting reconnection with joy, creativity and participation in life
I work at a pace that feels safe and manageable for you. Trauma recovery is not about forcing yourself to revisit painful experiences before you are ready. It is about creating enough safety and support for healing, growth and change to emerge naturally.
Moving Beyond Survival
One of the things I have learned through my work with trauma is that healing is often not about becoming a different person. It is about reconnecting with the person you already are beneath the survival strategies that have helped you cope.
Over time, many people find that they become less focused on simply getting through the day and more able to engage with life, relationships, creativity, enjoyment and the things that matter most to them.
Healing does not require perfection. It begins with safety, understanding and compassion.
If you would like to explore trauma-informed counselling, I would be honoured to support you.
