Overcoming Trauma

What is trauma?

Trauma is an everyday event. Most of us have experienced a highly stressful event or an event that has caused us distress, upset, fear, sadness, loss, panic, helplessness, or terror that has been ‘traumatic’. I know I have.

Trauma is a term often used to describe the impact of a range of distressing situations. These ‘situations’ may have been witnessed, threatened, actually experienced, experienced by a close friend or family member or repeated continuously over and over.

Trauma can be a single detrimental incident or event that can affect just you or thousands or people. It could be being involved in a serious road traffic accident, the death of a loved one, a traumatic birth experience, life-threatening illness, going through a divorce, witnessing an assault/murder, witnessing a violent event such as a rape/torture or experiencing this yourself, being a solider and fighting in a war following orders to kill others, ‘natural’ disasters such as floods, bush fires, terrorist events such as 9/11 and COVID-19.

Post Traumatic Stress

This can lead to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder or PTSD or it may not. Some people may suffer shock, feelings of numbness at the time of the ‘event’ and move on with their lives. Some people can be affected years on particularly with the normal process of grief but also when they experience another traumatic event or are triggered. This ‘triggering’ can be a result of something familiar from the traumatic event, a smell, taste, sounds, vision, and so forth. This takes you back to the event like you are experiencing it all over again like you are there which is terrifying. You may have night sweats, night terrors, re-living the experience, anxious all the time, being ‘jumpy’, hypervigilant, on your guard. You may feel fear, terror, and helplessness.

Part of our work together will be looking at how your brain works to keep you safe and fighting for survival.
Although the flashbacks, triggers, nightmares, disassociations are very distressing and causing you pain, your brain is acting as it should………the trauma is the thing that is ABNORMAL!!!
Your brain is trying to keep you safe……. this is NORMAL!

Sometimes trauma can be more complex where there has been ‘no break’ to recover from traumatic events they are continuous and repeated. Complex trauma can occur at any point in life but is often seen in childhood. Children who grew up in environments where they were continuously exposed to domestic violence, neglect, physical/sexual abuse, abuse from a sibling, bullying, being left alone for long periods of time, not having a ‘safe’ place, having no one to talk to or protect them often experience Complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (C-PTSD).

This can cause symptoms of PTSD but there may be difficulty in being unable to regulate emotions, relationship issues, identity – not knowing who they are, issues with self-worth/self-esteem, anger, lack of trusting others and self, destructive behaviour patterns that are repeated, feelings of hopelessness and shame, lack of solid foundations and boundaries. All as a result of ‘keeping you safe’- this is NORMAL.

How Can I Help?

I am trained in various techniques which I incorporate into our work together so I can help you. I work in a very intuitive way but am also led by you and what you need at that particular time in our session together. I will ask you what you may need and take my cues from you but will also check in with you if you are happy to do a certain technique such as a visualisation. (I will discuss the way I work during our Introductory Session).

I believe that the relationship we have as client and counsellor is of paramount importance and I want you to feel safe, able to speak and be heard. I will keep you safe no matter what emotions you are experiencing, will not judge, and will support you as your ‘wing-woman’. I work from a person-centered stance of being non-judgemental and empathetic.  I am also very much ‘what you see is what you get’ very honest, transparent, and want to help you get to the main ‘root’ of your trauma and live a fulfilling life.

I use psycho-education to explain to you that the flashbacks, triggers, nightmares, and ‘symptoms’ of PTSD and C- PTSD are NORMAL bodily responses. I can help you understand your emotions, behaviour, thoughts, and the WHY’S of these debilitating symptoms! I also look at somatic or body sensations and can use those sensations to help with ‘trapped’ emotions.

I can help by exploring your childhood with you and looking at all the ‘parts’ that you are made of to help you to make sense of what has happened to you and to heal those ‘parts’. I can help you explore issues such as abuse, sexual abuse, neglect, issues surrounding attachment and rejection in childhood, gender identity, and loss.

Together we can look at the feelings from the ‘past’ you carry with you and how they can be causing you distressing feelings. Together we can look at the situation from a different perspective, who you were then, who you are now and who you will be when you understand yourself, find the real authentic self that has been hidden due to trauma, and adapting your behaviour to survive.

I know that it may take time for you to trust me with your story and I want you to know I will wait until you are ready and find your voice to tell me. When you do, I will hear you and above all BELIEVE YOU.

I am not saying I can alleviate all your PTSD symptoms, but I can give it a try with the RTM Protocol! This is a Military Approved technique used on veterans in the USA with amazing results – See more in my blog.

Working together we can get to the ‘root’ of your trauma, aim to alleviate your symptoms, enable you to have a better understanding of “WHY”, to be more resilient, self-aware, empowered, able to cope, to be able to move forward and have a more fulfilling and happy life.

Read more about my work

Please see my BLOG below and visit my FaceBook page HERE