Complex and Acute Trauma

Understanding Trauma

Do you often feel disconnected, numb, operating on ‘auto-pilot,’ or haunted by distressing memories from the past? It’s common to experience a lack of control over emotions, thoughts, and actions following traumatic events. If you’ve endured prolonged abuse or trauma, it might feel like the past is constantly impacting your present, leading to feelings of isolation, shame, and guilt.

The journey through complex trauma or acute distressing experiences can directly shape an individual’s life, affecting their emotional landscape, relationships, and sense of self. I understand that healing is a unique journey, and I am dedicated to providing specialized complex trauma therapy designed to support you through every step. This comprehensive approach integrates leading, evidence-based modalities. It offers a pathway to processing difficult memories and experiences, cultivating internal safety, rediscovering a more integrated sense of self, and fostering lasting well-being.

Trauma impacts the entire person – mind, body, and spirit. My commitment is to offer you a safe, compassionate, and effective space to explore your experiences. This is achieved by thoughtfully combining therapeutic strategies tailored to your individual needs:

Emotion-Focused Therapy (EFT): Deep Emotional Processing

Emotion-Focused Therapy (EFT) is a central pillar of your complex trauma therapy. This approach helps you safely access, experience, and transform core emotions linked to your trauma. By engaging with these emotions in a supportive environment, you can move beyond old, maladaptive emotional responses to develop new, healthier ways of relating to your feelings and experiences. EFT facilitates emotional restructuring, leading to greater self-understanding and emotional freedom essential for trauma recovery.

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT): Values-Driven Healing

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) equips you with the tools to live a rich and meaningful life, even when faced with painful thoughts, feelings, or memories related to trauma. In this complex trauma therapy, ACT helps you cultivate psychological flexibility, encouraging you to accept what is outside your control while committing to actions aligned with your deepest values. We focus on mindfulness, defusing from unhelpful thought patterns, and engaging in purposeful behaviours that move you towards the life you desire, rather than being stuck in avoidance or distress.

EMDR Therapy: Reprocessing Traumatic Memories

EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) therapy is a highly effective, evidence-based treatment renowned for its ability to help individuals heal from the distress of traumatic life experiences. As a core component of our complex trauma therapy, EMDR facilitates the brain’s natural healing process to help you move past being “stuck” in the past. Through guided bilateral stimulation (moving your eyes side to side or tapping your legs), EMDR helps to reprocess and integrate distressing memories, reducing their emotional charge and allowing you to recall past events without the intense physiological and emotional responses that once accompanied them.

Trauma-Informed & Parts Work: Internal Harmony and Integration

This entire framework is trauma-informed, meaning I understand how trauma impacts the brain, body, and nervous system. We integrate neurobiological insights to help you regulate your nervous system and build a sense of safety from within. A significant aspect of this approach is Parts Work, which recognizes that our internal world often comprises different “parts” or aspects of ourselves, each with unique roles and experiences, especially after trauma. By working with these internal parts, we help you foster greater internal communication, healing, and integration, leading to a more coherent and resilient sense of self. This deep internal work is crucial for resolving the fragmentation often associated with complex trauma.

This integrated approach to complex trauma therapy, flexibly adapted to you, offers a comprehensive and compassionate path to healing. By combining the strengths of EFT, ACT, EMDR, and Parts Work, my aim is to empower you to process your past, regulate your present, and build a future rooted in resilience and well-being. If you are seeking specialized support for complex or acute trauma, I invite you to connect with me to learn how this tailored approach can support your healing journey.

For more information on how I can specifically support you in trauma counselling, check out the Counselling Approaches and Expertise page .