Will I need to re-live my trauma or tell you about it in detail?
No. I may ask you to recall a small amount of a specific memory. I have a number of ways of helping you feel safe and in control and your emotional safety is my priority throughout.
Will you erase my memories?
No. You will always be aware of your personal history, with the emotional distress much reduced or completely absent.
Don’t I need to keep my trauma in order to protect myself in future or to grow as a person? Will this take something away from me?
When therapy sessions are conducted with respect and sensitivity your system will let go of what can be healed and will keep whatever response is still useful. I do not wish to turn you into a passive automaton (I couldn’t even if I tried!) and you will retain your sense of personal history and your ability to set boundaries will be enhanced so that you are better able to protect yourself. My aim is to free you from the emotional pain of the past. Clients often describe feeling “peace” or “calm”, whilst the visual memory becomes duller, faded and no longer intrudes into your waking or dream state. The various symptoms relating to PTSD subside. You will find that your personal growth comes as a result of being able to access more of your resources, once your nervous system and lymbic system is freed from past trauma.
Can you help me with CPTSD as well as PTSD?
My gentle somatic and psychosensory approach is particularly well suited to the particular needs of clients with complex trauma presentations. In such cases we take care to adress safety and stabilisation needs before reprocessing specific traumatic memories. The somatic and psychosensory techniques act directly upon the autonomic nervous system to reduce stress arousal and increase feelings of safety and connection through activation of the ventral-vagal neural networks, in line with Stephen Porges polyvagal theory. We work gently, at your pace, so that you feel safe, respected and in control at all times.
