I am an integrative, trauma-informed counsellor. This means that I shape my way of working to best suit your needs. We will discuss this at your initial session. At all times we will work at your pace and in a way that feels comfortable for you.
Working in a trauma informed way means:
- Gently taking time to build a safe enough relationship within which the work can happen. Your experiences may have taught you to be careful about who you trust. It is important that we acknowledge, respect and work with these protective strategies that you have developed over time.
- Equipping you with the skills and resources in order to approach difficult thoughts and feelings safely. I will help you to become more aware of when it feels ok to proceed and when to pause. I will also help you to find ways to ground, orient yourself in the present moment and stabilise, if you feel overwhelmed.
- Using mindfulness to help bring awareness to thoughts, emotions, physical sensations and movements in the here and now. When we pay attention to present experience, we understand that many of our responses are habitual and learned, often developed early in life to ensure that our basic and fundamental needs were met, whether that was about receiving love and attention from our caregivers, or surviving in challenging, sometimes life threatening environments. Acknowledging that what was helpful then may no longer be helpful now can open the way to changes in the way we think, feel and act.
- Working with the body. We know from developments in neuroscience that trauma memories are stored in the body so it makes sense that working with sensations, movements, impulses and posture can be both stabilising and transformative. I don’t use touch in my work and I am always respectful of your boundaries and your relationship with your body. As always, we proceed with care and kindness.
As an overriding principle, we will be working in unity with your bodymind system; counselling is a collaborative endeavour. You possess the necessary knowledge and capacity for growth. My role is to help you access and make best use of these resources towards achieving greater wellbeing, however this may look and feel for you.