Trauma is a wide and varied concept that can have different meaning for different people. What you may have experienced as traumatic and distressing is not comparable to anyone else’s experience.
My approach to trauma counselling is tailored to suit each individual person that I see, and I will always take the time to find out about your needs and how I can best support you. There is no rush in trauma counselling to race through or to quickly get to the most difficult topics. Most people will have developed defenses and protections to help them cope, and so we take our time to work with those defenses and support you to develop new ways of coping and move towards healing.
Some of the main struggles I see people dealing with as a result of trauma and abuse are development or attachment issues, which can evolve when we experience abuse, neglect, missatunements or disruptions in our important relationships in childhood. Relational trauma can emerge when we experience abuse in significant relationships at any time in our lives, both in childhood and/or adulthood.
These experiences can cause various mental health related issues and symptoms, such as: anxiety, depression, stress, and panic. Furthermore, these issues often lead to difficulties in our relationships, which can be very distressing. For example, we can develop poor communication skills, struggle with managing our emotions (self regulation), low self esteem/self worth, and poor boundary setting. Issues with boundaries can be linked to people pleasing tendencies, which is associated with one of the trauma/survival responses (e.g. fight, flight, freeze) called the fawn response. Remaining in this state (or any of these survival states) for long periods of time can often lead to difficulties such as major health issues and burnout.
‘The core essence of trauma is life-threatening powerlessness’ (Carolyn Spring)
More serious difficulties can arise when a person experiences multiple traumatic events throughout their life, or their experiences of trauma have been prolonged or repetitive. This is called Complex Trauma or Complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (C-PTSD), and encompasses a wide range of often distressing symptoms, including dissociation, self harm, suicidal thinking, deep shame, chronic health issues, and addictions. These symptoms can develop in adulthood even if your abuse or trauma was experienced in childhood.
We can work together to help you relieve the suffering of past unhealed trauma and to build a life worth living.
‘TRAUMA IS NOT WHAT HAPPENS TO YOU; TRAUMA IS WHAT HAPPENS INSIDE OF YOU AS A RESULT OF WHAT HAPPENS TO YOU’ (GABOR MATÉ).
Get in contact with me if you want to find out more about how I can help you.
hopecounsellingservice.com.au 