Healing From Stress And Trauma

I support the person, not the condition. My trauma‑informed, holistic approach provides a safe, calm space where you can be heard, understood, and guided with care. Every client is unique, so I use a combination of appropriate tools to meet individual needs.

One of the most effective tools I use is EFT Emotional Freedom Techniques, also known as Energy Psychology. EFT can quickly and consistently ease negative thoughts, emotions, and the physical discomfort connected to stressful or traumatic experiences. You can still remember the situation, but without the intensity. This helps calm your nervous system and allows you to move forward with greater ease and freedom.

is to help you heal, not just cope. Many approaches focus only on managing symptoms, but true recovery requires addressing the underlying emotional attachments and calming the nervous system so your body feels safe enough to change.

I offer a package of care using a holistic, trauma‑informed approach. Together, we:

• Identify the root causes of your symptoms
• Use effective techniques to release emotional attachment to the issues
• Calm and regulate the nervous system
• Reduce symptoms so you can move forward safely and confidently
• Build awareness, empowerment, and resilience
• Transform your relationship with stress so your thoughts, feelings, and actions become healthier responses in the future

This is about helping you thrive, not just survive.

It is anything that takes you out of your comfort zone. There are three types of stress: physical, emotional, and chemical, whether from injury, physical or emotional trauma, lifestyle, toxicity or nutritional depletion through diet. We live in a fast paced, pressurised, 24/7 technological world, where things happen, sometimes awful things happen, especially the Covid-19 health pandemic and economic fallout.  However, not all stress is bad for us, if we have awareness, tools, and resilience. Good stress and anxiety levels can keep us safe, teach us valuable life lessons and enable us to choose healthy behaviours and make better lifestyle choices.

The typical stress response of “fight, flight, or freeze”, is a natural psychological defence mechanism used to cope in painful situations. In the moment, the front of the brain known as prefrontal cortex, where conscious reasoning occurs, shuts down. The danger fighting adrenaline and other neurochemicals rush through the body, preparing to fight for your life, run away from the threat, or play dead. It is normal for our heart rate to increase, blood vessels constrict, breathing become faster and shallow, there is less oxygen in the blood stream, which leads is to over-breathing, and feeling many strong emotions and symptoms including panic, sweating, shaking, tearful and fear.  Everyone’s response will be different. The memories of the events are imprinted in the emotional side of the brain, in a part called the amygdala which holds the emotional significance and intensity. They are stored through visual images, smells, sounds, taste, and touch and then negative feelings can easily be triggered interpreting safe normal sensory input as danger whenever we experience similar circumstances in later life.

Trauma is a very personal thing. It is any experience that leaves us feeling shocked, overwhelmed, isolated, and in fear. Trauma can be ‘big’ like an accident, abuse, abandonment, bereavement, bullying or divorce, or ‘smaller’ like anything new to you taking you out of your comfort zone. During a stressful event whether the “threat” is perceived, real, or it is imagined, the brain does not know the difference, and the distress is real and physically felt. Trauma can be a response to a one stressful event or to many events over a longer period. It is more likely to affect us badly when it is long term and complex, and when there has been no support. Not everyone realises the full impact it has on them at the time. What is traumatic for one person can have less impact and significance to another person. This may be because of individual personalities, beliefs, values, and previous experiences.

In a moment when your nervous system is on high alert and you notice that you are feeling overwhelmed by emotions and symptoms, by using simple self-regulation or grounding techniques, such as EFT for emotional first aid, also controlling your breathing you can reduce the feelings. Controlled breathing will bring oxygen and blood flow back to the brain calming the nervous system bringing awareness to your senses reducing your symptoms and bringing yourself more into the moment to deal with the situation. Sometimes the past problems still cause issues, months or years after, the painful memories, shock or prolonged stress shaping our present behaviour and health. If what you are experiencing has been diagnosed as a complex mental health condition you could find a qualified mental health professional who is experienced in EFT, as this is not a medical intervention. 

is based on what is important to you, as the client you choose your outcomes. In each of the following sessions we use your most important outcomes to guide our work. In each session we use gentle and safe techniques to explore and heal the causes of your difficulties. I usually teach my clients simple techniques they can use to ease their distress between sessions. They can use these techniques to speed up the process and to help them for the rest of their lives.

I may give clients tasks to do between sessions. These tasks are to strengthen the changes they’ve made and to practice new ways of being in the world.

we review the progress you are making and decide what to do next. What is important to you may change as we make progress and we can adjust our course as we go along.

we review our progress and plan our next steps. You decide when you have made enough changes for you and when to end, pause or continue. A month after our last session I will get in touch with you by email to find out how you are progressing.