Trauma treatment - a mind-body approach

in Frenchs Forest & online

I aim to create a safe space for you where you can:

come to terms with your past
reduce its effect on the present
find the best way forward.

What is trauma?

Trauma is a response to a deeply distressing or disturbing event that overwhelms your ability to cope. It can leave you feeling helpless, emotionally dysregulated, or disconnected from yourself or others. Trauma doesn’t have to be caused by a single major even. It can also result from ongoing, less visible experiences like emotional neglect, living in an unpredictable environment, or repeated microaggressions.

Trauma affects each person differently. What feels traumatic to one person may not feel that way to another. Your experience is valid, even if others don’t understand it.

What is PTSD?

PTSD stands for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. It’s a mental health condition that can develop after experiencing or witnessing a traumatic event. PTSD is characterized by symptoms such as:

Intrusive memories, flashbacks, or nightmares
Avoidance of reminders of the trauma
Negative changes in mood or beliefs about yourself or the world
Feeling constantly on edge or easily startled (hypervigilance)

These symptoms can significantly impact your daily life, relationships, and sense of safety.

What Is Complex PTSD?

Complex PTSD (C-PTSD) is a type of post-traumatic stress that can develop after long-term or repeated exposure to trauma, especially during childhood or in situations where escape wasn’t possible, such as chronic abuse, neglect, captivity, or coercive relationships.

In addition to the symptoms of PTSD, Complex PTSD often includes:

Deep-seated shame or guilt
Difficulty regulating emotions
Persistent feelings of worthlessness or emptiness
Struggles in relationships, including trust and intimacy

Does everyone get PTSD?

No. Not everyone who experiences trauma will develop PTSD. People respond to trauma in different ways, and many factors can influence whether PTSD develops, including:

The nature and duration of the trauma
Support systems available at the time
Personal history, including earlier life experiences
Genetics and nervous system sensitivity

Some people may have a strong reaction at first but gradually heal over time. Others may feel fine initially and develop symptoms later. Whether or not you meet full criteria for PTSD, your suffering is real and healing is possible.

Contact Isabel

How I treat trauma

When you first come to see me, I spend the first session or two getting a sense of who you are and what is really going on for you. I listen to your present struggles, your background, and any traumatic experiences. I draw from a range of therapeutic approaches, always keeping your preferences, needs, and pacing at the heart of our work together.

I work both with mind and body

The Mind

I offer practical cognitive and behavioural strategies from Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). These tools can help you manage difficult thoughts and emotions, stay present, and live in alignment with your values, even when things are hard.

The Body

I also use Focusing, a gentle yet powerful way of listening to the body’s felt sense of a situation. It helps shift how the trauma is held in the body and lead to integration of traumatic experiences. Trauma is often stored not as a clear story, but as fragments of memory held through the senses: a particular smell, a sound, a body sensation, an image.

Focusing offers a way to meet those places with curiosity and kindness, and to gently bring those pieces together, so they feel less confusing, less overwhelming, and more like part of a whole story you can hold and make sense of.

In a Focusing session, I will ask you to slow down and listen inward, paying attention to what is known as the felt sense, the vague bodily awareness that includes everything you feel and know about an issue. We stay with that felt sense, giving it space and allowing it to unfold at its own pace.

This can be especially powerful in trauma work because:

It does not require re-telling your trauma story.
You stay in control of what you explore and how deeply you go.
It helps create a sense of inner safety and trust in your body.
It often leads to subtle but profound shifts in how the trauma is held in the body.

Focusing can bring relief, clarity, and a sense of something inside softening or releasing. Over time, this process supports healing not by pushing or analyzing, but by listening deeply to the wisdom your body already holds.

If this mind-body approach resonates with you, please reach out.

Get in touch