Solid Ground - Trauma Informed Therapy.
My approach to trauma recovery therapy sits on a foundation of neurobiology and the three phases of trauma therapy as recommended by the current world experts in the field. This approach ensures you have the skills, stability and resources you need throughout the therapeutic process.
Having said that we all know that life is never interested in fitting into a linear three step process, and everyone is different. Life is messy and dynamic and deeply creative and just like any living element in nature we humans are hard wired to find our own unique way to grow and thrive.
Within this safe structure we will collaborate together to develop a style individually tailored to suite you.
This unique style of working will pay particular attention to creating and maintaining safety and consistency within our therapeutic relationship. The process may involve elements of Narrative Therapy, Mindfulness training, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and Arts Based Therapy as outlined in this website. Additionally we may choose to utilise specialist techniques such as Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR) or an internal parts approach inspired by the deeply compassionate work of Janina Fisher.
Phase One - Establishing a safe and stable life in the here and now.
This phase focuses on your safety and stability both on your outside world and your inside emotional and psychological world.
- Getting to know each other, building our therapeutic alliance and establishing trust.
- Establishing a safe environment with safe home, reliable income, adequate support and freedom from abusive relationships.
- Establishing body safety, ensuring you are free from all forms of self harm.
- Establishing emotional safety by ensuring you have the skills of emotional regulation and ability to sooth yourself when distressed.
- Development of your ability to recognise when past traumatic events have been triggered and the capacity to manage the post traumatic experiences that this activates.
Phase two - Coming to terms with traumatic events of the past.
It is important to note that while remembering and sharing traumatic events is helpful for some people it is NOT necessary for healing and often not helpful or possible. The tasks of this phase are :
- Overcoming fear of traumatic memory.
- Appreciating the person you have become.
- Pacing the work so that it does not disturb the stability of day to day life.
- Reprocessing of traumatic memories where appropriate.
Phase Three - Integration and moving on.
As present day life comes into focus and develops traumatic events become less central, the focus at this stage is:
- Decreasing shame and isolation.
- Establishing intimacy and healthy attachment.
- overcoming fear of normal life and the inevitable changing nature of it.
- Embracing new challanges that reflect post traumatic growth and meaning making.