Healing Traumatic wounds
Some people ask if the word ‘trauma’ sometimes seems an exaggeration for distress that was experienced in the past. Current, trauma-informed therapy, however understands that difficulties and distress in the present often have their roots in unresolved past events. This includes things that happened or were done to you and/or the ongoing lack of what should have been there during childhood.
- Were you seen, validated and valued as you were, unconditionally?
(at least enough of the time) - Or, were your needs, hopes, interests, hopes, fears denied, belittled?
- Were your caregivers unable to help you handle difficult emotions because of their own unresolved difficulties?
- Were there seemingly small things that happened to you that you might hesitate to call ‘trauma’, but which have shaped your sense of self-worth, self-confidence and the ways in which you might need to protect parts of yourself, sometimes without awareness.
Some people ask ‘Why go back there?’ ‘It all happened so long ago, what’s the point?’
‘Surely I should have got over that by now?’ The good news is that there are safe, effective ways to overcome trauma so that our past does not continually imprison us in the present. Over the years, I have worked with many sexual abuse and domestic violence survivors, veterans, as well as crime victims, and helped them to become familiar with those burdened parts of themselves that need attention and support.
When working with these wounds, the aim is neither to erase the past or revisit it for the sake of revisiting. The aim is to lighten the load of these burdens so the past is experienced differently and it becomes possible to unlock energy that is spent keeping this pain at bay.
I understand how the impact of trauma affects people’s experience of different parts or aspects of themselves and their attachment relationships. Modern psychotherapy practice is informed by neuroscience and research, and I keep learning and updating my work through continual professional development I specialize in a multi-dimensional perspective to trauma recovery that includes attending to mind-body-emotions-spirit, within the context past, present and future.
What does this mean?
Certainly it means different things to different people
I adopt a compassionate, holistic approach to trauma recovery, which does not label, pathologise or diagnose. I attend to you in the context of all parts of your experience, of what has happened in your life. I find it is beneficial to respectfully attend to and ‘normalise’ shifting moods, ego-states and dissociating parts. I integrate therapeutic approaches that prioritise harnessing your resources as essential to overcoming the consequences of time-frozen trauma. The aim is not only to resolve unwanted symptoms but also to help you to discover and increase resilience and self-confidence.
I know that the decision to address trauma memories and create change can feel like a challenge. I work in a way that is responsive to understanding your specific needs and have trained in a range of different trauma recovery therapeutic approaches. These include:
- Critical Incident Process Recovery (CIPR)
- EMDR and Attachment-Focused EMDR therapy in which I am qualified at an advanced level. http://parnellemdr.com/members/zpool/
- Sensorimotor Psychotherapy: “Affect Dysregulation, Survival Defenses, and Traumatic Memory”
LINK Read more about EMDR Therapy
LINK Read more about Understanding and Working with Dissociation
