I have worked as a trauma therapist for a number of years and have helped adults age 16-80 with single incident and complex trauma.

If you find your body responding to safe, everyday situations in a reactive way such as a sick feeling in the stomach, quickened heartbeat, being easily startled or if you often retreat into duvet days this may be because your body has remained in a state of high alert or complete shutdown in an attempt to protect you from a repeat of the traumatic event/s you experienced.

It is very normal for people who have had deeply fearful experiences to feel cut off and numb when describing difficult memories, again the numbness is a normal way for a distressed mind to protect itself, allowing a detached retelling of events rather than reliving it and becoming overwhelmed all over again.

A trauma focused therapy plan which includes EMDR and image making can change the way you feel towards your past experience and help you to feel more comfortable within yourself. This is because it is less concerned with recounting events and more focused on working through sensations, images, sounds and ideas connected to the memory. Both modalities help you to access positive, creative thinking and dissolve unhelpful beliefs that have developed as a response to the distressing life experiences.

If you have developed addictive, stressful or isolating habits to survive until now we can also work on reducing these when you feel ready.

For survivors of sexual trauma, you may need to address sexual functioning such as issues with erection, orgasm or penetration. You may also struggle to feel intimacy with your partner or feel present in your body during sex.