Trauma & EMDR Therapy

• Have you gone through a trauma?
• Do you experience nightmares or flashbacks?
• Do you feel aggressive for no reason?
• Are you constantly feeling on the alert?
• Do past experiences still feel overwhelming?

If you answered yes to some of the above, this can indicate that you have experienced something as traumatic. Trauma can arise from various kinds of experiences ranging from single events like road traffic collisions, natural disasters, surgery, or assault, to more complex situations like childhood abuse, complicated bereavement, or personality disorders. It can be something that you experience yourself, that you witness, or that you become aware of and is of particular relevance to you.

We normally process our memories using our past experience of ourselves and the world we live in. As a result, we usually feel distressed for a week or so after a traumatic experience. However the feeling of being overwhelmed can linger for longer and this blocks you from processing that information in a regular manner. As a result, the distressing memory becomes ‘stuck’ in your brain. This can continue to have a powerful influence on your life many years after the actual event. When that memory is triggered in the present, you can end up re-experiencing that event as if it’s happening now. It can also lead you to being very prone to getting angry and hypervigilant towards your surroundings, or it can lead you to being emotionally numb and trying very hard to avoid being reminded of that memory. When this continues for longer than a month, it means that you have ‘post traumatic stress disorder’ (PTSD). This can lead to other behaviours such as drug or alcohol consumption and can also have a negative impact on relationships and work.

If you have gone through such experience or have PTSD, you do not need to continue experiencing these symptoms. Psychotherapy, and in particular EMDR therapy, can help you put the things that belong to the past in the past. This will stop them feeling like you are living them in the present and will allow you to sleep better and be emotionally calmer. You can read more about EMDR therapy here.

My work experience with trauma

I have a lot of experience in working with trauma. I was the senior therapist with the London Fire Brigade after the fire at Grenfell Tower that killed 72 people. I was involved both in the treatment of trauma and in the development and delivery of training on trauma prevention as one of the managers of the Counselling and Trauma Service. 

I am a trained and highly-experienced EMDR Trauma Therapist working online and I combine this with regular psychotherapy in order to help you both process the traumatic memory and make sense of it by integrating in a non-disturbing way with the rest of your experience. I am a member of EMDRIA Deutschland and EMDR Europe. You can read more about my qualifications and experience here.

If you are looking for an online EMDR Trauma Therapist, feel free to contact me for a free initial phone or video call to discuss how I work with trauma.