Understanding Trauma

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Trauma can arise from distressing events such as sudden situations, emotional or physical hurt, natural disasters, or personal loss. These experiences can have lasting emotional, physiological, and psychosocial impacts on one's well-being and daily life. Trauma-informed therapy provides a supportive space to process these experiences, develop coping strategies, and regain a sense of control.

Signs You Might Need Trauma-Informed Counselling
It’s not always easy to recognise when trauma is affecting you.

Common signs include:

  • Intrusive Thoughts or Flashbacks: Reliving the event repeatedly.

  • Avoidance: Avoiding places, people, or activities that trigger trauma reminders.

  • A constant state of Hypervigilance: Feeling constantly on edge or easily startled.

  • Emotional Numbness: Struggling to connect with others or feel positive emotions.

  • Physical Symptoms: Difficulty sleeping, headaches, or unexplained aches and pains.

  • Trauma counselling offers a safe and understanding environment to explore your experiences.

    It can help by:

    • Providing Emotional Support: Offering a compassionate, non-judgmental space.

    • Understanding Trauma: Exploring how trauma affects your brain and body.

    • Developing Coping Strategies: Learning techniques to manage overwhelming feelings and reduce symptoms.

    • Processing Trauma: Gently working through traumatic memories at your pace.

    • Building Resilience: Strengthening your ability to face future challenges.

Embodiment & Somatic Awareness

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Embodiment & Somatic Awareness *

Embodiment and somatic awareness are about connecting to the body’s wisdom in counselling and psychotherapy.

  • Embodiment means being fully present in your body. It’s about noticing how emotions, memories, and experiences are stored and expressed physically, assessing the body’s ancient awareness, like tight shoulders when stressed or a fluttering stomach when nervous.

  • Embodiment and somatic awareness connect with the body’s wisdom in counselling and psychotherapy.

  • Somatic Awareness is tuning into these physical sensations with curiosity and mindfulness.

  • It involves noticing how the body communicates feelings, needs, and responses to the world around us.

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  • In therapy, these practices can help you:

    • Understand how your body responds to stress or trauma.

    • Learn how to calm and ground yourself during overwhelming emotions.

    • Discover insights into your emotions and experiences through physical awareness.

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