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Fear, Trauma & Complex Trauma

  • We all have a past we try to remember and a past we try to forget. We also have ideas, hopes and fears about the future.

    Yet the present is where we actually live. When we remain caught in past hurts, regrets and unresolved conflicts, or become preoccupied with what might happen, our ability to experience the present can be seriously compromised.

    Psychotherapy can help you understand and work through what continues to shape your relationship with the past and future, allowing you to live more fully in the here and now.

    This may involve working with:

    • Childhood, family and relationship difficulties.

    • Abuse, loss, grief, guilt, shame and regret.

    • Persistent worry, rumination and anticipatory anxiety.

    • Panic attacks, depression and emotional instability.

    • Anger, tearfulness, helplessness and difficulty expressing feelings.

    • Social anxiety, phobias and fear of other people.

    • Retirement, bereavement, changes in identity and loss of direction.

    • Existential anxiety concerning death, isolation, freedom and meaning.

    • Overwhelm, vulnerability, embarrassment and the wish to withdraw from life.

    • Compulsive habits and repetitive behaviours, including those associated with obsessive-compulsive difficulties.

    The aim is not to eliminate every uncomfortable feeling. It is to understand what you experience, develop greater freedom in how you respond, and become less governed by habitual fear and avoidance.

  • Our social and family environments shape us profoundly. Many of the expectations we absorb about being a good child, student, worker, friend, family member or citizen may not support our psychological health or individuality.

    As children, we often learn to conform to roles in order to gain approval, avoid punishment or preserve important relationships. Some of these adaptations remain with us long after they have ceased to be helpful.

    For people who have experienced abuse, neglect, violence or other overwhelming events, the effects can reach into almost every aspect of life. The mind and body may remain organised around survival: constantly alert to danger, anticipating the worst, struggling to feel safe or finding it difficult to relax into relationships and everyday experience.

    The work is not simply to manage fear, but to understand how it developed and what continues to sustain it.

    I offer an individually tailored, flexible approach to fear and trauma. It considers the ways traumatic experiences can affect thoughts, emotions, bodily sensations, habits and our relationship with the world.

    Over decades of clinical work, I have developed a range of structured practices that can be adapted to a person's history, needs and circumstances. Depending on what is appropriate, these may draw on approaches such as EMDR/EMNR, biofeedback, EFT, yoga and meditation, alongside methods developed through my own clinical practice.

    Some of this work can be practised between sessions, helping you develop greater awareness, regulate stress and establish a stronger sense of stability and safety.

    The aim is to move beyond merely surviving: from persistent insecurity, hypervigilance and feeling constantly on edge towards being more grounded, self-protective, confident and at ease.

    Difficulties addressed in trauma work include

    • Adverse and traumatic experiences in childhood or adulthood, including neglect, abuse, sexual assault and physical violence.

    • Post-traumatic stress, including PTSD and complex PTSD.

    • Developmental trauma and its possible relationship to chronic insecurity, hypervigilance, dissociation, emotional disconnection, fear of intimacy and other longstanding psychological difficulties.

    The way trauma presents differs from person to person. An initial discussion helps us consider your circumstances and whether this approach is appropriate for you.

  • You do not need to fit a particular category or arrive with a complete understanding of what is wrong. You may simply know that you feel unhappy, frightened, disconnected, caught in repetitive patterns or unable to live as you would like.

    The work begins by taking your experience seriously and becoming curious about what lies beneath it.

    Authenticity is not about becoming a perfect version of yourself. It is about becoming more honest, more self-aware and more able to live in accordance with what matters to you.

    This requires courage: the willingness to question familiar habits, face uncomfortable truths and take responsibility for the possibilities available to you.

    If you would like to explore whether this work might help, an Introductory Meeting gives us an opportunity to discuss your situation and what you are looking for.