Complex Trauma Counselling
Some days, you feel like you are just surviving instead of living.
Maybe you grew up in a family where you couldn’t talk about your feelings. You have always had to take on the responsibility to solve the family's problems, mediate or help others at the expense of yourself. You feel like you aren’t enough, you don’t do enough — and yet doing too much overwhelms you. If any of the above sounds familiar, you may feel like you are drowning.
On the outside, your life looks fine, maybe even great but you feel detached, numb. You work so hard to keep it a secret from everyone, to keep the appearance of being fine. You wonder sometimes, does anyone even see you? This is what it can feel like to live with symptoms of trauma (PTSD) or complex trauma (CPTSD). Trauma is often the underlying cause of the anxiety and depression symptoms that many people suffer from.
We have worked with many people who have experienced complex trauma and have helped them work through their self-criticism, guilt and shame. Our goal in trauma therapy is to empower you to get to a place where you can take care of yourself and do what matters most to you in life.
Why Attend Complex Trauma Counselling:
Re-establishing a sense of safety and trust
Improved emotional regulation
Identifying triggers and developing healthy coping strategies
Reduction in trauma-related symptoms
Improved quality of life
What is Complex Trauma?
There are many events and situations that occur throughout life that are classified as trauma. Trauma is any situation that our brain finds overwhelming. These are sometimes events that are out of the ordinary and can be single events, but often they are prolonged or a series of events and sometimes people have a more difficult time identifying these as "trauma". Situations that are classified as trauma may include early childhood emotional abuse, physical or sexual abuse or neglect, domestic abuse, living in war or conflict, any type of real or threatened physical or sexual violence.
Traumatic experiences can also include exposure that occurred during military service or on the job as a first responder, nurse (or any other type of person working in emergency services), in which case the resulting symptoms are most often classified as operational stress injuries. Trauma can also include workplace accidents, car accidents, the list is endless. Trauma is less about the experience itself and more about the impact it has on the individual.
Trauma physically changes our brains. When you experience a traumatic event, your mind changes and areas of your brain that used to work in a certain way actually change because of what is called hyperarousal (being overly activated) due to the traumatic event. There is an area of the brain that acts as an alarm for all of us, to notify us of danger and so when you hear the terms fight, flight or freeze this is what is being activated.
What happens after trauma is that this little alarm (the amygdala) becomes overactive and so instead of only alerting it to real danger it is sounding the alarm too often, making you feel unsafe. This makes life very challenging. It's common to wonder, is it even possible to recover from PTSD? The answer is yes. This is overly simplified to what is actually happening in your brain and body but sometimes it helps people to have a basic understanding.
What is Complex Trauma Therapy?
The first step in trauma therapy is always about feeling safe (physically and emotionally). Regardless of whether it was in early childhood or occurred more recently, this is always the most crucial first step and cannot be rushed. We will work together to find strategies that work for you and ways to help your alarm centre recalibrate so it is not always sending you danger signals. We will also talk about some of the thoughts that you have about yourself and the world and how they impact your current state of being.
If your trauma happened many years ago, we will talk about how this impacts your life today, and once we have established a therapeutic relationship where you feel safe, we will begin to get to the root of your trauma. This does not necessarily mean retelling your story, but rather the impact that it had on you then, the feelings associated with the event(s), and how it continues to impact you in the present.
Ready to get started?
Have more questions?
We want to make sure you find a therapist who is the right fit for you. Reach out to book a free consultation where we can assess your needs to provide you with the best care.