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Emotional Release and
Psycho-Sensory Trauma Therapy
As a somatic trauma practitioner, I work with you to support your healing and growth using a variety of psychosensory therapies (psychological + sensory - through the body's senses) to release stuck emotions and the imprint of traumatic memory (which may result in a variety of symptoms like anxiety, chronic pain, etc). I have designed a unique protocol which includes a combination of therapies; some I use may include, but are not limited to:
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EFT (tapping)
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EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing)
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Hypnotherapy with Imaginal Inner Child Work
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Self-soothing and Breathwork (Amygdala Depotentiation)
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Wellbeing Coaching
I work using the body because this is the language of your unconscious beliefs and memories which shape your behaviours in the present (linked to the limbic brain via the autonomic nervous system).
I offer a free 30-minute no obligation Discovery Call so do book a time to discuss your issues.
What I offer is not talk therapy, although we will gather information at the initial consultation and, of course, we talk about your issues to ascertain where you are currently in life and where you would like to be. Because my focus is trauma-informed, I often discuss the effect on you of past incidents in your life to get a picture of you as a person. I have found that many people have traumas or unresolved emotions and these shape the way the brain responds to stress and hence gives you symptoms which may be seemingly unrelated. To get to the bottom of the symptoms we have to address the root cause and this is my aim in therapy – to help you identify and resolve them bodily.
These therapies are described in more detail below (scroll down).
Emotional Freedom Technique – EFT
Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT), is a fantastically simple but powerful technique for managing your emotional health and releasing any negative emotions you may have built up that cause pain, dysfunction and stress. It is an energy psychology method based on tapping specific areas of the head and body in a particular sequence whilst focusing on the problem. It sounds strange but curiously it works! Psychologists believe it stimulates the emotional brain (limbic system) causing it to re-wire and break the link between certain stimuli and the stress response. So, thoughts that would once cause you anxiety or pain suddenly have no effect. It is finally receiving the mainstream recognition it deserves for healing all sorts of common issues.
According to world renowned integrated health expert Dr Mercola, “Clinical trials have shown that EFT is able to rapidly reduce the emotional impact of memories and incidents that trigger emotional distress. Once the distress is reduced or removed, your body can often rebalance itself and accelerate healing of both emotional and physical problems.”
The wonderful thing about EFT is that it gets results quickly – in as little as 10 minutes of tapping you can release pain (even physical pain – most pain has some psychosomatic component), distress and fear. It treats everything from phobias, cravings, musculoskeletal pain, emotional blockages, etc,) And furthermore it is a wonderful self-empowerment technique that once learnt can be done by anyone at home.
Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing – EMDR
Eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing is a safe, fast treatment for all manner of phobias, anxiety disorders, and other emotional aspects of trauma. It is unparalleled in the treatment of Post traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD ) but is very useful too for any stress-related reaction which is limiting you e.g. anxiety, chronic pain, panic attacks, social phobia, etc.
It uses the brain’s ability to process traumatic memory stored in the limbic system of the brain by following left to right movements of the therapist’s hands. If this sounds far-fetched then think of how REM sleep works. During this period of sleep the eye are seen to be moving rapidly and scientists believe the purpose of this is to process the day’s events, processing the information and discarding that which is not needed so as to preserve brain function (or it would be overwhelmed).
However, in traumatic processing (defined as a situation where helplessness is present) memories are not able to be processed. They are stored in a part of the brain called the limbic system in an ancient survival mechanism which links the emotion to the experience so that you can avoid it in future. Unfortunately because you are never able to discharge those emotions (they remain ‘frozen’ in time), these memories then are hard-wired into the brain, waiting to trip us up whenever we experience the same emotion in later life.
In summary traumatic memories are:
Present –they feel like they are happening now!
Persistent – they do not diminish with time
Permanent – they are hard-wired
These traumas may be ‘big-T’ traumas like abuse, abandonment, an accident, bereavement, divorce or they may be ‘small-traumas like an unloving parent, being uprooted often, bullying or harassment at work or school. The originating trauma is usually in childhood but subsequent traumas may exacerbate the situation by triggering the memory. For instance most soldiers who got PTSD had suffered some form of abuse in childhood. Unfortunately those early experiences subconsciously landscape the brain for trauma (i.e they make it more likely to re-occur as the neural pathways are reinforced).
EMDR uses subconscious process to discharge these memories so that they no longer have the emotional pull – you do not ‘forget’ what happened but you are no longer disturbed and reactive to them. It is like spring cleaning your mental attic. You feel lighter and mentally fitter to tackle your current life without being drained by events of the past.
Reference:
Youssef, Nagy A et al. “Exploration of the influence of childhood trauma, combat exposure, and the resilience construct on depression and suicidal ideation among U.S. Iraq/Afghanistan era military personnel and veterans.” Archives of suicide research : Official Journal of the International Academy for Suicide Research vol. 17,2 (2013): 106-22.
PTSD
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