I have specialised in further training particularly in the areas of trauma treatment, attachment difficulties, eating disorders and child and adolescent mental health to best equip me to facilitate restoration of health within my clients. These treatment frameworks are outlined below:

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The lasting traumatic symptoms associated with early adverse experiences have been recognised recently as more extensive than those ensuing from even major traumatic incidents. Childhood trauma, neglect, and abandonment leave clients with both overwhelmingly painful memories and emotions and a reactive fight and flight response that impairs their ability thereafter to respond "normally" in relationships. These are the body and emotional legacies of trauma.

 

Distress and confusion is common in the face of these intense behavioural reactions to seemingly minor cues. Individual "choice" of behaviour is overshadowed by the sensitised nervous system's drive to find relief and comfort. Some of the options include self-harm for quick short-lasting relief, suicidal ideation to restore a sense of control, eating disorders, addictive behaviour and substance abuse to numb emotion and alter consciousness. These may be effective survival strategies but would not be "chosen" for a life of health and well-being.

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Fortunately there has been extensive research since the 1990's into therapeutic frameworks that more directly impact the somatic (body) and emotional legacy of trauma without the "retraumatising" practices of traditional talk therapies requiring a descriptive narrative.

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Sensorimotor Psychotherapy (SP), developed by Pat Ogden, PhD, directly addresses the effects of trauma on the nervous system and body without the need to use touch. Easily integrated into traditional talk therapies, SP utilises mindfulness techniques to resolve trauma-related body responses first before addressing emotional responses and meaning-making.

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EMDR or Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing, developed in the 1980s by Francine Shapiro, is today one of the most popular and well-researched methods of trauma treatment. Like Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, EMDR does not focus on narrative recall but on reprocessing key elements of traumatic events, i.e, the legacy.

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TIST or Trauma-Informed Stabilisation Treatment was developed by Janina Fisher, PhD, to provide a trauma-informed approach to the challenges of treating self-destructive, eating disordered and addictive behaviour.

 

The Circle Of Security (COS) is a framework to assist parents to create secure relationships with their children. It also offers understanding of patterns of adult behaviour within relationships that can stem from our own earliest experiences of being parented.

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Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT, including mindfulness).

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Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) and CBTE (for eating disorders).