Phone
+44 7932 994425
e-mail:
[email protected]
People have been coming to see me over 14 years for assistance with the effects of trauma, complex trauma and dissociation. There may be feelings of not being familiar with one’s own home or feeling much younger than the person they see in the mirror. For some people they may have gone to hospital because of mild seizures and after being assessed were told that these were pseudo-seizures rather than epileptic seizures. They may have been advised to see a trauma therapist. Amnesia can also be prominent or having amnesia over these episodes of amnesia in which case it might have been family telling you you were doing things that seemed unusual like watching children’s TV or drinking something different than you usually choose. Sometimes there can be flashbacks of parts of the past not really in a very good order so it doesn’t make sense. Dissociation can start at primary school age but not recognised and it may be decades later the one starts to realise you’re not quite like other people. People may say they thought everybody thought like they did or say they just can’t remember anything before their teen years. People stories and why they have dissociation can be very different because each of us had people in our lives that were not equipped to care for younger ones. In the past, I volunteered with refugees and those who found themselves homeless in London to understand the complex problems that can happen for many reasons. I have worked with special needs children and assisted their parents in coming to terms with uncertainty. I am knowledgeable about short-term and long-term disabilities and have been a type 1 diabetic for almost 51 years so some knowledge comes from experience. The term trauma can take a variety of meanings so they can occur within one’s home, outside one’s home, in school, in the care system clubs and also cults which do exist in the UK. It may be important now that I do work with dissociative identity disorder and also those who have poly-fragmented DID. I understand about working with systems and systems with many layers that may not be connected.
As I’ve worked with dissociation for so long, I also practice self-care techniques some of which are shared with clients who may need skills to ground themselves. I continue to educate myself from specialists in the field to help with a client’s process.
Those who have experienced trauma in their past from a variety of reasons such as divorce, bullying, difficulties at school or university, being in a group or religious setting that had harm happen, and those that have been through mind control. Trauma can occur in many settings and it can seem that your brain might have locked away that information for years or decades. You may also know what the trauma is but have felt shame about telling others or been warned by the person that harmed not to tell with phrases such as ‘What happens here stays here’ or ‘It’s much worse in other places. Trauma can come from coercive, emotional, physical, medical, sexual, or spiritual harm; it can also happen because of what you saw someone else going through. Dissociation can also be made worse by certain types of work such as being in the military, the police, the fire service and other areas where harmful situations are happening on a constant basis.
If you grew up or worked in an area where sharing your vulnerable side was not encouraged it can be helpful to have someone who doesn’t have judgements about difficult situations that have already occurred in the distant past or more recently.
I start with 6 sessions and if you feel like you want more that can be booked. Sessions can be longer so double sessions a week every week which does happen in some trauma services within the NHS and can last longer as there will be more to discuss about the past. By talking about the past one can have a different perspective on what really happened and realise it wasn’t their fault and they won’t blame at all. As children sometimes we take responsibility of the various areas of life that don’t belong to us. It can be there wasn’t an adult available to explain things and through psycho education one can start to see that they were too young what happened or under the threat of another adult if one has ever been in abusive relationship. This can take some time to unpack and it may be the first time you sit it out loud ever.
Being able to live life in a way that feels freer and safer. Taking steps will be possible to reach future goals. Felling more connected. Having more balance over one’s emotions that may be quite big in more than one area, maybe with sadness, anxiety, anger or apathy. These can start to become more balance which frees up space in one’s soul so they can make new choices and explore hopes the had about the future.