Trauma therapy for adults
You’re tired of the past having so much say in your life.
Perhaps a reminder leaves you shaken for hours. You find yourself bracing for someone’s anger, going blank when you want to speak, or feeling ashamed even when you know you did nothing wrong. Getting through the day can take more out of you than people realise.
I work with adults experiencing PTSD, complex trauma and the lasting effects of abuse, neglect and other painful experiences. Together, we’ll work on what keeps these experiences affecting you, with the aim of reducing distress and helping you feel more in control of your life.
Clinical psychologist · Accredited EMDR practitioner · 17 years as a psychologist
Experiences I can help you work through
You might recognise a diagnosis here, an experience, or simply the way you’ve been feeling. These areas often overlap.
PTSD and traumatic events
PTSD can follow experiences such as a serious accident, assault, a medical emergency, a natural disaster, a traumatic birth or traumatic loss. It can also develop after witnessing a horrific event or repeatedly encountering traumatic situations through your work.
Perhaps memories arrive uninvited, sleep brings nightmares, or an ordinary sound or smell suddenly takes you back. You might find yourself checking for danger, avoiding reminders or organising more of your life around feeling safe.
Complex trauma, CPTSD and attachment
Repeated abuse, emotional neglect or unpredictable care, especially in childhood, can affect how you feel about yourself and how you feel in relationships.
Perhaps you learnt to read everyone’s moods, hide your needs or keep people happy. Now, a small disagreement can feel like rejection, and you’re left feeling difficult to love. You may long for closeness while also pulling away from it. Feelings can become overwhelming, or you may experience dissociation: feeling distant or disconnected from yourself and your environment.
Relational and betrayal trauma
Abusive or controlling relationships, bullying, infidelity and religious or spiritual harm can leave you questioning yourself long afterwards. This might involve a partner, family member, workplace or community you trusted.
Perhaps you replay conversations, doubt your own judgement or wonder whether it was “really that bad”. You might miss someone who hurt you, feel guilty for setting boundaries or find yourself explaining every decision to avoid being misunderstood. Even after the situation has changed, you may still feel responsible for keeping the peace or struggle to trust that kindness comes without conditions.
Anxiety, depression and other difficulties
You may be looking for help with anxiety, panic, persistent low mood, sleep problems or difficulties with intimacy, without seeing an obvious connection to the past.
Years of criticism may have left mistakes feeling unbearable. Growing up around anger may mean that ordinary conflict still feels threatening. Having little comfort or support may have contributed to keeping everything to yourself, even when you desperately need someone. We can explore whether past experiences are contributing to what you’re struggling with, alongside other factors affecting your life now.
Together, we’ll work out what is still affecting you and where to focus, so treatment has a clear direction, even when your history feels complicated.
How we’ll work together
Finding a starting point
I aim to nurture a relationship where you feel seen and deeply understood. We’ll begin with what troubles you now, what sets it off and what you want to change. If you’ve had therapy before, I’ll want to understand what helped and what remains difficult.
Working with what still affects you
EMDR is central to my trauma work. We may focus on a memory, a recurring trigger or a belief such as “I’m not worthy”.
More about EMDR therapy
Depending on your needs, I may also draw on parts work and other approaches to work with shame, inner conflict and patterns in relationships. I’ll explain what I’m recommending and why.
Keeping the work connected to your life
Throughout, I want you to feel understood and supported, and to have a sense that we’re getting somewhere together. We’ll check how you’re managing during and between sessions, and whether therapy is helping with the changes you came for. If something feels too much or isn’t shifting, we’ll review the pace, focus or approach.
If your Christian faith is important to you, we can include that in our work.
A few things you might be wondering
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You don’t have to share everything in the first session. We can begin with what feels possible to talk about. As we plan treatment, I’ll explain what working with particular memories would involve, and we’ll make those decisions together.
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We can look at what you’ve tried, what changed and where you still feel stuck. That helps us consider whether my approach may be a useful next step.
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You don’t need to settle on a label before seeking help. We can explore what your experiences mean for the difficulties you’re having now and work together to explore if your past is part of the picture.
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Perhaps talking about what happened brings up strong feelings, or you find yourself going blank or feeling far away. We can talk about these reactions and plan for them. I’ll check in as we work, and we can pause, help you reconnect with the present or focus on a smaller part of an experience. You don’t have to push through or pretend you’re managing.
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There isn’t a fixed number of sessions. It depends on what you want help with, the experiences involved and how treatment progresses. Once I understand your situation, we’ll discuss a starting plan and review it together. We’ll look for changes in everyday life, such as how you respond to reminders, sleep or relate to others. If something isn’t shifting, we’ll consider what needs adjusting.
If you’d like help with the effects of trauma, I’d love to hear from you.
Appointments are available online across Australia and in person in Warrandyte, Melbourne.