Healing Trauma and Embracing Your Life

Trauma clouds every aspect of your being. Leaving you either numb and shut down or agitated and on alert. Human life is stressful and traumatic. Most people have experienced a traumatic event or relationship that betrayed them.

What makes the difference is how you recover, and the kind of supports you have in your life.

When you experience trauma, abuse or neglect when you are young, the consequences run deep. You have fewer inner resources to deal with the impact, which can lead to unhealthy ways of dealing with the pain, such as addictions, self-harm, destructive relationships, isolation.

When we have safe and secure relationships, we can process traumatic experiences and restore our natural instincts.

Do you find that your reactions don't make sense or seem out of proportion? This is because trauma binds your energy, leaving you frozen in the past, affecting how you respond now. When you release this energy, you can develop resilience, a deeper connection with yourself and others, and live more fully in the present.

At Turning Point Therapy we understand the importance of creating a safe and secure relationship with you, which is the foundation for trauma recovery. We provide therapy that addresses all aspects of mind and body.

In-person sessions now available

We still have both video chat and in-person options in the booking system.

We maintain recommended precautions and book people with 15 mins in between to clean surfaces. We also have a recommended air filtration system to add further safety to your sessions.

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"The roots of resilience are to be found in the sense of being understood by and existing in the mind and heart of a loving, attuned, and self-possessed other."
Diana Fosha

Types of Trauma You May be Struggling with

Most of you may understand trauma as those horrifying events where your life or someone else's life is threatened. These might include;

  • Assault
  • Car Accidents
  • War
  • Witnessing violence
  • See someone die
  • Surgery/birth trauma
  • Natural Disaster
  • Sexual Assault/Child sexual abuse
  • Child abuse and neglect

Trauma is defined as any event that overwhelms your nervous system. Depending on your age and choices at the time, many experiences can be traumatic because they cause similar effects on your nervous system where we feel powerless, overwhelmed, or confused. Here are a few that you may not associate with having a traumatic effect.

  • End of relationship/friendship
  • Bullying
  • Victim of gossip
  • Victim of discrimination
  • Workplace stress, harassment, job loss
  • Moving or significant change in circumstances
  • Illness
  • Living with ongoing criticism and contempt

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For More Information on:

Trauma that goes unresolved can diminish your ability to deal with further stressful, traumatic events. This can lead to developing Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Complex PTSD.  When we have unresovled trauma in our system we have a tendency to under-react to what is abnormal (rage, abuse, neglect) and over-react to what is normal (misunderstandings, being late, emotions, not being heard).

Building a Safe Space with you 

Psychotherapy is a process that allows you to explore your thoughts, feelings, and behaviour with the non-judgmental presence of a therapist.
At Turning Point we practice the following aspects of creating a safe therapeutic space to explore your experience together.

You decide what you are willing to share.

The focus of the sessions is up to you. No-one will force you to speak about anything you are uncomfortable with or to follow a suggestion.  You have the right to your boundaries.  Trauma, especially trauma where our physical, emotional and sexual boundaries have been violated by another can leave us unclear about what you are comfortable with.  Our therapists are there to help you voice that and it starts as soon as you enter therapy through invitation and collaboration with you at every turn. We make it clear that you have the right to say no and to have that respected.

We go into material that you can tolerate.

In a similar way we work at your speed and rhythm.  It is important that you do not feel overwhelmed by emotions and painful feelings. Otherwise, you will just shut down again. So we keep assessing what seems tolerable as we go along. This is not to say we don't ever challenge but that comes within a trusting and safe relationship.

You will not have to tell the ‘story’ over and over again.

Research shows that just retelling your story over and over is not therapeutic. Details of the story are less important to know unless it is important to tell someone or to process the experience when you are ready and when there is a process in place with your therapist to do this. Going over details again and again is often counterproductive and can be re-traumatizing.

You are not alone in your experience.

We strive to provide a safe and compassionate presence to understand your struggles. Even if we don’t always get it right, we will listen to you and strive to be present to what is coming up for you. We have experience and skill in being able to be present to intense feelings, and to the dark side of human experiences. Knowing that someone is beside you can bring comfort and acceptance that makes it easier to bear sensitive and challenging material.

Be open to feedback.

Often trauma (especially relational and developmental) leaves you mistrustful of others and unsafe to voice concerns. As therapists we do not see oursleves as perfect and therefore there may be times that we make mistakes or do not connect with you in the way you would like. We want to hear anytime that we have caused discomfort or misunderstood you so you have an experience of repair in relationship and can know that it is possible to express your feelings without the relationship ending or you are punished.  This process may well positively shift your experience of relationships and responsible, caring communication.å

Welcome to our YouTube channel Making Sense with Delyse

I started this channel to promote content on relationships and mental health struggles that made sense of that in the context of what has happened to us.  Rather than what we call the disease model that sees emotional and mental challenges as something inherently broken in the person.

If this interests you I hope you will join me to make sense of this together.

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