The way I work
I offer trauma-informed therapeutic support for individuals who are seeking to process their experience of life, in a holistic framework, using mindfulness, loving presence, body-centred awareness, and self enquiry as tools for healing.
My approach to healing is about creating the safe container in which we observe what is arising in the moment without judgement.
Through facilitated self-enquiry and guidance, we will gently 'overhear' parts of yourself that hold keys of wisdom. We will cultivate practices that help you to acknowledge and embody those parts, and ultimately help you to come into alignment with your purpose and unique gift to the world.
This style of working— at the pace that your nervous system finds manageable— is not insight-driven or exposure-heavy. Rather, we create the most supportive conditions for self-exploration, together. Ultimately, we will become more fluent in acknowledging and honouring the dignity you have always possessed, but where you have not had the optimal conditions to express it or live by.
The impact of trauma often means we lose our dignity, felt perhaps as a loss of self-respect, self trust and self love. In the aftermath of coping with trauma, often the most 'sensible' sense-making is to turn in on our Self, we forget that we are loveable, that we are wanted, that we can have moments of safety. To believe otherwise would be a violation of what our nervous system is doing; to keep us safe, to survive.
When we can create conditions that illuminate the strategies we have employed in order to keep our Self safe, we have the opportunity to witness the adaptive strength of our predicament, and to question the validity of the core beliefs embedded in that strategy.
So here is our first reframe; we treat sensations, reactions, and beliefs as information, not problems. What is arising in the moment, through the body, is meaningful and of value.
We meet these sensations on your timeline. We don't push through. We don't relive for the sake of reliving. We follow your system's readiness to feel.
Working together
Following in the mentorship of my supervisor, Dr Paris Williams PhD, I work collaboratively in a ‘power with’, rather than a ‘power over’ dynamic.
I love this way of working, seeing you as the expert of your life-story, walking alongside you as we both become acquainted with your unique character strategies that have supported you to this point.
It is my job to apply the right conditions of safety, curiosity, non-judgemental awareness and kindness, to bring forward your own inner healing.
As we develop the capacity for curiosity to what is arising in the moment, we are able to turn towards that feeling and hang out with it.
This is called somatic resilience; where your nervous system is able to regulate itself in relationship with new information. Your ability to be with what is arising IS the transformational path.
Transformation is a natural unfolding of who you truly are.
Working with trauma
Trauma-informed therapy means I can support your process and track your nervous system regulation. The trauma response of flight-fight-flop-freeze happens when we have moved beyond our window of tolerance to process an experience or event.
Self-regulation of the nervous system is not our initial goal— trauma strategies can often refine our ability to take care of our Self in isolation— instead, we will cultivate an experience where you no longer need to do this on your own. Where you can take in the support offered in our therapeutic relationship.
Together we will establish a "base-camp" for your nervous system. As we invite attention towards uncomfortable feelings, I’ll be tracking your body language and responses in order to support you to stay within your window of tolerance and therefore be 'in choice' with your process.
We will cultivate a safe therapeutic container, establishing your sense of 'safe' so your body recognises it, tracks it, and deepens into this state before approaching any trauma stored in your body.
This way of working ensures you are in a resourced and embodied state when and where needed. This will enable you to process trauma at a pace that wasn’t previously available to you and to access your own innate healing ability.
Integration of our traumatic experience brings us to PTG (Post Traumatic Growth) - the embodied and lived experience of acceptance and resilience. PTG does not bypass Grief, nor does it erase the pain, but in our ability to meet whatever is arising, we are living more fully into our story. PTG has its own timeline; as Gabor Mate says "we must each live out our story fully".
Trauma-informed work is not about fixing what is wrong, but about listening carefully to what has been trying to protect you — and allowing new possibilities to emerge at a pace your nervous system can truly trust.
If you’re curious about what it might be like to explore your patterns in a supported, compassionate way, I’d be honoured to walk alongside you.
Feel free to reach out with a question, a reflection, or simply to say hello.
FAQ
Will I have to talk about everything?
No. You are never required to share more than feels right. We follow your system’s readiness, and often work with sensation, emotion, or simple noticing rather than detailed storytelling.
What if I shut down or go blank?
That’s welcome too. Shutting down is a meaningful nervous system response, not a problem to fix. We slow down, orient to safety, and work with what is available — including numbness, silence, or needing to pause.
Understanding your nervous system
If you’re curious about why your body responds the way it does— why you might feel activated, shut down, or calm in different moments— understanding your nervous system can be deeply supportive. Trauma-informed therapy works with these patterns rather than against them.
You can learn more about how nervous system states shape our beliefs, behaviours, and capacity for connection on my page Understanding Our Nervous System, which offers a gentle, body-mind map for making sense of your experience.