Transcending Trauma
Applied Memory Deconsolidation and Reconsolidation
“Being traumatised means continuing to organise your life as it the trauma were still going on….as every new encounter or event is contaminated by the past” – Van der Kolk
Trauma
Trauma is any unhealed psychological wound. It’s the response our nervous system has to a frightening and distressing experience. This could be a single event, or the culmination of long-term stress.
“Trauma is a fact of life. It does not, however, have to be a life sentence.” – Peter A. Levine
Trauma Informed Therapy with Advanced EMDR
A gently and powerful approach, EMDR is a powerful approach to effectively, and safely dealing with trauma. It is so effective because it addresses the affects of trauma on four structural levels. Physical, emotional, mental and structural.
EMDR is neuroscience based and utilises the science of memory deconsolidation and reconsolidation. The Advanced EMDR process calms the nervous system, drawing on mindfulness, somatic therapy, AMDR, NLP, Hypnotherapy, Tapping, Breath Work, Chi Gong, Polyvagal Theory, Parts integration and Inner Child Work.
Advanced EMDR prioritises your capacity to feel safe whilst reprocessing and releasing trauma. Safety and trust are essential to any work which included anxiety, trauma, depression and other mental health challenges.
We have all been traumatised in some form at some point in our lives, so we each carry wounds deep within ourselves, and each day we are trying very hard to make sure that that pain is kept at bay. Traumas are susceptible to being triggered, and cause us unhappiness in every day live. It may be that you can put them away in a box most of the time, or that you feel like they are just under the surface. But you know that they are there in your subconscious. Affecting you in one way or another.
Trauma In The Mind And Body
Trauma is a product of a part of the brain called the Amygdala which triggers our fight or flight response when we’re faced with a perceived threat or danger. When activated to fulfil that part of its job, the Amygdala puts us on constant watch and our stress response is fully engaged.
Suffering a traumatic event in life makes us vulnerable emotionally, if not physically, and the Amygdala is instinctively activated, keeping a constant silent watch for any threat that a traumatic event may be repeated.
At its worst, our stress response is at maximum all day, every day – and that’s not good for us either mentally or physically.
Left unaddressed, it causes a breakdown of the immune system and can lead to physical exhaustion. Not only that, but trauma keeps us rooted in the past and stops us from moving on with our lives.
“To heal is to touch with love that which we previously touched with fear.” — Stephen Levine
A Trauma Informed Approach
- Realize the widespread impact of trauma and understand paths for recovery
- Recognize the signs and symptoms of trauma in patients, families, and staff
- Integrate knowledge about trauma into policies, procedures, and practices and
- Actively avoid re-traumatization.
Working at a pace that’s safe for you
For those suffering with trauma, it can often be very challenging to separate the past from the present because our brain is in protective mode, maintaining a strong link with what has gone before to shield us from what might happen in the future.
People who are traumatised are frequently highly anxious or ‘hyper-aroused’. They need tools to help them regulate and access their ‘window of tolerance’. This is a state, where you can tolerate emotions and integrate information, often associated with being engaged when you are with others.
As trauma affects the whole human system, so for a therapy to be really affective it needs to address trauma on all levels. Physical, emotional, mental and spiritual.
Our brains crave certainty and change needs to almost be so subtle that you don’t really notice it at all. Advanced EMDR is designed to work with safely with your trauma so that the subconscious does not perceive the changes as a threat. We honour the mind body connection and are sensitive to its guidance throughout.
Book Your Free Consultation
A Trauma informed approach means that we are very conscious about not re traumatising you during the session, we use tools and techniques that you can take away with you that sooth the central nervous system and keep your pre frontal cortex online
Please contact me for a free of charge consultation to discuss how Advanced EMDR may help you
Principles of Trauma
“What we change inwardly will change outer reality.” – Plutarch
Safety
Creating a physically and emotionally safe environment where you dont have to worry about being re-traumatised
Realisation
Understanding Trauma and the effect that it can have.
Somatic Awareness
Being guided by the subtle messages of the mind and body
Collaboration
working together to allow change at a safe rate for you.
Mindfulness
Using mindfulness and breath to stay connected and safe.
Trust
Creating a strong rapport to ensure safety and communication
Testimonials
Sarah is such an easy person to talk to she helped me see things from a different perspective. I regularly use the tools she has given me to deal with any issues that come up in my life. Sarah is calm non-judgemental and completely puts you at ease. I would highly recommend Sarah to anyone’.
Working with Sarah has been a life changing experience. Sarah has an incredible breadth of skills, like no other therapist I have worked with before. Sarah has a way of working that I feel is patient and insightful, which not only helped me move the needle in many areas of my professional life, but also lead to significant self-development. It’s safe to say that I left Sarah a more evolved and self-assured person. I cannot recommend her highly enough! Thank you for everything Sarah.
I would not have got through the last year without her support, and what she taught me has enabled me now to move on and face the world as the happy person I always used to me. Sarah was a ray of sunshine in my life when I needed it most; I cannot recommend her highly enough.
For the first time I am not needing to run away from my feelings… It’s freeing!!!
Sarah is calm, friendly and very approachable a great listener with a lovely manner . She is non judgemental and completely professional.
Her sessions are engaging and exceeded my expectations.
Sarah has helped me see things from a fresh perspective. I was very lucky to choose Sarah as my coach as I always feel in tune with her during the sessions.
Q & A with Sarah
Going through very stressful, frightening or distressing events is called trauma.
Traumatic events can happen at any age and can cause long-lasting harm.
Trauma can include events where you feel, frightened, under threat, humiliated, rejected, abandoned, invalidated, unsafe, unsupported, trapped, ashamed, powerless
Ways trauma can happen include:
- one-off or ongoing events
- being directly harmed
- witnessing harm to someone else
- living in a traumatic atmosphere
- being affected by trauma in a family or community.
When we feel stressed or threatened, our bodies release hormones called cortisol and adrenaline. This is the body’s automatic way of preparing to respond to danger, and we have no control over it.
This can have a range of effects, which are sometimes called:
- Freeze – feeling paralysed or unable to move.
- Flop – doing what you’re told without being able to protest.
- Fight – fighting, struggling or protesting.
- Flight – hiding or moving away.
- Fawn – trying to please someone who harms you.
Studies have shown that stress signals can continue long after the trauma is over. This can affect your mind and body, including how you think, feel and behave.
These are some common effects of trauma that you might recognise:
- Flashbacks – reliving aspects of a traumatic event or feeling as if it is happening now, which can happen whether or not you remember specific details of it.
- Panic attacks – a type of fear response. They’re an exaggeration of your body’s response to danger, stress or excitement.
- Dissociation – one way your mind copes with overwhelming stress. You might feel numb, spaced out, detached from your body or as though the world around you is unreal.
- Hyperarousal – feeling very anxious, on edge and unable to relax. You might be constantly looking out for threats or danger.
- Sleep problems – you might find it hard to fall or stay asleep, feel unsafe at night, or feel anxious or afraid of having nightmares.
- Low self-esteem – trauma can affect the way you value and perceive yourself..
- Grief – experiencing a loss can be traumatic, including someone dying but also other types of loss. Many people experience grief as a result of how trauma has changed their lives. You might feel that trauma has caused you to miss out on some things in life, which can also lead to feelings of loss.
- Self-harm – hurting yourself as a way of trying to cope. This could include harming parts of your body that were attacked or injured during the trauma.
- Suicidal feelings – including being preoccupied by thoughts of ending your life, thinking about methods of suicide or making plans to take your own life.
- Alcohol and substance misuse – a way you might try to cope with difficult emotions or memories.
“When the alarm bell of the emotional brain keeps signalling that you are in danger, no amount of insight will silence it.” – Bessel van der Kolk, MD
Sarah Leonard
Location
- St Albans, Harpenden, Hemel Hempstead, Wheathampstead & Hitchin