Trauma & EMDR Therapy - Online & In-Person in Sittingbourne, Kent
Some experiences leave a mark that doesn't fade the way you'd expect. You might have gone through something frightening, painful, or overwhelming - and found that even though time has passed, it still shapes how you feel, how you respond, and how safe the world feels to you.
Maybe you find yourself on high alert without knowing why. Certain situations, sounds, or memories trigger a response that feels completely out of proportion. You might avoid things that remind you of what happened, feel emotionally numb or disconnected, or experience intrusive thoughts and images that arrive uninvited and are hard to shake.
Perhaps you've told yourself you should be over it by now. That other people have been through worse. That you just need to get on with things.
But trauma doesn't work that way - and the way you're responding makes more sense than you might think.
UNDERSTANDING TRAUMA
Why your brain responds the way it does
When something overwhelming happens, the brain's job is to keep you alive. It stores the experience as a threat - encoding not just the memory, but the emotions, sensations, and meaning attached to it - so that anything similar triggers an immediate protective response.
The brain uses everything it already knows - past experience, previous danger, learned associations - to predict what's coming next and prepare your body accordingly.
So a sound, a smell, a situation, or even a particular time of year can activate the same alarm system that fired during the original experience - even when you're perfectly safe.
This isn't weakness. It isn't being stuck in the past by choice. It's the nervous system doing exactly what it was designed to do - trying to protect you, based on what it learned.
Trauma therapy works with this system rather than against it. The goal isn't to forget what happened. It's to help your brain and body recognise that the threat has passed - so that the past can stay in the past.
WHAT TRAUMA CAN LOOK LIKE
Trauma doesn't always look like what people expect
It doesn't require a single dramatic event. It can develop gradually, or from experiences that others minimise - including experiences from earlier in life that shaped how you see yourself long before you had the words for them.
Whatever brought you here, you don't have to keep managing this alone.
THE APPROACH
A compassionate, integrative approach to trauma
There is no single route through trauma - and good trauma therapy doesn't apply a rigid formula. What helps most is an approach that is paced, collaborative, and responsive to where you are.
EMDR
Eye Movement Desensitization & Reprocessing Therapy
Helps the brain reprocess distressing memories - reducing their emotional charge so what happened can be remembered without the body responding as though it's happening again.
ACT
Acceptance & Commitment Therapy
Helps you develop a different relationship with difficult internal experience - so it no longer controls what you do or where you go.
CFT
Compassion Focused Therapy
Addresses the shame and self-criticism often at the heart of trauma - developing a warmer, more compassionate relationship with yourself.
CBT
Cognitive Behaviour Therapy
Helps reappraise beliefs and thought patterns trauma can leave behind - about safety, trust, and self-worth - so they reflect your present reality.
These approaches aren't used in isolation. Therapy is a responsive, collaborative process - we work together to understand what's most helpful for you, at the right pace.
WHAT TO EXPECT
How therapy works
Trauma therapy at its best is not about reliving painful experiences repeatedly. It is about creating the right conditions - safety, understanding, and trust - for the brain and body to do what they are capable of: processing what happened and moving forward.
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1. Build the foundation
We begin by understanding what's brought you to therapy, what you're experiencing, and what you'd like to be different. No rush to move into difficult material.
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2. Make sense of what's happening
Understanding why you feel and respond the way you do is often where real relief begins. We work together to map the patterns keeping you stuck.
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3. Process and move forward
Using EMDR and other approaches at the right pace, we help the brain and body update — so the past can stay in the past and you can be more present in your life.
Sessions are up to 60 minutes, usually weekly. Available in person in Sittingbourne, Kent or online across the UK.
PROFESSIONAL REFERRALS
Professional & medico-legal referrals
I accept referrals from medical professionals, solicitors, case managers, and insurance providers for clients requiring trauma-focused psychological therapy - including those involved in road traffic accidents and workplace incidents.
I am experienced in working with PTSD, acute stress responses, and complex trauma within medico-legal contexts, and can provide therapy reports where required.
Taking the first step
If any of this resonates - whether you're dealing with the aftermath of a specific event, or carrying something from much longer ago that still shapes your daily life - therapy can help.