Trauma Therapy in London and Online Across the UK
You may have told the story before. You know what happened, you know roughly what it did to you, and yet your body still reacts as though it is happening now.
Trauma therapy works with the re-living of the memory in the present moment. It treats the memory as something held in the body as well as the mind, and does not rely on insight alone to shift it. It is a specialist approach which combines talking therapy and body-based techniques to help individuals overcome the effects of traumatic experiences, whether these are single incidents, ongoing distress, or unresolved internal conflicts.
I offer trauma therapy in person at three London locations: Waterloo, Clapham Junction and Surbiton, and online by Zoom to clients anywhere in the UK
What is Trauma Therapy?
Trauma therapy is a specialist approach for the effects of overwhelming experience. That might be one incident, a long stretch of childhood, or something you have never quite named.
I work with ‘big T’ trauma, such as PTSD and complex PTSD, and with ‘little t’ trauma, the accumulated experiences that never reached a diagnosis but still shape how you live. Both respond to the same careful, trauma informed work.
My approach is integrative. Talking therapy provides the frame and the relationship. Body based and energy techniques provide a route to the material that talking cannot always reach.
What happens in a session
We begin with what is troubling you now. I listen, I ask questions, and I follow the emotional charge as it moves.
Before we go near difficult material, I help you build resources to hold you steady. That usually includes an internalised safe space and a healing circle you can return to at any point.
When it becomes clear we have reached the heart of the issue, I will suggest an intervention. Depending on what fits, that might be:
- tapping on acupressure points, with you tapping on yourself while I tap on myself
- holding memory centres on the body, again mirrored between us
- repeating intentional phrases that I offer, used with the focus of a mantra
You do not have to give me a detailed account of what happened for this to work. We stay with the charge until the difficulty eases and you feel the shift. Nothing happens without your agreement, and you set the pace throughout.
Online sessions follow exactly the same structure. Because the exercises are ones you carry out on your own body, they translate to Zoom without losing anything.
What trauma therapy can help with
Clients come to me for support with:
- PTSD and complex PTSD, from childhood or from adult life
- attachment and developmental trauma
- flashbacks, nightmares, body memories and dissociation
- anxiety, hypervigilance and difficulty regulating emotion
- sexual trauma and the effects of abuse
- medical trauma and the emotional impact of acute and chronic illness
- grief, bereavement and traumatic loss
- non-verbal and pre-verbal experience that talking cannot easily reach
- inherited and trans-generational patterns
You do not need a diagnosis to come. Many people arrive simply feeling overwhelmed by ordinary life, or sensing that something from the past is still running the show.
The methods I work with
I trained in integrative counselling and psychotherapy at The Minster Centre in London and have been in practice for a decade. Since then I have trained further in somatic and energy based trauma work.
I am a registered member of the BACP and work to their code of ethics, with regular supervision. Some clients come for one specific method. Others prefer that I choose from the range as the work unfolds. Both are fine.
Trauma therapy across London
Trauma work asks something of you, so it helps if getting there is easy. I see clients face to face at three London locations:
- Central London, 50 Westminster Bridge Road, SE1 7QY, a short walk from Waterloo and Lambeth North, and convenient if you work in the City or the West End
- Clapham Junction, 6 Northcote Road, SW11 1NT, for south London and anyone on the Northern or Overground lines
- Surbiton, 16 St James Road, KT6 4QH, for south west London, Kingston and north Surrey
Online sessions by Zoom are available across the UK, Monday to Thursday. Many London clients mix the two, coming in person when they can and switching to video when work or travel makes that difficult. Consistency matters more than location in this work, and online sessions protect it.
Arrange a free consultation
If you would like to talk it over first, I offer a free 10 minute telephone consultation with no obligation. It is a chance to describe what is going on and ask whether this approach is likely to suit you.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I have to talk about what happened?
No. You can tell me as much or as little as you wish. The embodied work uses a short phrase that captures the focus, not a full account of the event, so you are not required to relive it in order to release it.
Is trauma therapy safe?
Yes. Tapping and holding body centres can feel peculiar the first time, and most clients say so. The framework around them is what makes depth possible safely. Before we go near difficult material, I help you build resources to hold you steady, including an internalised safe space and a healing circle you can return to. You set the pace and can stop at any point.
How is it different from ordinary talking therapy?
Much of it will feel familiar. We make connections between past and present and we talk about where you want to get to. What differs is the focus and the practicalities. I will help you reach the heart of the matter rather than circling it, and the embodied exercises give you a way to release what surfaces rather than only understanding it.
Do you work with complex PTSD and childhood trauma?
Yes. Complex and developmental trauma are a large part of my practice, alongside attachment trauma and dissociative experience. This work usually takes longer than single incident trauma, and we build it in stages.
Do you offer EMDR?
No, I am not an EMDR practitioner. I do offer other embodied trauma therapies that work on similar principles, particularly AIT.
How does AIT compare with EMDR?
They have a good deal in common. Both are embodied trauma therapies used inside a psychotherapeutic framework, both start from the understanding that trauma is held in the body, and both are useful with flashbacks, body memories and nightmares.
The mechanism differs. EMDR uses bilateral stimulation through eye movement and focuses on a specific memory or set of memories. AIT works with memory centres in the body where trauma is stored. In AIT we formulate a sentence that captures the focus of the work, then release its charge by moving your hands down the memory centres.
Some clients come to me having done useful EMDR work and wanting to build on it. Others come having found EMDR difficult and wanting a different route.
Does it work as well online as in person?
Yes. The interventions are ones you carry out on your own body, so nothing is lost over video. I work with clients across the UK by Zoom, and with London clients who prefer not to travel after a session.
Where in London are you based?
In person sessions are held at 50 Westminster Bridge Road in central London, SE1 7QY, at 6 Northcote Road in Clapham Junction, SW11 1NT, and at 16 St James Road in Surbiton, KT6 4QH. Online sessions are available anywhere in the UK.