Trauma Therapy Adelaide
I know trauma. I'm a highly trained & experienced trauma psychologist.
Childhood trauma, PTSD, complex trauma, or a one-off incident that's stuck with you. This is my entire focus.
Looking for trauma therapy in Adelaide?
Trauma happens when memories get stuck.
Signs of unprocessed trauma
Trauma gets stuck in the brain and body as raw, unprocessed material. Symptoms vary but common signs include:
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Physical sensations such as a tight chest, racing heart, or heaviness in the stomach.
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Nightmares or vivid intrusive memories that interrupt daily life.
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Strong emotional responses like anger, panic, sadness, guilt, or regret.
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Negative beliefs tied to the experience, like "I'm not good enough," "I should have done more," or "I am powerless."
It's not about the event
Most people associate trauma with major life events like accidents or violent crimes. But trauma occurs when the mind and body can't properly process what happened because it was too emotionally overwhelming. This means a wide range of experiences can register as traumatic -- even when they don't fit the typical picture. I frequently work with clients experiencing clear trauma symptoms who haven't been through stereotypically traumatic events.
Common life experiences can cause trauma
Sometimes trauma arises from situations we might not initially recognise as traumatic, such as:
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Childbirth (even when things technically go well)
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Breakups in relationships
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Experiencing betrayal
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Public shaming or intense embarrassment
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Feeling extremely threatened or scared (like being yelled at, or aggressively confronted)
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Relationships with unpredictable or volatile people
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Death of loved ones, even outside of tragic or extreme circumstances
Frequently asked questions about trauma therapy
What about complex trauma?
PTSD technically refers to a single incident, but in my experience, most people dealing with trauma haven't experienced just one event. This is where complex trauma, or C-PTSD can come in. C-PTSD refers to the broad range of psychological and physiological symptoms that can develop after repeated traumatic experiences over time.
What does complex trauma look like?
I wrote a blog on the difference between PTSD and c-PTSD. Some examples of c-PTSD symptoms include:
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Fawning: People-pleasing tendencies or difficulty saying “no” to others
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Challenges with anger management: Feeling as though you go from calm to intense anger (zero to 100) despite efforts to control it.
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A sense of disconnection from your true self: You might feel like you don’t know who you truly are or that you’re not living authentically.
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Feeling like there are dramatically different sides to you: Some people describe having a Jekyll and Hyde type experience where moods shift dramatically.
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Difficulty with emotional connection: Either struggling to feel emotions or feeling emotionally overwhelmed on a regular basis.
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Constant feelings of worthlessness: A persistent sense of “not being good enough” or lacking value.
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High empathy for others but little self-compassion: You may have deep compassion for others but struggle to give the same to yourself.
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Frequent self-criticism: Harshly judging yourself or calling yourself negative names when you make mistakes.
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Invalidating your own emotions: Frequently telling yourself that your feelings are dramatic or invalid.
Where does childhood trauma fit?
Childhood trauma can show up in all the ways above -- and then some. It might present as PTSD, complex PTSD, anxiety, depression, low self-worth, emotional reactivity, or just a persistent sense that something isn't quite right.
Think of your experiences like tree roots. If there's something tangled down there, you'll see it in the leaves -- but there are hundreds of ways it might show up.
The good news? Trauma therapy works. EMDR (my preferred approach, for good reason) is effective regardless of what your childhood looked like or how your symptoms are showing up today.
How can you help?
I provide trauma therapy tailored to your specific presentation. Where appropriate, I'll recommend EMDR -- a gold-standard trauma therapy endorsed by the World Health Organisation and the Australian Psychological Association.
For more complex presentations, I combine EMDR with other evidence-based approaches. These help address the whole picture, particularly when things feel layered or tangled. These might include schema therapy, mindfulness, internal family systems therapy and other parts approaches, acceptance and commitment therapy, compassion-focused therapy, cognitive-behavioural therapy, and dialectical behaviour therapy.
Trauma therapy is effective to a clinically significant degree for most people. This is my clinical experience and it's well supported by the research base. For many people, PTSD is treatable. I've seen it happen hundreds of times.
Trauma therapy that goes beyond coping
I'm not interested in helping you cope better. I want you to feel genuinely better. EMDR and other trauma approaches are well supported by research. They can help you process traumatic experiences and resolve them -- so you can move forward without the past running things in the present.
I don't promise magic fixes. But I can promise I'll do everything I can to help you feel better than where you are now. You can learn more about me and my personal approach to therapy here.
EMDR therapy and other trauma approaches are well supported by research — they can help you process traumatic experiences and release them for good so you can actually move forward. What is EMDR?
If that's what you're looking for, get in touch.