- Trained in the 2 Gold Standards of trauma treatment
- EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitisation & Reprocessing)
- TF-CBT (trauma focused Cognitive Behavioural Therapy)
- Other therapies may be used depending on how the session is going
- Internal Family Systems
- Brainspotting (type of slow wave EMDR)
- All these therapies change the neural network
- See Phoenix Australia PTSD Guidelines Discussion
EMDR assumes that the overwhelming emotions experienced during trauma interfere with how memories are stored disconnecting them from existing memory networks.
While focusing on images, thoughts, emotions and sensations and using bilateral sounds or sensations, the emotional charge around the memory is eliminated and a more helpful thought replaces the negative belief attached to the memory. Usually, one event is dealt with in each session.
You do not have to discuss the event in detail, but we do need to activate it to work on it. EMDR has exponential affects so is usually a briefer therapy than TF-CBT for example.
IFS is a trauma-based therapy which offers a new way to understand what’s happening in the body. There are many things in traditional psychotherapy which are considered pathological processes like dissociation, flashbacks, panic attacks etc. In IFS, these processes are considered to be Protective Parts. This allows you (with help from me) to provide the emotional and psychological support to the Parts that they missed out on as a child. IFS is easy to include with other therapies but is particularly good with trauma. IFS is a truly healing process.
Where you look affects how you feel. The subcortical brain system (the unconscious part of the brain) is accessed through eye positions and how that is felt in the body. There is a unique eye position for the particular event that is being worked on. Brainspotting developed from a type of natural flow EMDR. It is beautifully healing, taking you the client’s lead, and is very empowering. Why choose brainspotting?
Schema Therapy looks at patterns of thinking/behaving that developed early in life when childhood needs were not met. Continuing the behaviour throughout the rest of your life may not only be unnecessary but often has negative impacts. For example, being drawn to the same partner over and over who does not meet your needs, having an overreaction to the same kind of situation, or being stuck in an area of your life but being unable to change it. Schema Therapy is often useful in EMDR to assist with identifying themes in memories.
TF-CBT looks at the emotional, cognitive and behavioural symptoms of PTSD. It includes psycho-education and symptom management plus exposure therapy and cognitive therapy.
Heart Rate Variability (HRV) is a biofeedback modality that assesses and trains heart rhythms and optimises heart-brain communication. You are trained to vary the distance between one beat of the heart and the next (called the interbeat interval or IBI). The IBI is highly variable within any given time period with biological rhythms overlaying one another at different times. IBI variations are important for physical, emotional, and mental functioning including but not limited to:
- Athletic performance
- Performance enhancement (eg actors, public speaking)
- Anger, anxiety disorders
- Asthma, cardiovascular conditions
- Chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder, irritable bowel syndrome
- Chronic fatigue and chronic pain
- Click on these embedded links to see research for Anxiety Depression Sport Trauma
iRest® is a well-researched practice of deep relaxation shown to effectively reduce PTSD symptoms. With trauma, the nervous system is stuck in ‘fight/flight’ mode and loses the capacity to calm down. iRest calms the nervous system and helps contribute to a sense of control, well-being and resilience. iRest is currently used with military personnel on active duty, veterans and their families in over 50 veterans’ hospitals/military bases in the United States. See iRest® Being Used
thanks to IRI® and Warriors at Ease, Robin Carnes and Christopher Giddinge for producing this video. Directed & produced by Samantha Jade Adamson
I offer personal growth work having completed 11 years study of the Enneagram and undertaken numerous meditation retreats and mindfulness practices. Personal growth is an inevitable part of trauma therapy work, however, personal growth can be done separately to any trauma work.
See Enneagram Personality Types thanks to Enneagram Institute copyright ownership