Trauma-Related Stress & Post Traumatic Reactions
What This Experience Can Feel Like
Some experiences that overwhelm our ability to cope such as exposure to life-threatening events, violence, accidents, natural disasters, or other sudden, distressing situations can leave a lasting impact long after the event itself. People may notice persistent re-experiencing of memories, heightened vigilance, emotional intensity, avoidance of reminders, or changes in mood, motivation, and engagement with life.
These responses are part of the nervous system’s attempt to manage overwhelming experience, and while they can feel distressing and disruptive, they also hold information about what matters to you and where you may need support.
Common Reactions People Notice
People vary widely in how they respond, but some patterns include:
Intense memories or flashbacks of distressing events
Avoidance of reminders or triggers
Persistent negative thoughts and outlook
Heightened startle responses or hyper-awareness
Changes in sleep or concentration
Irritability or emotional intensity
These reactions show how the mind and body continue to respond after significant stress and can be understood and worked with in a supportive context.
How I Can Support You
I work collaboratively with people who are experiencing ongoing distress related to overwhelming life events through a coaching-informed psychological approach that helps you:
Understand how past experiences continue to influence your responses in the present
Strengthen self-regulation, emotional balance, and clarity of thought
Develop practical skills to move from survival mode toward grounded engagement with life
Support post-traumatic growth, a renewed sense of purpose, identity, and direction
This work draws on evidence-informed psychological methods such as integrative cognitive behavioural strategies, mindfulness and awareness practices, imagery, biofeedback, and supportive self-regulation tools all tailored to your goals and context.
We do not frame your experience as a fixed label; instead, we explore how your unique history, strengths, and resources can inform a path forward that feels safer, more integrated, and more aligned with your values.
You Are Not Alone in This Process
Living with ongoing reactions to overwhelming events can feel isolating and confusing. With support, many people discover resilience, renewed meaning, and ways of living that feel more balanced and purposeful.
If you’re unsure what your experience means or whether support might help you find clarity and direction, book a complimentary 15-minute introductory call to talk about your situation and questions.
Let’s talk to find out how I can help you
I offer a free 15-minute initial call so that I can get a brief sense of:
What you are hoping for
To answer questions
To make initial recommendations
And to decide if you would like us to work together
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
CBT encourages us to re-evaluate our thinking patterns and assumptions in order to identify unhelpful patterns (termed “distortions”) in thoughts, such as overgeneralizing bad outcomes, negative thinking that diminishes positive thinking, and always expecting catastrophic outcomes, to more balanced and effective thinking patterns. These are intended to help us reconceptualize our understanding of traumatic experiences, as well as our understanding of ourselves and our ability to cope. Through various other techniques such as emotional regulation, we can learn how to calm our nervous system down so that we can work through our trauma(s) in a safer way.
Somatic Experiencing Therapy (SE)
Somatic experiencing (SE), is a holistic approach to learn how to re-establish a natural connection between mind and body after being overwhelmed by something that has shocked us—whether a moment ago or decades ago—our nervous system needs to be “re-set.” You gradually re-learn how to heal. This approach can be combined in an adaptive and timely way with CBT and other proven therapies.
Heart Coherence Biofeedback
Heart Coherence is a form of biofeedback that uses a device to measure one’s heart wave variability and coherence in real time. The goal of Heart coherence Biofeedback is to teach you how to bring your mind, body and emotions into balanced alignment. It is helpful in teaching you how to self-regulate your emotions and gain control over flashbacks and panic attacks as well as other specific symptoms related to trauma.
It can be used in combination with other proven therapies for trauma and PTSD.
Cognitive Hypnotherapy (CH)
Cognitive hypnotherapy (CH) is an assimilative therapy rooted in CBT, with the addition of hypnosis, which is a psychodynamic therapy that focuses on the unconscious mind (implicit thoughts, actions and emotions) no longer in conscious awareness. It is collaborative work with the therapist in which the person is an active participant in the process and not something that is performed unilaterally.
Combined with the other therapies mentioned above, cognitive hypnotherapy can be effective in working through core beliefs and triggers associated with traumatic events in addition to reframing one’s narrative..