PSYCHOTHERAPEUTIC COUNSELLING

Supporting. Empowering. Listening.

Welcome. I'm Laura, a psychotherapeutic counsellor specialising in trauma, writer, yoga teacher and fellow human being.

My goal as a therapist is to get to know you, your story, your struggles and your aspirations. Together we can find ways to help you find empowerment over your own life. I’m here to listen, to gently walk alongside you as you tell me your story and help you find your own personal insight.

How can psychotherapeutic counselling help you?

Are you looking for a therapist who sees you as a whole person, with all the inconsistencies and adaptations that make you human? Someone who recognises that trauma has made life harder, while also honouring the many ways you have already adapted, coped, and survived. Labels can be helpful to some, to validate, and give rise to common experiences within diagnoses. However, therapy goes further to explore you as a whole human, with your experiences shaping who you are, and helping you find direction, peace and clarity for the future.

I work with an understanding of trauma that acknowledges its very real impact, including experiences such as:

Blocking it out
Feeling numb
Difficulty connecting with your feelings
Shame or guilt
The sense of being disconnected from your own body
A constant state of hypervigilance, fear and anxiety
Panic attacks
Flashbacks and intrusive thoughts
Feeling constantly overwhelmed and exhausted
Digestive issues
Difficulty in relationships
Mood swings, anger or irritability
Difficulty sleeping or nightmares
Difficulty concentrating
Low self-esteem
Hopelessness, sadness or loneliness
Suicidal feelings or risk-taking behaviours
Compulsivity and obsessions
Low sense of self-worth

—even when these feelings are difficult to name. Together, we gently explore what has been happening beneath the surface.

I will help you reconnect with your own sources of creativity, clarity, and calm. This may include creativity, or rest — such as music, dance, art, crafts, writing, sport, swimming, yoga, meditation, or reading.

You already have tools in your toolbox. Perhaps they’ve become harder to access, or life has pulled you away from the things you once loved or dreamed of. Therapy can be a space to reconnect with your creative nature, to come back into your body, and to develop a felt sense of what you need to rest, recover, and gently process all you’ve been through.

I can also help with issues such as anxiety, grief, loss, stress, burnout and chronic illnesses. These issues may or may not be related to any trauma that you have experienced, but nevertheless contribute to life's difficulties.

Issues I can help with

PTSD and Complex PTSD

If you have been impacted by a traumatic event, you may experience PTSD. This could include fear, flashbacks, unfamiliar sensations, triggers and changes in how you see and navigate the world and others around you. You may internalise negative beliefs and avoid certain situations in ways you had not previously. Complex PTSD is developed when you experience trauma over a longer period of time or experienced trauma early in life (known as Adverse Childhood Experiences - ACEs). I will help you to navigate the complex web of emotions that occur after trauma and manage the effects of trauma in a safe way. It is important to take recovery from trauma at your own pace, and I will support you as we find a rhythm that works for you. Together we will find ways to cope with the effects of the trauma, and seek to find your path towards future personal growth in the aftermath of your traumatic experience(s).

Childhood abuse and domestic abuse

I have specialist experience in the impacts of complex trauma and supporting survivors of all forms of abuse. This could be emotional, sexual and physical abuse in childhood. It could also be domestic violence, coercive control and manipulation in adulthood. These issues are often shrouded in secrecy and shame and could be buried deep within you. You may have never voiced your experiences before, and you may only have fleeting memories or flashbacks. Many survivors experience forms of ‘detachment’ from their bodies, to cope with the impact of trauma. Often my clients explain they feel damaged, broken, unworthy or unlovable, struggle to set boundaries and feel other people’s needs are more important than their own. Sometimes they feel angry and helpless.

I help my clients recognise these emotions are often due to the shame that has been imposed on them by their abusers. All survivors deserve to have their voice heard. I am passionate about helping people find the tools to navigate life, not as a product of their abuse, but as strong, resilient survivors.

Chronic illnesses and hidden disabilities

Do you live with ME/CFS, long COVID, POTS, fibromyalgia or any other 'hidden' chronic illnesses or disabilities? Maybe you don't have a diagnosis, but struggle with your energy levels, feel constantly exhausted and unable to keep up with others. Maybe you constantly compare yourself to others or to previous versions of yourself when you had more energy. People suffering with these illnesses often enter into a cycle of push/crash which is exhausting and debilitating. Together we can understand the impact of your illness on your wellbeing and find ways to tune in to your body, and manage the symptoms, perhaps through 'pacing' - a way to maintain awareness and manage your energy or pain.

Stress and burnout

Do you feel at the end of your tether, with work or a life situation that is causing you sleepless nights and constant stress? Do you feel you are juggling too much or stuck in a toxic situation? Do you catch yourself sacrificing your personal or self-care because you just don’t have time, or becoming ill more often? This could be the start of a downward slope into burnout, maybe you feel it already, or it can sometimes catch us unexpectedly. I deeply understand the seemingly unending cycle of stress and will help you to prevent or recover from the effects of chronic stress and burnout.

Worrying and anxiety

Do you find it difficult to relax or sleep, your body tense and on
edge, your brain always in overdrive, working out all the different scenarios about how a future situation might pan out? Then becoming overwhelmed, irritated, restless or exhausted? Those are some of the symptoms of anxiety, characterised by constant worrying and catastrophising about situations that haven’t happened yet. Our work together might be to firstly recognise if the sensations you are experiencing are anxiety, because sometimes 'anxiety’ can be difficult to self-recognise. Anxiety also shows up in different ways for different people, and the causes can vary widely, from work, relationships, past trauma or something deeply unsettled within you. Together we will try and understand the roots of your anxiety and find ways to calm and soothe your nervous system.

Grief, loss and endings

You may have experienced a significant loss of someone close to
you, which is causing profound pain, loneliness, regret or longing. Grief and loss can also show up in less obvious ways, which I help my clients recognise as deep losses or processes of grief. This could be the ending of a job, career, a break-up or rupture of a
relationship or friendship or the onset of an illness or disability. You may find yourself comparing yourself to others or to previous versions of yourself, growing frustrated or mournful of the loss you have experienced. I believe that grief is a personal experience, and
I will help you to recognise and accept the impact of these losses in your life. Sometimes the loss will continue to be felt over a lifetime, and we will work on your personal growth around the loss, rather than setting a time limit or ‘getting over it’.

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