My approach to Trauma and Addiction

We know that difficult experiences- physical, sexual and emotional abuse and neglect, whether in childhood or later on, can leave you feeling unsafe in the world, being cautious about relationships, less able to trust other people, or feeling misunderstood, sometimes coping with overwhelming emotions that seemingly come out of nowhere.

People who have experienced trauma, whether a one-time event or over the longer term, are sometimes diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (CPTSD),Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD), Depression, Anxiety, or Bipolar Disorder. Sometimes there’s no diagnosis, but you just know that something is wrong.

What happens with trauma is that your brain is trying to keep you safe, by preventing you from trusting anyone, and cutting you off from connection and creativity, seeking numbness. I think of PTSD’s task as building a fortress around you, and the work we do together is to find windows, and eventually entire doors, leading you back out into a beautiful and safe world.

I LOVE working with people who live with PTSD as I walk alongside you in a journey back to trust, connection, and a life that has meaning and joy.

The effects of traumatic experiences often lead to using alcohol, drugs, gambling and other numbing behaviours as a way to cope with painful emotions and memories. Substance use and numbing behaviours are really effective, at first!

But when these coping strategies stop working as well as they used to, or you find that they are starting to cause difficulties in your life, work, and relationships - counselling can be a good place to address the root causes that first led to the need to absent yourself from life. I use a harm reduction framework in my practice, which means that we figure out what goals make the most sense for you, whether that’s to change, reduce, or stop your numbing behaviours, or to learn to use them more safely.