CBT or Cognitive Behavioural Therapy is a psycho-social intervention that aims to reduce symptoms of various mental health conditions such as depression and anxiety. It helps adjust the way you think and behave. Its the go to therapy used by the NHS. However is CBT the best therapy for you?

CBT is a great therapy, however there is a lot of evidence that shows CBT is not effective in cases where the client has experienced significant trauma, either during childhood, adolescence or as an adult. In fact, there is evidence that shows CBT in these cases can cause re-traumatisation of the client and therefore can cause more harm than good.

CBT helps to reframe life circumstances. offering you alternative ways to see things and encouraging new patterns of behaviour. In the case of a person who has experienced trauma, taking them back to these times is the same as reliving and can cause the body to viscerally react to the remembered experience and cause a deepening of the wound or trauma.

As a trauma informed counsellor its my job to navigate each clients needs, and help guide them to the best possible results. As a holistic counsellor i am not tied to one particular therapy, so unlike the NHS or regular therapists, i can tailor a clients sessions to their own needs. I can add in hypnotherapy, somatic healing or reframing depending on what the client is presenting at the time. I can use a multitude of therapies to get to any root cause, investigate it and find a gentle resolution that takes into consideration the way a client processes or deals with pain/grief etc.

I also find that i strike up a safer more intimate holding space for each client, when using more gentle therapies. When trust is built between myself and a client, we can address and deal with any trauma quicker, meaning breakthroughs and outcomes manifest a lot sooner than CBT alone. When we understand where our trauma has came from, we can learn how to soothe ourselves and what needs we have to meet in order to move through what we experienced.

Trauma is not what happened to us, but how we coped after and how our body responded during and after. Our body holds the memory of the trauma and learning new ways to reframe and act, does not stop the subconscious reactions. These need to be understood and then worked on within the subconscious. Hypnotherapy, mindfulness practise and breathing techniques are just some ways we can bring our nervous system back into regulation again.

If your interested in learning more I invite you to get in touch.