“Trauma is an ‘injury’ of powerlessness, and recovery requires restoring control and establishing safety through supportive relationships” - Judith Herman, M.D.

Experiences That May Be Related to Trauma

Trauma-informed counselling can support you in navigating:

• Patterns or challenges passed down through family or childhood experiences

• Difficulty forming safe, trusting connections in relationships

• Growing up in environments where feelings were dismissed or overlooked

• Struggling to set or maintain healthy boundaries

• People-pleasing, perfectionism, or harsh self-criticism

• Feeling hyper-independent or uncomfortable relying on others

• Disconnection from yourself, your body, or those around you

• Persistent guilt, shame, or feeling “not enough”

How We Work With Trauma

Trauma-informed counselling is about re-centring empowerment and choice. Among Puffins Counselling prioritises safety, pacing, and regulation so that you can feel secure and supported.

If it feels right for you, sessions can include gentle somatic work, bringing awareness to bodily sensations and nervous system responses, this is always optional and at your pace. Using Internal Family Systems (IFS) and Emotion-Focused Therapy (EFT), we create new experiences of safety in the therapeutic relationship, helping your brain and body learn that connection can be safe and that shame, self-criticism and blame can be eased.

At Among Puffins, we work with trauma at a foundational level, focusing on:

• Building stability and regulation

• Increasing power, autonomy and agency

• Understanding patterns and emotional responses

• Resourcing tools to manage distress and navigate triggers

• Reducing shame, self-criticism and self-abandonment

Some people find foundational trauma work to be enough to feel safer, more grounded, and better able to manage life. Others may want to explore deeper trauma processing, such as EMDR or Brain Spotting. I'm happy to provide referrals to practitioners who specialise in these areas whether you’re already working with me or new to the service.