Trauma-Focussed Counselling
in Langley, BC
How can trauma counselling help me?
Lewis and colleagues found that trauma-focused treatments can reduce PTSD symptoms in adults. In everyday life, that might mean a reminder of what happened is less likely to take over your day, or you begin to feel able to return to places you’ve been avoiding.
Lewis and colleagues (2020), Psychological Therapies for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in Adults
In D’Ambra and colleagues’ review, adults with complex PTSD described how trusting their therapist helped them begin to work through painful experiences. If you’re worried about what talking about the trauma might bring up, you can start by telling your counsellor about that worry. Together, you can decide what feels manageable to talk about and how to tell when you need to slow down.
In trauma-focused counselling, you and your counsellor can work through three broad phases. You build trust and find ways to feel safer and steadier. You approach painful memories and feelings in manageable steps, adjusting the pace together as you see how the work affects you. You bring what changes in counselling into your relationships and daily life. You can return to any of this work as your needs change.
What is traumatic stress?
Traumatic stress is the distress that can follow a frightening or overwhelming experience, a traumatic loss, or repeated threats to life. A sound or a smell might bring back a sense of danger before you’ve had time to work out what reminded you. To get through the day, you may find yourself trying to push away memories that keep coming back. Feeling numb or distant from people you care about can be part of a traumatic stress reaction. When these reactions keep disrupting your life, a counsellor can help you understand what you’re experiencing and consider options for treatment, including whether an assessment for PTSD would be useful.
What can I expect in a first trauma counselling session?
You can begin with how the experience is affecting you now and share as much of what happened as feels manageable. Your counsellor might ask when the reactions are strongest, what you notice when they start, and what helps you get through them. If a memory comes up while you’re talking and you lose track of the conversation, your counsellor can pause with you and help you notice what brings your attention back to the room. What you learn together can help you decide where to start and how quickly to go.
If you’d like to learn more before deciding whether to begin, you can explore trauma and PTSD counselling at Gentle Currents.
What happened to you, rather than what’s wrong with you, is a foundational move when providing trauma counselling
Dr. Dadson’s approach to trauma counselling
Dr. Michael Dadson developed the Sequential Trauma Narrative (STN) framework to guide trauma counselling. Part of that work is noticing how what happened still shapes what you expect from other people. If asking for help feels risky, for example, you and your counsellor can talk about what you expect might happen when you ask and what it’s like to ask for something in the session. That can give you a place to begin exploring what you need in relationships outside counselling.
FURTHER READING
Common questions about trauma
The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health explains what trauma is and how it can affect you.
Common reactions after trauma
The National Center for PTSD describes reactions you might notice and when it can help to reach out.
Relationships in trauma-informed care
Angela Sweeney and colleagues explain why relationships matter in trauma-informed mental health services.
Contact Gentle Currents
We are here to help you explore counselling options and find a suitable clinician.
Dr. Michael Dadson offers counselling for:
Individual
One on one options for individuals needing help in overcoming issues or maintaining optimal mental health in their lives daily challenges.
Couples
Couples counselling can be challenging but the positive impact on your relationship, potential family members, and other external relationships in your life make it worth the effort.
Family
Father and Child or entire family counselling can provide your family with the tools, language and behaviour to successfully communicate and overcome obstacles.