First of all, please let me clarify what I mean by “counselling” and “trauma therapy.”

Counselling is my field, practice and profession,  As defined by the Canadian Counselling and Psychotherapy Association:

  • “Counselling is the skilled and principled use of relationship to facilitate self- knowledge, emotional acceptance and growth and the optimal development of personal resources. The overall aim of counsellors is to provide an opportunity for people to work towards living more satisfyingly and resourcefully. “

So, all of the work that I do is considered “counselling,” or “therapy” in general (there’s no agreed upon difference between counselling and therapy, many people use the terms interchangeably).

However, much of the counselling I do, is specifically “trauma therapy.”

That’s because I believe that the most effective way to help people is by understanding trauma, and knowing how people can free themselves from its negative effects. 

Is your past holding you back from the future you desire?

In this day and age, each one of us has been impacted by trauma - 
negative experiences that made us feel overwhelmed, confused or powerless. 

Trauma isn’t limited to horrific accidents, abuse, and the atrocities of war (these events are called large “T” traumas because they are easily recognized as traumatic).

In reality, all of us experience a collection of small “t” traumas  over our lifetime.

Our survival systems are activated whenever we feel overwhelmed, confused or powerless.

These small “t” traumas are common events which can leave an impact on the brain, body, and psyche:

  • Finding out about a partner’s infidelity

  • Being betrayed by a friend or boss

  • Divorce and separation

  • Losing a loved one- to death, distance, or other separation

  • Losing a job or starting a new job

  • Moving to a new town

  • Having a baby, adopting a child, family transitions

  • Legal trouble

  • Financial hardship

  • Social isolation

  • Receiving a diagnosis

  • Living with chronic pain or illness

  • Existential and spiritual crises 

Many of us have lived in environments, where our ability to be ourselves is compromised due to:

  • Frequent conflict

  • Lack of safety, protection and support

  • Lies and secret keeping

  • Chronic invalidation and denial

  • Unrealistic and unfair expectations

  • Absence of joy, delight and celebration

  • Oppression and prejudice


When stress and trauma lead to feelings of confusion, overwhelm and powerlessness, your survival system is triggered. The brain sends powerful signals throughout the nervous system- and these experiences leave an imprint. Even after the event or situation has passed, the brain and body remain on high alert, hypervigilant even in the background, scanning for threats. And because the survival system operates on a “guilty until proven innocent” basis - it’s often overreacting to perceived threats that don’t actually pose much risk.

Even though your brain and body are trying to protect you, these overactive survival strategies can significantly disrupt your mood, energy, and thinking patterns.

Not only are these survival strategies overactive, they are also outdated. Instead of leaving our survival strategies behind when we leave a stressful or traumatic situation, we bring them with us. Into the next situation, environment, or relationship. 

Even though our coping is outdated we cling to it- because it’s how we survived. 

So even when you know what you’re doing isn’t working, and you want to do things differently - you end up stuck. Stuck with the same patterns, problems, insecurities and feelings. 

Symptoms of unresolved trauma in relationships:

  • Difficulty trusting others

  • Not feeling close to or truly “loved” by others

  • Feeling fearful to connect with others

  • Feelings of loneliness, rejection and abandonment

  • Lack of assertiveness or boundaries 

Symptoms of unresolved trauma in self-regulation:

  • Inability to be slow down, be still or feel “present”

  • Reliance on maladaptive coping strategies

  • Distraction or numbing: problematic phone use, TV/film binging, over-spending, over-eating, over-working

  • Poor self-care and stress management

  • Oversensitive survival system: easily triggered to fight/flight/freeze response (being on edge, easily startled, reacting vs responding)

Symptoms of unresolved trauma in identity:

  • Imposter syndrome, never feeling “good enough” 

  • Self-sabotage, difficulty celebrating accomplishments 

  • Expecting the worst or waiting for the “other shoe to drop”

  • Feeling chronically dissatisfied, or uninterested in life 

  • Overachieving, perfectionism and procrastination

Whatever difficult situations you’ve been through, you found ways to survive. But those survival strategies came at a cost - to your authenticity, to your energy, and to your wellbeing. Those old ways got you to where you are now, but they might be preventing you from getting to where you want to be. 

If you feel like you’ve outgrown your survival strategies, but don’t know how to put them aside, it may be time to consider trauma therapy.

As a trauma therapist, I’m trained to understand how your brain, body, and mind have been impacted by stressful events and identify what’s holding you back. 

Then, based on your goals and where you’d like to be in your life, we come up with a custom treatment plan tailored with effective trauma therapy techniques and treatments. 

Clients are offered a variety of  neurobiologically-based therapies designed to help the brain, body and mind process traumatic and stressful experiences - 
releasing you from the harmful effects of the past, 
and freeing you to pursue the life you want in the future.

Want to know more? Browse the frequently asked questions, read about therapy intensives or contact me to arrange a free consultation.