Integrative Humanistic Psychotherapy
Childhood Trauma Therapy
Specialist therapy for adults carrying the weight of childhood trauma — neglect, abuse, or unstable early environments.
Overview
Childhood trauma doesn’t always look the way people expect. It isn’t only about the things that happened — abuse, neglect, loss, instability — but also about the things that didn’t happen: safety, attunement, being seen and understood. When early experiences teach you that the world isn’t safe, or that you aren’t worthy of care, those lessons don’t stay in the past. They live in the body, shaping your nervous system, your beliefs about yourself, and the way you relate to other people for decades afterwards. This is what I mean when I talk about childhood trauma — not just the headline events, but the lasting imprint they leave on how you experience yourself and the world.
The types of childhood trauma I work with are varied. Physical and sexual abuse are the ones people most readily name, and their impact can be profound. But emotional abuse — being belittled, humiliated, controlled, or made to feel worthless — can be just as damaging, often more so because it’s harder to point to and say “that was wrong.” Neglect is another: growing up without enough food, supervision, or physical care. And then there’s the trauma of witnessing violence, living with a parent’s addiction or mental illness, or losing a caregiver early. All of these shape a child’s developing sense of safety and self in ways that echo through adult life.
As adults, people carrying childhood trauma often find themselves stuck in patterns they don’t fully understand. You might struggle with relationships — finding it hard to trust, or repeatedly choosing partners who aren’t available or who treat you in ways that feel uncomfortably familiar. You might live with a relentless inner critic that never lets you rest. You might find yourself disconnected from your body, or conversely, overwhelmed by physical sensations you can’t explain. Anxiety, depression, chronic shame, addiction — these are often not separate problems but expressions of the same underlying wound. Understanding this connection is where the work begins.
How it shows up
Recognising the patterns
Relationships
You might find yourself repeatedly drawn to relationships that feel uncomfortably familiar — partners who are unavailable, critical, or who require you to manage their feelings while yours go unattended. Trust can feel terrifying; letting people close can feel dangerous. This isn’t a character flaw. It’s your nervous system doing what it learned to do to keep you safe, long after the original danger has passed.
Internal world
A relentless inner critic that never lets you rest. Chronic shame that sits in your body like a weight. The persistent sense that you’re fundamentally broken or different from other people — that if anyone really knew you, they’d leave. These aren’t truths about who you are; they’re echoes of an environment that taught you these things before you had the words to question them.
Body & nervous system
Trauma lives in the body. You might notice your heart racing before your mind has registered any threat. You might feel disconnected from your physical self, or conversely, overwhelmed by sensations you can’t explain — tightness, numbness, a sense of being outside your own skin. These are trauma responses, and understanding them is the first step towards working with them rather than being controlled by them.
Broader patterns
Anxiety, depression, chronic pain, addiction, eating difficulties — these often aren’t separate diagnoses but different expressions of the same underlying wound. When the nervous system has been shaped by early trauma, it looks for threat everywhere, and the cost of that constant vigilance shows up across every area of life. Addressing the trauma rather than just managing the symptoms is where lasting change becomes possible.
How I work
My approach to childhood trauma therapy
The way I work with childhood trauma is grounded in the humanistic approach that underpins all my practice. This means I’m not here to diagnose you or apply a technique to you from a distance. I’m here to build a therapeutic relationship that feels safe enough for you to explore what needs exploring, at a pace you can manage. Trauma-informed therapy isn’t about forcing you to revisit every detail of what happened — that can be re-traumatising. It’s about creating enough safety in the present that whatever needs to surface can, without overwhelming you. The relationship between us, and the consistency and predictability of that relationship, is often the foundation on which everything else rests.
Body-based awareness is an important part of this work, because trauma isn’t just a story in your mind — it’s held in your nervous system. You might notice that certain situations trigger a physical response before your brain has even caught up: your heart races, your chest tightens, you feel frozen or desperate to escape. Learning to notice these sensations without being flooded by them is a skill we build together. I draw on principles from gestalt therapy here — paying attention to what’s happening in the present moment, in your body, in the room between us — because the body often knows things the thinking mind hasn’t yet found words for.
One of the most important distinctions I make in trauma therapy is between integration and reliving. The goal isn’t to take you back through every painful memory in exhaustive detail. That approach can embed the trauma more deeply rather than resolve it. Integration means being able to hold what happened as part of your story without being defined or overwhelmed by it. It means the memory loses its charge — you can think about it without your nervous system reacting as though it’s happening right now. This is slow, patient work. It can’t be rushed, and I won’t pretend otherwise.
Pacing matters enormously in this work, and I’m careful about it. Some weeks we might go deep; other weeks we might stay at the surface, checking in about how you are and what’s manageable. I’ll regularly ask how the work is landing for you, and I’ll take my cues from what you tell me and from what I notice in the room. If something feels too much, we slow down. If you feel stuck, we explore what the stuckness is about. There’s no fixed timeline and no pressure to perform a version of therapy that looks dramatic. The quiet sessions are often where the most important shifts happen.
Who is this work for? Anyone who recognises that early experiences are still playing out in their adult life. You might have a clear narrative of what happened to you, or you might carry a vague but persistent sense that something wasn’t right without being able to name it. Both are valid starting points. This work isn’t for people looking for a quick fix or a six-session solution — I’m honest about that from the start. But if you’re willing to commit to the slower, deeper work of understanding and integrating your early experience, the changes can be lasting. Many of the people I see for childhood trauma also work with me on related areas: addiction and emotional coping, shame and self-worth, relationship and attachment patterns, or the particular pain of emotional neglect. These threads often weave together, and we can work with them as they arise.
It’s also worth saying what not to expect. I won’t offer you a technique that promises to erase trauma in a set number of sessions. I won’t push you to talk about things before you’re ready. And I won’t position myself as the expert on your experience — that’s you. What I will offer is a consistent, boundaried, human relationship where you can begin to make sense of what happened and how it’s shaped you, and where you can slowly build a different kind of relationship with yourself. If that sounds like what you’re looking for, I’d be glad to talk.
What to expect in therapy
How I approach childhood trauma therapy — the therapeutic space I create and what you can expect from our work together.
Trauma-informed space
I work in a way that respects the impact of trauma on the nervous system. We move at your pace, never faster than feels manageable, and I’ll check in regularly about how the work is landing.
Understanding patterns
We’ll explore how early experiences shape your beliefs about yourself, your patterns in relationships, and the ways you protect yourself — even when those protections no longer serve you.
Integration over reliving
The goal isn’t to re-traumatise you by going back through every detail. It’s to integrate what happened into a coherent story that you can hold without being overwhelmed by it.
A real relationship
Therapy isn’t a technique applied to you — it’s a relationship. For many people carrying childhood trauma, a consistent, safe, boundaried relationship with someone who shows up reliably is itself part of the healing.
The therapy process
A straightforward process from your first message through to ongoing sessions — no pressure, just a conversation to see if we're a good fit.
- 1
Get in touch
Send me a message via the contact form, WhatsApp or email. Tell me a little about what brings you to therapy — no need to have it all figured out.
- 2
Initial conversation
We’ll arrange a short, no-obligation call to talk through what you’re looking for and whether my approach feels right for you. There’s no pressure to commit.
- 3
First session
If we decide to work together, we’ll book your first session — in person in Chelmsford, or online. Sessions are 50 minutes, usually weekly, at the same time each week.
- 4
Ongoing work
From there, therapy unfolds at your pace. We’ll work together for as long as it’s useful — most people I see stay for medium to long-term work, and we’ll review regularly.
Areas that often overlap with childhood trauma therapy
Most people I work with find several of these areas connect. Here are the ones that most commonly overlap.
Childhood Trauma Therapy — frequently asked questions
Childhood Trauma Therapy across Essex
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Enquire about childhood trauma therapy
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Get in touch for a confidential, no-obligation conversation. I'm happy to talk through what you're looking for and whether my approach feels right for you.
Why choose us
- UKCP-accredited psychotherapist
- Confidential, no-obligation conversation
- In-person, online & telephone sessions
- Clear, upfront information about the process