The Role of a Psychologist in Trauma Healing

Many of us carry the residue of trauma through our lives. Negative beliefs, overwhelming emotional flashbacks, destructive patterns - these are symptoms of stuck experience needing attention.

A good psychologist knows how the mind, body and soul work together, and how to facilitate deep, permanent change for clients. They will be well trained and experienced in ways to safely unpack the old pain, bringing gentle awareness through the layers, and a gradual resolution of the issues.

My University degrees laid a useful foundation for my work. The Masters in Counselling Psychology especially, contained some good practical training and supervised practice. Mostly cognitive-focused and theoretical, it built a strong skeleton for therapeutic work.

The flesh however, came from other experiential trainings, professional and life experience, immersion in spiritual practice and other holistic approaches. It came from my own therapies with various practitioners over the years, and from working professionally with thousands of clients. I am grateful to so many!

As a holistic psychologist and clinical hypnotherapist, my role is to firstly bring a clear understanding of what is going on for the person, to make sense of subconscious drivers and behaviours that can be so confusing and destructive. How perhaps has addiction been a way the psyche has protected you? 

My Triggering Toolkit contains a four-step way to manage times of activation. Once we get used to rescuing ourselves when emotionally regressed, we are set to explore the root causes. How has being triggered been a way the body-mind has tried to release old charge?

Then we can approach the parts frozen in distress with compassion rather than resistance and judgement. When we are dealing with very deep, dark pain, such as the burden from abuse as a child or our core existential fear, we need to access as much love and light as possible. This is where the psychologist needs to be able to support their client bringing in the transpersonal or spiritual levels. The holistic psychologist can facilitate deeper steps in the process.

The healing journey of client and psychologist requires courage and commitment from both; there is no quick, easy fix for deep wounding because our defences will not allow it! But with perseverance and genuine care, there is nothing that will not shift as we bring it into the light of loving awareness.

I wish you all freedom and joy as you continue your healing journey.