Trauma · in person, online, Phone, Messaging
Trauma Therapy
Trauma-informed psychotherapy for what happened to you and what it left behind. Paced, collaborative and honest about what the evidence does and does not support.
You set the pace, always
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Harjeet Hayre
Integrative Psychotherapist · BACP Registered Member · NHS-experienced Reviewed September 2026 · About Harjeet
What trauma is
Not only what happened, but what it did.
The UK government's working definition is simple: trauma results from an event, series of events or set of circumstances experienced by a person as harmful or life-threatening. The NHS lists the kinds of experiences that can cause post-traumatic stress: serious accidents, physical or sexual assault, abuse including in childhood or a relationship, serious health problems, a difficult birth, war and the exposure that comes with jobs like policing or healthcare.
Trauma is common. Around a third of adults report having lived through a major traumatic event and England's latest national survey found 5.7% of adults screening positive for PTSD, up from 4.4% a decade earlier. Among young people the picture is starker: nearly a third have a traumatic experience before 18 and one in thirteen develop PTSD by that age, most of them never seeing a mental health professional.
Its signs cluster into re-experiencing (flashbacks, intrusive images, nightmares), avoidance and numbing (steering clear of reminders, feeling disconnected from yourself, negative beliefs about who you are) and being on constant alert. Unexplained headaches, stomach problems or pain are common too. Where the trauma was prolonged or repeated and hard to escape, such as childhood abuse or domestic violence, the World Health Organisation now recognises complex PTSD, which adds severe difficulties with emotions, self-worth and closeness to others.
What the evidence says
Two treatments are strongly recommended. I will be straight with you about them.
For PTSD, NICE recommends two specific treatments: trauma-focused cognitive behavioural therapy and EMDR (eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing), typically over 8 to 12 sessions and longer where there have been multiple traumas. Both are phased. Understanding your reactions, learning to manage flashbacks and building safety come before any work with the memory itself. NICE also advises against single-session "debriefing" straight after an event.7
Importantly, NICE's recommendations apply to people with clinically important symptoms, not only to those with a formal diagnosis and many people exposed to trauma recover in the early weeks without treatment, which is why guidance waits at least a month before treatment is offered.
Body-based approaches to trauma have preliminary supporting evidence but are not yet at the standard of the treatments above and I describe them that way. If trauma-focused CBT or EMDR is what you need and I am not the right person to deliver it, I will tell you and help you find someone who is.
How I work
Trauma-informed, which means how, not what.
Trauma-informed practice is a way of working built on six principles: safety, trustworthiness, choice, collaboration, empowerment and cultural consideration.1 It describes how I hold the room, not a treatment I sell. In practice:
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You choose the pace and the content. Nothing has to be told in detail, ever and certainly not in the first session.
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Stabilisation first. Somatic awareness helps you notice when your nervous system is tipping into overwhelm or shutdown and what brings you back. The "window of tolerance" is a widely used clinical model for this.
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Trauma-informed CBT tools for the intrusive thoughts and avoidance that keep the past present.
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Psychodynamic understanding of how early trauma shapes trust, relationships and the sense of self which matters most with complex trauma. NICE itself says extra time to build trust is needed.
My NHS experience included careful assessment and management of risk and safety remains central to how I work. Many trauma survivors find walk and talk therapy easier than a closed room. Trauma often sits behind anxiety and for neurodivergent clients it can be tangled with years of being misunderstood, which is why my neurodivergent-affirming approach matters here too.
Look for the clusters the NHS describes: reliving, avoiding and being on edge, lasting more than a month after the event.5, 7 Distress in the first weeks is normal and often settles. You do not need a diagnosis to talk to me and a GP or NHS Talking Therapies can assess formally.
Not until and unless you choose to. Even NICE-recommended trauma treatments begin with stabilisation and safety before any memory work.7 Choice and collaboration are two of the six trauma-informed principles I work by.1
NICE recommends trauma-focused CBT or EMDR, usually 8 to 12 sessions and more for complex or multiple trauma. Medication may be considered where preferred. If that is the right route for you, I will say so.7
Sources
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Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (2022). Working definition of trauma-informed practice.
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NHS (2026). Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD): overview.
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NatCen Social Research (2025). Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey 2023/4.
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Lewis, S.J. et al. (2019). The epidemiology of trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder in a representative cohort of young people in England and Wales. The Lancet Psychiatry, 6(3), 247- 256. KCL summary.
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NHS (2026). PTSD: symptoms.
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World Health Organization. ICD-11, 6B41 Complex post-traumatic stress disorder; NHS, Complex PTSD.
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NICE (2018). Post-traumatic stress disorder (NG116).
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UK Trauma Council. PTSD and complex PTSD.
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M. KuhfuB T Maldei et al. (2021). Somatic experiencing: effectiveness and key factors of a body-oriented trauma therapy. A scoping literature review. European Journal of Psychotraumatology, 12(1), 1929023.
This page is general information from a registered psychotherapist, not medical advice or a diagnosis. If you are in crisis, call 999, NHS 111 and select the mental health option or the Samaritans free on 116 123.
Ready when you are.
A free introductory call, no forms and no obligation. Just a quiet conversation to see whether working together feels right.