Trauma Counselling

Trauma that goes unresolved can diminish your ability to deal with further stressful, traumatic events. This can lead to developing Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Complex PTSD.  When we have unresovled trauma in our system we have a tendency to under-react to what is abnormal (rage, abuse, neglect) and over-react to what is normal (misunderstandings, being late, emotions, not being heard).

Types of Trauma You May be Struggling with

Most of you may understand trauma as events where your life is threatened. These might include;

  • Assault/ Witnessing violence/death
  • Car Accidents
  • War 
  • Natural Disaster
  • Surgery/birth trauma
  • Sexual Assault/
  • Child sexual abuse
  • Child abuse
    and neglect

Trauma can also be defined as any event that overwhelms your nervous system. Depending on your age and choices at the time, many experiences can be traumatic because they cause similar effects on your nervous system where you feel powerless, overwhelmed, or confused. Here are a few that you may not associate with having a traumatic effect.

  • End of relationship/friendship
  • Bullying
  • Victim of gossip
  • Victim of discrimination
  • Workplace stress, harassment, job loss
  • Moving or significant change in circumstances
  • Illness
  • Living with ongoing criticism and contempt

Delyse Ledgard RCC, Trauma Counsellor

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To Book an appointment
Email Delyse for Information

Providing Trauma Counselling in Vancouver and BC

Considering trauma counselling takes courage.  It can feel incredibly vulnerable.  This is the nature of facing the impact of trauma and the parts of us that we had to hide away to cope with it.

So getting this far deserves a medal. It is our mission to provide whatever support you need to be here with us and begin that journey.

When you experience trauma, abuse, or neglect when you are young, the consequences run deep. You have fewer inner resources to deal with the impact, which can lead to unhealthy ways of dealing with the pain, such as addictions, self-harm, destructive relationships, and isolation.

My goal is to provide you with attention, acceptance, and presence so that you can process traumatic experiences and restore your resilience.

This is where we start, with you, listening deeply, curious to understand, and guiding a way through.

"The roots of resilience are to be found in the sense of being understood by and existing in the mind and heart of a loving, attuned, and self-possessed other."
Diana Fosha

What is Post Traumatic Stress Disorder?

Whenever the topic of emotional trauma comes up there is often this question.  Am I struggling with PTSD or aspects of it?

One way to think about the experience of PTSD is that it is an anxiety state where the person's nervous system is stuck in response to trauma. The four main symptoms are:

  1. Intrusion: Recurrent recollections of the event.
    Dreams, intrusive memories, and exaggerated emotional and physical reactions to events that remind the person of the trauma.
  2. Numbing: Emotional distancing from surrounding people and events.
    Depression, loss of interest in activities, reduced ability to feel emotions (particularly emotions of intimacy, tenderness, or sexuality), irritability, hopelessness
  3. Avoidance: Fear and avoidance behavior.
    Fear and avoidance of people, places, thoughts, or activities associated with the trauma, development of anxiety disorders (GAD, panic, specific and social phobias)
  4. Arousal: Agitated state of constant wakefulness and alertness.
    Hypervigilance, sleep disturbances, difficulty concentrating.

There may be vivid nightmares and flashbacks, intrusive thoughts about the event or what could have happened, anxiety, panic, sleep disturbances, irritability, feelings of uncontrollable rage, and a sense of hyper-vigilance. Conversely, there may also be emotional numbing, depression, fatigue, a sense of detachment both from oneself and others, and loss of motivation, joy, and interest in one's life.

Important aspects to providing Trauma Counselling

  • You decide what you want to share and when.
  • We address tolerable material.
  • You are not alone in your experience.  I walk alongside you.
  • I work in collaboration with you. To invite you into the process as a fellow traveler.
  • I work from many approaches to find what works for you.
  • I see your difficulties and struggles as ways of managing the world, NOT that you are the problem.