Trauma Therapy

Swift counselling working in Swindon, Wiltshire and near Brecon in Wales, offers a specialized service to adults, children of all ages, teenagers and young adults who have experienced physical or psychological trauma. We also provide supervision for trauma therapists.

Psychological trauma occurs as the result of a traumatic event that involves an experience or enduring event(s) that overwhelm our ability to cope or understand what is happening to us. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is most commonly used to describe the symptoms arising from traumatic experiences, though it must be noted that not everyone who experiences a traumatic experience will develop PTSD.

PTSD symptoms can differ from person to person. They can be mild and transient through to extremely disturbing and long lasting. One or more of the following are typical (this list is not exhaustive – see under Trauma for more):

- Upsetting memories such as images, thoughts or flashbacks
- Sleep disorders such as insomnia and nightmares
- Re-experiencing the trauma mentally, emotionally and physically
- Stress and anxiety disorders – being on ‘edge’
- Panic attacks
- Anger
- Despair and depression
- Poor self-image
- Difficulty concentrating and trusting people
- Avoiding people and anything that remind them of the trauma
- Turning to alcohol and/or drugs and/or sex for relief.

Causes of trauma include (this list is not exhaustive – see under Trauma for more):

- Abuse
- Actual violence
- Threat of abuse or violence
- Witnessing abuse or violence
- Accidents (car/rail crashes, explosions, fires, etc)
- Bereavement
- Catastrophic events (bombings, war, earthquakes, etc).

Impact on lives of unresolved trauma is increasingly recognised as a significant cause of difficulties people experience in their personal lives and in their relationships. Unresolved trauma can, therefore, be the cause of couple and family problems. Left untreated, non-transient symptoms can make the problems much worse.

Effective treatment methods are available. At Swift counselling we mainly use a relatively new, clinically proven therapy called EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing), together with CBT (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy).

A highly trained and experienced EMDR therapist will work with you. You will find the therapist is trained to the highest level of qualifications in the field of EMDR in the UK, and with specialism in children’s work. We have used EMDR with a wide variety of clients: from very young children to elderly adults and with traumas due to single events, such as a car accident, through to highly complex ones arising from, for example, systematic childhood abuse.

Getting treatment is quite simple. The Clinic operates in Swindon, Wiltshire.

Normally we are able to contact clients within 24 hours of them contacting us.