How to Find the Right Therapist for Trauma and Addiction
Deciding to seek therapy for trauma or addiction — or both — is a significant and courageous step. The next question, for many people, is both practical and daunting: how do I find the right person? Not just any therapist, but one who genuinely understands the specific territory of trauma and addiction, whose approach feels right for where you are, and with whom you can build the kind of trust that makes this work possible.
Here is a warm, practical guide to navigating that search — including the questions worth asking before you commit
Somatic Therapy Explained: Healing Trauma Through the Body
For most of the history of psychotherapy, the body has been the silent party in the room. Therapy has traditionally focused on thoughts, memories, beliefs and emotions — the contents of the mind — while the body sat in the chair and waited. Somatic therapy changes this fundamentally. It recognises that trauma doesn't only live in memory and thought — it lives in the body, in the nervous system, in patterns of tension, breath and sensation that talk therapy alone often cannot reach. Understanding what somatic therapy is — and how it works — opens a door to a dimension of healing that many people haven't known was available.
What to Expect From Your First Therapy Session
For many people, the first therapy session is the hardest one — not because of anything that happens in it, but because of the uncertainty beforehand. Not knowing what to expect, what you'll be asked, what you're supposed to say or feel, can make taking that step feel enormously daunting. So let's remove the uncertainty. Here is an honest, warm and practical guide to exactly what your first therapy session is likely to look like — so nothing about it needs to catch you off guard.
EMDR for Trauma and Addiction: What You Need to Know
If you've been researching therapy for trauma or addiction, there's a good chance you've come across the term EMDR. Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing has become one of the most widely recognised and rigorously researched trauma treatments available — and for good reason. For many people, it produces changes that years of talking therapy alone hadn't been able to reach. Here is a clear, honest explanation of what EMDR for trauma actually is, how it works, and what to expect.
Online Therapy for Addiction and Trauma: Does It Work?
It's a fair question — and one I hear regularly. Can therapy really be effective when it's delivered through a screen rather than in the same room? Is something lost when there isn't physical presence? For people considering online therapy for addiction or trauma, these doubts are worth taking seriously. So let's address them directly — with honesty and with what the evidence actually shows.
What Is Trauma-Informed Care — and Why Does It Matter?
You may have come across the term trauma-informed care in the context of therapy, healthcare, or mental health support. It has become increasingly recognised in recent years — but what does it actually mean in practice? And why does it matter whether the person supporting you is trauma-informed or not?
The difference, it turns out, is significant. Not just philosophically, but in the very real, felt experience of being in a therapeutic relationship.
