Complex Trauma Therapy Brisbane

Somatic and relational support for complex trauma

Trauma isn’t always one terrible thing that happened.

Sometimes it’s what happened repeatedly.

And sometimes it’s what didn’t happen.

Not feeling safe.

Not being comforted.

Having to constantly read the room.

Growing up around anger, addiction, criticism or unpredictability.

Learning that your feelings were too much.

Becoming responsible for other people’s emotions.

Or simply discovering very early that being fully yourself wasn’t particularly safe.

These experiences can shape us in ways that are difficult to explain because there may not be one event we can point towards.

In my work offering complex trauma Brisbane therapy, I’m interested in how those experiences may still show up now, in your body, your relationships and the way you relate to yourself.

As a trauma therapist in Brisbane, clients come to see me for complex trauma; this is the work I’m most drawn to.

What is complex trauma?

Complex trauma generally refers to the effects of repeated or prolonged experiences that were overwhelming, threatening or emotionally difficult, particularly when they occurred within important relationships or during childhood.

This is sometimes described clinically as complex PTSD, a term increasingly used to distinguish it from single-incident trauma.

Unlike trauma associated with a single event, complex trauma can develop within an environment.

Perhaps home was unpredictable.

Perhaps a parent was frightening, absent or emotionally unavailable.

Maybe you were bullied for years.

Perhaps there was abuse, neglect, addiction or violence.

Or maybe nothing looked obviously terrible from the outside, but there wasn’t enough room for your emotional experience.

Sometimes the important question isn’t only:

“What happened to you?”

It’s also:

“What did you have to become in order to live through it?”

We adapt to the environments we grow up in

Children adapt.

We have to.

If anger is unpredictable, we become watchful.

If having needs causes problems, we stop expressing them.

If achievement brings approval, we achieve.

If being invisible feels safer, we disappear.

If other people’s emotions dominate the household, we become incredibly good at reading them.

I think it’s important that we don’t immediately turn these adaptations into symptoms that need fixing.

Hypervigilance may once have helped you anticipate danger.

People pleasing may have protected an important relationship.

Emotional withdrawal may have given you somewhere to go when there was nowhere physically to escape.

Perfectionism may have helped you find approval.

The difficulty is that something that made sense in one environment can continue long after we’ve left it.

When your mind knows you’re safe but something else doesn’t

You may recognise this experience:

“I know nothing bad is happening.”

And yet your stomach is tight.

Your shoulders are braced.

You’re watching someone’s expression.

You’re preparing for a conversation that hasn’t happened.

Or perhaps you don’t feel anxious at all.

You go numb.

Distant.

Somewhere else.

This is one reason I bring a somatic approach to complex trauma.

Rather than only analysing why you respond the way you do, we can slow things down and become interested in what is actually happening.

What happens in your body?

What feeling appears?

What are you expecting?

What do you want to do next?

Sometimes there’s a whole history inside those few seconds.

Understanding trauma in context

One of the ideas that has influenced me through my study of Gestalt is that we make sense of people in relationship to the environments they’ve had to navigate.

Rather than immediately asking:

“What’s wrong with this person?”

we might ask:

“How did this response make sense in the situation where it developed?”

That shift can be important.

Perhaps there was a good reason you learned to disappear during conflict.

Perhaps being able to read another person’s mood really mattered.

Perhaps relying entirely on yourself protected you from being disappointed again.

Understanding why something developed doesn’t mean we have to continue living that way.

But it gives us a more compassionate place from which to explore whether we still need it.

Complex trauma often shows up in relationships

Complex trauma frequently happens in relationship.

So it isn’t surprising that relationships can also be where its effects become most visible.

You may desperately want closeness but struggle to trust it.

Conflict may feel much bigger than the disagreement itself.

Someone being disappointed with you can feel almost unbearable.

You may repeatedly care for other people while finding it very difficult to let anyone care for you.

You might notice • fear of abandonment • difficulty trusting • people pleasing • withdrawing during conflict • difficulty setting boundaries • fear of intimacy • shame • feeling responsible for other people’s emotions.

These aren’t necessarily separate problems.

Sometimes they’re different expressions of something we’ve learned about relationship.

The relationship in therapy matters too

Therapy isn’t only somewhere we talk about relationships outside the room.

We’re also building one.

Perhaps you worry about disappointing me.

Maybe you automatically tell me everything is fine.

Perhaps you don’t tell me when something I’ve said hasn’t landed well.

You may feel exposed after sharing something vulnerable and want to retreat.

I think those moments can be important.

Because sometimes healing isn’t only understanding why something happened.

It’s having an opportunity for something different to happen now.

To disagree and remain connected.

To have a need without becoming a burden.

To say something didn’t feel right.

To allow somebody else to care.

These can seem like small moments.

Sometimes they’re not.

Working with the body

Somatic work doesn’t mean forcing you deeply into bodily sensations or trying to make your body “release trauma.”

This is the heart of my somatic trauma therapy Brisbane approach.

Often it’s much gentler.

We might notice your breathing changes when you talk about a particular relationship.

Perhaps your chest tightens when you imagine saying no.

Maybe you feel an urge to disappear when somebody is angry.

Or perhaps you notice very little physically.

That’s information too.

We’re developing curiosity about your experience rather than demanding that your body do something particular.

Different parts of us may want different things

Complex trauma can sometimes leave us feeling internally divided.

One part wants intimacy.

Another wants to run.

One part wants to speak.

Another says:

“Don’t cause trouble.”

One part desperately wants somebody to care.

Another insists:

“I don’t need anyone.”

Rather than deciding which part is the problem, we can become curious about what each is trying to protect.

Often even the parts of ourselves we struggle with developed for a reason.

How I work with complex trauma

As a complex trauma specialist Brisbane clients turn to, and offering relational trauma therapy Brisbane, this is how I describe my approach:

My approach is somatic and relational, with influences including attachment work, parts and inner-child work, mindfulness and a Gestalt understanding of how we adapt within relationships and environments.

Depending on what is useful for you, our work may also incorporate TRE and the Safe and Sound Protocol.

But techniques aren’t really the centre of the work.

You are.

Sometimes people who have spent years trying to heal become exhausted by the idea that there’s another technique, book or practice they’re supposed to master.

Therapy doesn’t have to become another self-improvement project.

Sometimes we can stop trying quite so hard to fix what is happening and become curious about why it’s there.

What does healing from complex trauma look like?

I don’t think healing means reaching a point where nothing triggers you.

Where you’re permanently calm.

Where relationships never hurt.

Where difficult memories disappear.

Perhaps it’s something more human.

You recognise what’s happening a little earlier.

You stay connected to yourself during conflict.

You notice when an old fear has entered a new situation.

You become more able to say no.

You tolerate somebody being disappointed.

You allow another person to care for you.

You begin making choices from the life you’re living now rather than entirely from the world you had to survive then.

Complex Trauma Therapy Brisbane

I offer complex trauma therapy in Brisbane for adults experiencing the ongoing effects of difficult childhoods, relational trauma, emotional neglect, attachment difficulties and prolonged periods of stress or instability.

Our work may explore • shame and self-worth • relationship patterns • childhood experiences • boundaries • attachment • people pleasing • emotional disconnection • feeling unsafe even when you know you’re safe.

You don’t need to know whether what happened to you officially “counts” as trauma.

And you don’t need to arrive knowing exactly what needs to change.

We can begin with what’s happening now.

Book a Free 30-Minute Consultation

If you’re looking for complex trauma therapy in Brisbane, I offer a free 30-minute consultation.

This also works as free trauma counselling in Brisbane if you’d simply like to talk things through before deciding on ongoing therapy.

It’s an opportunity to tell me a little about what’s happening, ask questions about how I work, and see whether working together feels right.

You don’t need to have everything figured out before you contact me.

We can begin there.