Trauma-informed counselling in Melbourne.

Trauma is less about the event itself and more about what your nervous system did with it. When something happens that is too much, too fast, or too soon, the nervous system can get stuck in a protective response long after the situation has passed.

This can show up as hypervigilance, reactivity, numbness, difficulty trusting, patterns that repeat in relationships, or a persistent sense of being braced for something you cannot name. These are not signs of weakness. They are signs of a nervous system that learned to protect you.

Most talking therapies work top-down: starting with thoughts and working toward the body. Trauma often requires a bottom-up approach: starting with the body, the breath, the felt sense and the nervous system, and allowing the cognitive processing to follow.

Leah draws on somatic awareness, polyvagal theory and body-based approaches to work with trauma at the level it is actually held. Sessions are paced with care. The goal is never to relive or retraumatise, but to create enough safety that the system can begin to reorganise.

Trauma work benefits from a settled, consistent environment. Sessions are available in person at 167 Drummond Street, Carlton, or online from a space where you feel at ease. Both options are equally supported and equally effective.