Jane Belinda Therapy
Trauma & EMDR
“A hopeful person was once filled with despair. And then they believed again.” Maxime Lagacé
Trauma
Trauma takes many forms. You may have experienced a break up that was traumatic, lost a loved one, been in an accident or experienced childhood abuse.
What is traumatic to our nervous systems is universal and also personal. All experiences are welcome and there is no 'right or wrong' way to respond to a distressing event.
Living with post trauma symptoms can make you feel like you are drowning in overwhelming emotions with no sense of control. Therapy acts as the lifebuoy that keeps your head above water, supporting you through the storm until you reach the shore.
Healing is never about forcing change or reliving trauma. It is about creating the conditions in which your mind, body, and nervous system can safely process what has been carried for so long. My role is to walk alongside you with compassion, curiosity, and deep respect for your unique story, trusting in your innate capacity to heal and grow.
I have specialist trauma training in EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitisation Reprocessing), a powerful therapy that enables the brain to reprocess traumatic memories so they become less emotionally charged and no longer hold the same influence over your present life. EMDR is carefully woven into therapy at a pace that feels safe and respectful of your nervous system or offered as a stand alone separate treatment.
Scroll further down for more information on EMDR
A Holistic Approach
I believe that healing from trauma is about much more than reducing symptoms, it’s about helping you reconnect with yourself with greater safety, compassion, and confidence.
My approach is holistic, integrating the mind, body, and nervous system. I draw from several evidence-based approaches, including Internal Family Systems (IFS), EMDR, polyvagal theory, neuroscience, and somatic interventions. Together, these approaches help us understand not only what has happened to you, but how your experiences continue to be held in your body, nervous system, emotions, and beliefs.
At the heart of my work is compassionate witnessing. I offer a safe, attuned therapeutic relationship where every part of you is welcome. Rather than trying to “fix” or judge your responses, we become curious about them together, recognising that even the strategies that now feel limiting were once your mind and body’s best attempts to keep you safe.
Using an Internal Family Systems (IFS) lens, we gently explore the different parts of you. Those that protect, those that carry pain, and those that long to be seen and understood. As these parts begin to feel heard and supported, they no longer need to work so hard to protect you.
Understanding the nervous system through polyvagal theory and neuroscience helps us make sense of why trauma can leave us feeling stuck in patterns of anxiety, overwhelm, numbness, or hypervigilance. Through body-based (somatic) interventions, we work with your nervous system to develop a greater sense of regulation, safety, and resilience, allowing healing to occur not only cognitively but physically.
50-70%
of people experience trauma in their lifetime.
Women with PTSD are 7 times more likely to die by suicide and men 4 times more likely.
33%
of people will go on to develop Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
Only 24% of people who screen positive for PTSD are receiving psychological treatment
Age 16-24
Women in this age group are most at risk.
Rates of PTSD: rape 49%, severe physical assault 31.9%, road traffic accident 16.8%, shooting or stabbing 15.4%
Complex and Developmental Trauma
Complex or developmental trauma often develops through repeated experiences of not feeling safe, seen, soothed, or valued, particularly within early relationships. Rather than being linked to a single event, these experiences can shape how we relate to ourselves, others, and the world. They may leave us feeling disconnected from our emotions or bodies, constantly on alert, overwhelmed by relationships, or burdened by shame, self-criticism, or a persistent sense of not being “enough.”
Healing from developmental trauma requires more than simply talking about the past. It involves gently rebuilding a sense of safety within the nervous system and fostering a compassionate relationship with the parts of ourselves that adapted in order to survive. These protective patterns were often essential at the time, even if they now create difficulties in daily life.
My aim is not to change who you are, but to help you rediscover the authentic self that has always existed beneath the adaptations trauma required you to make.
EMDR
What happens when you are traumatised?
Your body routinely manages new information and experiences without you being aware of it. However, when something out of the ordinary occurs and you are traumatised by an overwhelming event (e.g. a car accident) or by being repeatedly subjected to distress (e.g. childhood abuse), your natural coping mechanism can become overwhelmed. This overloading can result in distressing memories being stuck at the forefront of our brain or being "unprocessed".
Your ability to live in the present and not be disturbed from flashbacks and triggers of the event can be inhibited. EMDR helps create the connections between your brain’s memory networks, enabling your brain to process the traumatic memory in a very natural way.
What is an EMDR session like?
EMDR utilises the natural healing ability of your body using something called bilateral stimulation. After a thorough assessment, history taking and identification of distressing memories that you would like to work on, eye movements, similar to those during REM sleep, will be recreated.
The eye movements will last for a short amount of sets with regular intervals for feedback on what you are noticing. If bilateral stimulation via eye movements isn't suitable, there are alternative methods that we can use such as body tapping.
What can EMDR be used for?
In addition to its use for the treatment of Post-traumatic Stress Disorder, EMDR has been successfully used to treat: anxiety and panic attacks, depression, stress, phobias, sleep problems, complicated grief, addictions, pain relief, low self-esteem and confidence, negative limiting self-beliefs
How long does treatment take? EMDR can be a brief focused treatment or integrated into existing therapy sessions. EMDR sessions are 50 minutes and can be more frequent if needed.
Will I will remain in control and empowered? During EMDR treatment, you will remain in control and can stop the process at any time. This is not a form of hypnosis. Adapted from www.traumacentre.com
“This EMDR is magic…!” Esly Regina Carvalho