Trauma Therapies

Guided care_links

Exercises

Practical, paced ways into trauma therapies. Start with whichever one feels least effortful — capacity returns through small, repeated doses, not heroic ones.

1. 01

   One-off process; allow two to four weeks to find and vet a practitioner

   Finding an EMDR-Trained Therapist

   Why it works · Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR) is a structured psychotherapy with a substantial evidence base for post-traumatic stress disorder, recommended by the WHO and NICE. Bilateral stimulation during memory activation appears to reduce the vividness and distress of traumatic material while it is held in working memory.

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   Take care

   • EMDR is not a self-guided technique. Do not attempt to replicate it alone using internet videos — without proper stabilisation, memory activation without completion can increase distress.
   • Disclose any dissociative symptoms to the therapist before beginning; these affect the careLink significantly.
2. 02

   One-off process; allow two to four weeks

   Finding a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner

   Why it works · Somatic Experiencing (SE), developed by Peter Levine, works with the body's incomplete defensive responses to overwhelming events. Rather than narrating the trauma story, SE tracks physical sensation and gently completes thwarted survival responses, reducing the frozen or overwhelmed quality common in trauma.

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   Take care

   • As with all trauma work, do not attempt somatic exercises found online as substitutes for guided SE. Titrated, supported processing is the mechanism — unsupported activation is not.
   • If you have a history of significant dissociation, inform the practitioner before beginning.
3. 03

   One-off process; allow two to four weeks

   Finding an IFS Therapist

   Why it works · Internal Family Systems (IFS), developed by Richard Schwartz, treats traumatic symptoms as protective parts of the psyche rather than deficits to be eliminated. Working with rather than against these parts tends to reduce shame and internal conflict, and research indicates effectiveness for PTSD and complex trauma.

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   Take care

   • IFS is sometimes adapted into self-help formats that may not be safe for complex or developmental trauma without professional support. Proceed with professional guidance.
4. 04

   5–10 minutes

   Between-Session Safe-Place Visualisation

   Why it works · Safe-place visualisation is a standard trauma-therapy resourcing exercise used between active processing sessions. It builds a reliable internal anchor for calm that the nervous system can return to when distress rises — particularly useful in the days after a therapy session when material can continue to surface.

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   Take care

   • If you find it impossible to generate any sense of safety, name this to your therapist — they can help build the resource differently, and its absence is itself important clinical information.
5. 05

   Ongoing orientation; session by session

   The Titration Principle — Small Doses, Then Pause

   Why it works · Titration — the trauma therapy term for working in small, manageable increments — prevents the re-traumatising overwhelm that can occur when too much difficult material is activated at once. The nervous system integrates small doses far more effectively than large ones, and pausing between doses allows consolidation.

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   Take care

   • If you consistently leave therapy sessions feeling worse for days, discuss this with your therapist — the dose may need to be smaller still, or the resourcing strengthened first.
6. 06

   5 minutes before, 5–10 minutes after

   Grounding the Body Before and After a Session

   Why it works · Trauma processing activates the arousal system; deliberate grounding before and after keeps the work within a regulated window and closes the session in a way that supports daily functioning. Physical grounding works faster than cognitive reassurance for many people.

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7. 07

   5 minutes before and after each therapy session

   Tracking SUDS Over Time

   Why it works · The Subjective Units of Distress Scale (SUDS) — a simple 0–10 self-rating of distress — gives both you and your therapist a visible signal of whether processing is moving. Tracking it over weeks reveals genuine progress that can be hard to perceive from inside the process.

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   Take care

   • A SUDS that repeatedly increases session on session without any downward movement over six to eight weeks warrants a conversation about whether the approach or the pacing needs to change.
8. 08

   Ongoing awareness

   Knowing When to Pause Therapy

   Why it works · More therapy is not always better. The integrative work between sessions — sleep, relationships, ordinary life — is where the gains from processing consolidate. Recognising when to pause, consolidate, or slow down is part of responsible self-care and is not failure.

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   Take care

   • Do not make the decision to stop therapy in the middle of a crisis or immediately after a very difficult session. Give it several days before deciding.
   • If you are having thoughts of self-harm or suicide, contact a crisis service rather than simply stopping therapy.