Trauma & Abuse Counselling
Heart and Oak Therapy is your haven for healing from trauma and abuse. Your trauma therapist can help you move beyond the pain, toward your preferred future.
Trauma Counselling in Victoria BC
Feel free from past traumas
Are you longing to heal the pain from past?
How would life be different if you felt more in touch with your strengths and resiliency?
Would you feel more at ease with the past and more positive about the future?
See how your strengths have helped you survive painful life events
Recognize your ability to respond in helpful ways
Challenge perspectives that hold you back from healing
Get support in moving forward in the ways that are most important to you
Is Trauma Therapy Right For You?
Click or tap the headings below to learn more about trauma therapy.
+What is Trauma?
A traumatic experience is a profoundly overwhelming event that undermines your sense of safety, control, or dignity.
Experiences that people often describe as traumatic can include:
- Violence and abuse
- Profound humiliation
- Sudden and significant loss
- Direct experiences with death
- Motor vehicle accidents
- Natural disasters
- Serious injuries
You are more likely to find an experience to be traumatic if:
- It happened unexpectedly
- You were unable to prepare for it
- You felt powerless to stop it
- It happened repeatedly
- Someone was intentionally cruel
- It was done by someone in a position of power
+Responses to Trauma
In the wake of overwhelming adversity, you might feel anxious, depressed, or even numb.
You might respond in ways that at first feel scary and beyond your control.
For many people, these are common responses to trauma:
- Sadness or depression
- Anxiety or worry
- Difficulty focusing
- Flashbacks to overwhelming moments
- Social withdrawal
- Feeling emotionally numb
- Difficulty sleeping and nightmares
- Being quick to startle
+Coping with Traumatic Experiences
If you've had a traumatic experience, you probably already know how important coping is.
There can be both benefits and costs that come along with different coping responses.
Often the benefits outweigh the costs, but sometimes the opposite is true.
These are some of the many strategies some people use to cope:
- Smoking to alleviate stress
- Doing yoga
- Meditating
- Shopping
- Using TV to avoid feeling distress
- Exercising
- Turning to family or friends for support
- Spending time with pets and other animals
- Spending time outdoors
- Using drugs and/or alcohol
- Listening to music
- Participating in a religious community
+How Trauma Therapy Can Help
Connecting with a counsellor who understands trauma can help you restore your sense of safety and wellbeing.
Trauma therapy provides a space to make sense of these experiences and move toward healing.
A skilled and supportive trauma therapist can help you feel more secure and at ease, despite what happened in the past.
Therapy for Violence & Abuse
Reclaim your sense of safety and wellbeing
Have you been the victim of violence or abuse in Victoria BC?
Are you struggling to feel well after being assaulted or mistreated?
Restore your sense of safety and feel in control of your future.
Feel validated and understood for all the ways you’ve responded to the abuse
Challenge the idea that you are to blame for someone else’s abusive actions
Recognize how you’ve done your best to survive and resist mistreatment
Feel assured in your ability to make choices that serve your best interests
If you’ve been the victim of violence, abuse, or other forms of mistreatment, you may be feeling alone, hurt, and afraid.
Other people may have suggested that you are somehow to blame, or that you ought to feel ashamed.
At Heart & Oak Therapy, you will talk with a counsellor who understands the complex dynamics of violence, abuse, and other forms of mistreatment.
Through trauma counselling, you will recognize your capacity to create safety, resist mistreatment, and uphold your own dignity.
Our PTSD therapy will help you to process difficult feelings, and move toward a brighter and more hopeful future.
Click here to read more about the dynamics of abuse*.
(*Note: This content talks about women's responses to abuse, but the same ideas are applicable to people of all gender identities)
Ready to Take the Next Step Toward Healing?
Get in touch with Will Bratt for the support you need
