Trauma & PTSD Counselling in Melbourne

5.6% of Australians experience PTSD in any 12-month period (ABS 2020-22), with women affected at nearly double the rate of men (7.4% vs 3.7%). Trauma is the psychological impact of experiencing events that overwhelm our capacity to process and integrate them. These might be acute events — an accident, an assault, a sudden loss — or prolonged experiences, such as childhood abuse or neglect, domestic violence, or growing up in an unsafe environment. The ABS found that rape and sexual molestation were the traumas most likely to lead to PTSD — more than any other type of traumatic event.

What are the signs of PTSD?

Common symptoms of trauma and PTSD include:

• Flashbacks and intrusive memories — re-experiencing the trauma involuntarily
• Hypervigilance — a persistent sense of danger, being constantly on alert
• Avoidance — of people, places, or situations associated with the trauma
• Emotional numbing — disconnection from yourself and others
• Sleep disturbance — nightmares, insomnia, restless sleep
• Difficulty trusting people — particularly in intimate relationships
• Dissociation — feeling detached from your own body, thoughts, or surroundings
• Chronic shame or guilt — often internalised from the traumatic experience itself

These are normal responses to abnormal experiences — not evidence of weakness or mental illness. Your nervous system is doing what it was designed to do: protect you. The problem arises when these protective responses persist long after the danger has passed, interfering with your relationships, your work, and your capacity to live fully.

How does trauma counselling work?

At my practice in Carlton, inner Melbourne, I work with trauma carefully and at a pace that feels manageable for you. I don’t push for exposure to traumatic material before you’re ready. A great deal of valuable therapeutic work can happen without a detailed retelling of what occurred.

My approach to trauma draws on Lacanian psychoanalytic and relational thinking. This means I pay close attention to:

• The therapeutic relationship itself — its safety, predictability, and consistency — as a crucial part of healing
• What the trauma disrupted — your sense of trust, safety, identity, or capacity to connect with others
• How the past lives in the present — the ways trauma shapes current relationships, reactions, and self-perception
• Your window of tolerance — working within it so the process feels manageable rather than overwhelming

I work with both single-incident trauma (accidents, assaults, sudden loss) and complex trauma (childhood abuse, neglect, ongoing domestic violence). Complex trauma — sometimes called developmental trauma — often affects not just what you experienced but who you became as a result. It shapes attachment patterns, self-worth, emotional regulation, and the capacity to trust. This deeper work takes time, but it is some of the most meaningful work therapy can do.

Recovery from trauma is possible. It doesn’t mean forgetting what happened. It means being able to carry your experience as part of your story — rather than having it run your life. I see clients online via secure video call and in person at my Carlton practice. Sessions are self-funded at $120. No referral is needed. Message me on WhatsApp or book online.