Mental Health Support Team

One-off workshop

Practitioner referral only

This workshop is psychoeducational, not therapy.

Aims and Objectives:

To consider definitions of trauma and symptomology, including definitions of PTSD and cPTSD.

Give you an opportunity to understand what can happen to our brains and our autonomic nervous systems during and after traumatic events and experiences.

Concepts are drawn from an inclusive, holistic view of trauma which encompasses the contributions of neurological, psychological and sociological perspectives. Designed to help understand our lived experience and identify some strategies to cope day to day

It is suitable for anyone experiencing post-traumatic stress symptoms. These can include some or all of the below responses following a traumatic event:

Constantly thinking about and or going over the event/experience.

Flashbacks / re-experiencing whereby you feel you are back in the trauma event

Difficulty sleeping and or nightmares

Changes in how you feel emotionally, physically and behaviour, e.g. anxious, scared, sad, angry.

Hypervigilance, feeling on high alert or jumpy and easily startled.

Feeling numb and or detached from yourself and or your surroundings

Avoiding situations that remind you of the event

Denial that the event happened

Trauma is the unique effect on each individual which can be different in each of us. This can occur when an event or series of events are experienced as threatening, dangerous or acutely stressful. Below are some examples of traumatic events:

Being involved in a car crash

Being raped or sexually assaulted

Being physically and or emotionally abused / neglected

Domestic abuse (to self or witnessing to others)

Being harassed or bullied - including racism, sexism, homophobia, biphobia or transphobia, and other types of abuse targeting your identity

War and conflict

Terrorist attacks

Surviving a natural disaster, such as flooding, earthquakes or pandemics

Losing someone in particularly upsetting circumstances

Being sectioned or getting treatment in a mental health ward

Being diagnosed with a life-threatening / serious health condition