Complex Trauma Therapy
When you've learned to survive in ways that now cost you.
If your emotions feel too much — or completely out of reach. If you keep finding yourself in the same painful patterns no matter how hard you try. If you feel fundamentally wrong, unsafe, or like you don’t quite belong anywhere. This is not a character flaw. It is what complex trauma looks like in a body and a life.
What is complex trauma?
Not a single event. A way of living under threat.
What is complex trauma?
Not a single event. A way of living under threat.
Complex trauma doesn't usually come from one incident. It develops when painful, frightening, or destabilising experiences happen repeatedly — often in childhood, often within relationships that were supposed to be safe.
This might be emotional neglect, physical or sexual abuse, growing up in an unpredictable household, experiencing chronic racism or marginalisation, or simply never feeling seen or secure for long stretches of your early life.
The nervous system learns to adapt. It becomes expert at managing threat — through hypervigilance, shutting down, dissociating, people-pleasing, or controlling. These are survival strategies, not symptoms of something broken in you.
What makes complex trauma different from PTSD is that the effects are woven into how you experience yourself, other people, and the world. It shows up in how you relate, how you regulate, and how you make sense of who you are.
At inMind, we work from a formulation-based approach — meaning we try to understand your story and your adaptations, rather than fitting you into a diagnostic category. We are less interested in what is "wrong" with you and more interested in what happened to you, and what that meant.
We also understand that for many people — particularly those from Black, Brown, and diaspora communities — trauma does not exist in isolation from systems. Racism, displacement, intergenerational harm, and structural inequality are part of people's histories and bodies. We hold that.
What it can feel like
You might recognise some of this.
Complex trauma shows up differently for everyone. Some of the most common experiences people bring to us:
A persistent sense of being wrong, too much, not enough, or fundamentally different from everyone else
Difficulty trusting people, even those who seem safe — or finding yourself trusting too quickly and getting hurt
Dissociation — spacing out, feeling unreal, losing time, or watching yourself from a distance
Replaying painful memories, intrusive thoughts, or a body that reacts as though the past is still happening
Feeling like your emotions go from zero to overwhelming with no warning — or feeling numb and disconnected most of the time
Exhaustion from always managing — always scanning, always performing, always holding it together
Patterns in relationships that repeat no matter how much you understand them intellectually
A feeling of unsafety that has no obvious source — like something is always about to go wrong
How we work
Formulation before technique. Relationship before process.
All of our work is integrative — meaning we draw on a range of approaches and adapt them to what each individual needs. We do not apply a protocol to a person. We start by trying to understand you.
The foundation of our work is the therapeutic relationship. For people who have been hurt within relationships, this is not incidental — it is part of the therapy itself. We move at your pace. You are in control of what you share and when.
Depending on what emerges in your formulation and what you want from therapy, we may draw on:
- EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing)
- Trauma-Informed Stabilization Treatment
- Parts Work
- Compassion-Focused Therapy
- Somatic approaches
- Dialectical Behaviour Therapy
- Spiritual Approaches (Reiki, Pellowah, etc.)
- Acceptance and Commitment Therapy
- Narrative and relational approaches
- Cognitive Analytic Therapy
All therapy is delivered online via secure video call, allowing you to access specialist support from wherever you are.
The process
Trauma therapy has a shape — but not a rigid one.
Phase 1
Safety & Stabilisation
Building internal resources, developing tolerance for difficult emotions, and establishing a therapeutic relationship where real work becomes possible. Some people spend a long time here. That is not stalling — it is the work.
Phase 2
Processing
Working with traumatic memories, beliefs, and experiences at a depth and pace that feels manageable. This may involve EMDR, parts work, or other processing approaches. You never have to recount every detail for this to work.
Phase 3
Integration & Reconnection
Making meaning of what has happened, reconnecting with your sense of self, your relationships, and your life. This is not about returning to who you were before — it is about building something more solid.
Is this for you?
People come to us when...
- They have tried to "think their way through" difficult patterns and it hasn't been enough
- They have had difficult experiences with therapy before and want a practitioner who will go at their pace
- They want a therapist who understands the impact of racism, marginalisation, and intergenerational trauma
- They are functioning — working, parenting, holding things together — but at a cost they can no longer sustain
- They want to understand why they feel and behave the way they do — not just manage it
- They are carrying experiences of childhood trauma, abuse, neglect, or chronic relational harm
- They have been told they are "too complex" or have had treatment that didn't account for the full picture
- They are ready to do something different, even if they're not entirely sure what that looks like yet
Is This for You?
People come to us when...
“Trauma therapy isn’t about pretending the past didn’t happen or that everything is safe now. It’s about helping you understand the meaning you made from what happened — and finding more choice in how you respond to the world you’re actually in.”
– Dr. Larissa Johnson, Clinical Director, inMind Psychological Services
Getting started
What happens when you reach out.
We know that reaching out is not a small thing. Here is exactly what to expect.
You send an enquiry
Use the contact form or email us directly. You don't need to explain everything — just tell us a little about what you're looking for. We'll be in touch within 48 working hours.
We have a free 30-minute consultation
This is a no-pressure conversation — a chance to ask questions, get a sense of whether we're the right fit, and for us to understand what you're looking for. There is no obligation to continue.
We agree a way forward together
If we're a good fit, we'll discuss frequency, approach, and what you're hoping therapy can do for you. We'll start slowly and build from there.
Fees
An anti-oppressive approach to fees.
We use a values-based fee structure. Sessions are 50 minutes. Those who are able to pay a higher rate make it possible for us to offer reduced-cost places to those who are not.
£220
For those with financial stability and disposable income. Paying this rate supports access for others.
£150
Speak to us
EMDR intensive sessions (90 minutes) are £270. Fees for associate-led therapy may differ — please ask.
Read more about our fee structure →
Questions
Things people often ask.
How long does trauma therapy take?
Will I have to talk about what happened in detail?
What is EMDR and how does it work?
Is therapy online only?
I've had bad experiences with therapy before. Is that okay to talk about?
Do you offer a sliding scale?
Ready when you are
You don't have to have it figured out
before you reach out.
A free 30-minute consultation. No pressure. No obligation.