Frances Ross M.Ed Counselling Psychology, SEP, MBACP.
TRAUMA COUNSELLING AND PSYCHOTHERAPY IN RICHMOND, SOUTH WEST LONDON,
AND ONLINE FOR CLIFTON, BRISTOL & ACROSS THE UK
Information and Skills
Emotion and Sensation:
I explain and demonstrate how 'staying with' or allowing a sensation and/or an emotion actually dissipates the held energy around it, so that there is a feeling of expansion and relief as this bound energy discharges. I will assist and encourage you as you learn to do this, so that you become more confident and can then do this by yourself. This skill is a basic and essential one, as holding back or staying away from emotion and sensation both increases the ANS (autonomic nervous system) charge and also causes lack of blood flow and oxygen to the held part(s) of the body, thus causing additional symptoms. We need our emotions as they are connected to energy flow and impulse, and are the drivers behind successful movement and mastery in the world. Welcoming them and allowing them within your own felt experience creates physical and mental health.
Validation:
Validation of an emotion(s) by yourself and myself together, is like going back in time to receive the soothing and comfort a child needs to discharge the shock of say a loss or an accident, and to feel met and understood in that moment. That someone else is understanding and feeling it with them and showing them this is how to be with it. The adult thus validating the child's experience moderates the physiological intensity which is essential for the child's still developing nervous system. The emotion is normalized and causes expansion and relief in the whole system.
Contraction and Expansion:
This is a basic and essential physiological aspect which I am working with all the time in our sessions. I'm looking for ways we can move towards softening and expansion in the muscles and tissue. Take for example the breath, fear or shock results in holding the breath and then also holding in the jaw shoulders and diaphragm. This of course causes contraction, lack of blood and energy flow and over time chronic symptoms. Contraction is normal and necessary and if it results in successful action and the shock or fear is released then the person moves back to expansion. This is part of a very natural phenomena (like the waves on a beach), and we are returning the system to normal, so there is a fuller breath and normal rhythm of expansion and contraction. Chronic pain and other syndromes lessen due to the increased blood/oxygen and energy flow and the body gains a sense of wholeness and well-being rather than fragmentation.
Dissociation:
When we freeze or shut down, due to a traumatic response, we deprive a part(s) of the body mind of normal sensation and emotion in order to protect ourselves from nervous system overwhelm. We loose awareness of this part of ourselves and it becomes separated off. It can go into the energy field and/or locked deep into an area of the body, such as the chest, shoulder, jaw, hand, eyes etc.
Paying attention to body sensation and emotion helps re-associate that part(s). Through gentle and focused tracking on the part of the client and therapist the part(s) returns from the energy field, or area of the body, by the client being supported to feel the emotional content and to complete any movement impulses. The dissociation and related symptoms decrease as this physiological integration returns the whole body to coherence.
It is not sufficient to 'name' a part and talk about it, because if it is not additionally re-associated on a felt level (as described above) no lasting physiological change will occur, and the fragmentation of dissociation is not fully addressed.
COVID 19 information for clients
*Please do not come in to the office if you have a fever, cough, cold or flu symptoms, or have been in contact with anyone who has Covid, we will use Skype or Zoom for that session.*
Get in touch
Feel free to contact me if you have any questions about how I work.
You can also call me on 07734885554 if you would prefer to leave a message or speak to me first. I am happy to discuss any queries or questions you may have.
All enquires are usually answered within 24 hours, and all contact is strictly confidential and uses secure phone and email services.
I currently run a Trauma Counselling practice in South West London, Richmond-on-Thames TW10. I no longer offer face to face sessions in Clifton but am able to offer online sessions for those in Bristol or further afield across the UK.
Regarding COVID-19; sessions can be held online or in person at this time.
©2021 Frances Ross
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