WORKING ALONGSIDE YOU TO
THRIVE
EMPOWERING and INSPIRING positive change
FOSTERING long-term, sustainable transformation
HELPING to raise awareness
HEALING TRAUMA, providing tools & strategies
LISTENING & UNDERSTANDING
Complex PTSD is caused by recurring unconscious thoughts about events an individual has experienced as life-threatening. For instance, physical abuse, death of a parent, witnessing or experience of domestic violence, shocking news, war, serious health issues, physical attacks, neglect in childhood, abusive relationship that took place over a prolonged period.
If you have experienced repeated exposure to unresolved trauma, this reactivates the body’s fight, flight and freeze stress responses, and results in emotional distress, in extreme cases memory loss, dissociation and toxic stress.
I am listening, tell me your story.
IDENTIFY THE TRAUMA
Complex trauma is potentially harmful because it can impair your ability to develop and maintain safe, healthy relationships. The events, emotions and sensations can reoccur in the form of flashbacks – as if they are happening right now.
Sometimes this involves bringing the story to life and into consciousness so that you can understand how you are affected by your traumatic past experiences.
I can help you to create safety in a confidential space to share your story because building a healthy therapeutic bond between client and therapist is an essential part of the process.
WORKING THROUGH THE TRAUMA
You will find safety through self-expression, putting your thoughts into words, finding meaning through your story, and healing the troublesome emotions. Invoking integration of abandoned parts of yourself also helps to neutralise and regulate your strong negative emotions, such as anger, guilt, shame and find emotional safety within yourself by setting healthier, more appropriate boundaries.
I can help you to process difficult emotions. This requires a safe, confidential bond between client and therapist.
MOVING FORWARD POSITIVELY
A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step…
Healing from trauma is an emotional journey.
Reconnect with your mind and body, adopt better healthy coping strategies that will help you to stay calm in your body, put the trauma to rest and prepare yourself with tools to move forward with your life.
You can learn to prioritise yourself by establishing healthy boundaries and move forward positively, with mindful self-compassion.
START YOUR HEALING JOURNEY TODAY.
Putting the pieces together, a bit at a time
Read Katie's story here...
Recovery From Sexual Abuse
Katie had experienced many kinds of neglect and abuse during her life. This had resulted in her feeling worthless and hopeless.
During therapy sessions, she learned new coping strategies to manage her feelings and shape her future by working through the anxiety of agoraphobia.
Therapy has enabled Katie to get around independently and feeling confident about standing up for herself. She has made new friends and has taken on somewhat of a leadership role to support a few other like-minded women with similar experiences, whom she has got to know since moving on from therapy.
Follow Katie’s journey here…
Read Hayley's story here...
Recovery From Abusive Relationship
Hayley had recently left an abusive intimate relationship. This resulted in her feeling anxious, helpless and frustrated.
Throughout the relationship, she let him off the hook on the pretext of his suffering mental health. This made the situation much worse. Hayley felt guilty and responsible for her ex-partner in many ways.
Therapy helped her to see the impact of her upbringing on her beliefs, values and choices. She can now enjoy future relationships because she understands the dynamics and has learned better ways to navigate intimate relationships with renewed confidence and awareness of safer boundaries.
Follow Hayley’s journey…
Read Sarah's story here...
Recovery from Addiction
Sarah experienced multiple breakdowns and was in recovery from addiction to alcohol. Therapy provided the torch, that shone a light on all my dark inner places and held me in complete safety while I worked hard to transform myself.
“Counselling is a way out of and sometimes the only escape from a desperate situation. No matter how difficult, no matter how hopeless, without the right help, support, influence, it is very difficult for a vulnerable addict to fight the battle for change with and within their own mind. The poisonous mind is a powerful force to contend with by one’s self.”
Follow Sarah’s journey …
Changing beliefs, expectations and behaviours may not be as easy as it sounds!
Sometimes it is easier to just say ‘Yes.
Are you the type of person who puts everyone else’s needs before your own?
Sometimes saying ‘Yes’ leaves you feeling frustrated, angry and resentful and uncomfortable because you’ve likely been misunderstood or not been heard.
What are the consequences of your behaviour on your relationship?
Do you feel a twinge of guilt when you want to say ‘No’?
Don’t be a doormat!
It is most likely you suck it up and tolerate the discomfort in your relationship because maybe that’s what everyone else does and you don’t want to stand out or be different from others in your community, your family, your workplace.
If this sounds like you, then you are not alone!
People pleasers avoid conflict in their relationships with others because they are afraid of being rejected, abandoned and disliked by others. They also fear standing up for themselves because they don’t want to feel the guilt and shame of being alone.
I can help you to be more confident in your relationships.
ONE TO ONE COUNSELLING
Positive Psychotherapy for Positive Results
Free discovery session
The most fulfilling relationships start with you.
If you are feeling stuck, trapped in negative and painful emotions that keep you feeling unfulfilled then you may be affected by complex ptsd.
If you are perpetuating bad feelings about yourself, then counselling provides relief and an opportunity to understand why you might be feeling this way.
You can learn to take control of your feelings and emotions.
YOU WILL FEEL MORE CONFIDENT
YOU WILL OVERCOME DISSOCIATION
YOU WILL FEEL MORE EMPOWERED
RECONNECT WITH YOUR MIND & BODY
YOU WILL BE MORE SELF AWARE
YOU WILL MAKE SAFER CHOICES
YOU WILL LEARN TO TRUST YOURSELF
YOU WILL IMPROVE YOUR RELATIONSHIPS
BUILDING SUSTAINABLE PARTNERSHIPS
For people with a duty of care for the well-being of your service users.
Counselling improves a whole range of dysfunctional and addictive behaviours, reduces long term stress, anxiety and depression.
Complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (c-PTSD) is caused by long term and repeated physical, sexual and emotional abuse. These events can occur in childhood or adulthood and affect an individual’s self-esteem, ability to form healthy intimate relationships, mental capacity and capability to be economically active, to remain in work and be successful in long term employment.
Emotional trauma can destabilise and demoralise a person’s beliefs about the future via loss of hope. Complex trauma can undermine expectations about life. For instance, fear that life will end abruptly, or early, or anticipation that normal life events won’t occur, can affect access to education, ability to have a significant and committed relationship and good opportunities for work.
Additionally, destructive, often unconscious behaviour patterns underpin alcoholism, drug addictions can be responsible for provoking physical violence and domestic abuse.
A referral for professional therapeutic and counselling support can help to
• Facilitate Behaviour Change
• Improve Relationships
• Develop Coping skills
• Promote Decision Making
• Boost Potential
• Reduce long term stress, anxiety and depression.
• Improve a whole range of destructive, addictive behaviours.
Hello! I’m Mignon.
I have been helping people to heal from complex trauma for over 10 years.
Adverse childhood experiences (ACE) can prevent us from forming healthy, stable attachments in adulthood. Neglect in childhood can disrupt the early stages of emotional development and cause long term symptoms such as flashbacks, nightmares, numbness, memory loss, panic attacks.
The after-effects of long term adversity result in anxiety, shame, guilt, sadness, anger, depression and other more serious mental health problems.
Unresolved emotional issues arising from trauma can also have an adverse effect on physical health causing chronic pain, migraines, headaches, insomnia, decreased concentration. Family dysfunction from alcohol abuse and other addictions can also lead to a host of emotional problems and dysfunctional behaviour in later life such as low self-esteem, worthlessness, hopelessness, numbing, loss of interest (depression), identity issues such as loss of sense of self, loss of agency in one’s life, irritability, feeling unreal, self-destructive behaviours including addictions, eating disorders which all constitute as symptoms of complex post-traumatic stress disorder (c-PTSD)
Human beings are wired for belonging and connection. We fulfil this need through our interactions with others, and all our relationships are underpinned by a known set of attachment styles.
I have a person-centred approach and a strong belief in the power of the therapeutic relationship. This means that you are central to the counselling process.
EXPERIENCE
I have helped many people to recognise, transform and step away from unhelpful behaviour patterns.
I can help you to understand and manage stress so that you can enjoy deeper more meaningful personal relationships.
EDUCATION
Advanced Diploma in Integrative Counselling – Ironmill College, Exeter.
Bachelor of Art (Hons)
International Business Management (Computer Science, International Marketing, Project Management)
I am a member of the British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP).
RECOGNITION
More than formal educational qualifications, some of which are irrelevant in the counselling context but nonetheless add to my wealth of work and life experiencesw, I am successful in helping many people to transform the pain of trauma that is rooted in the past and has continued to cause post-traumatic stress in the present.
Have you developed agoraphobia?
Have you developed Agoraphobia? For many people these days, lockdown has meant staying indoors and self-isolating. Agoraphobia is a type of anxiety disorder that can leave people feeling housebound for years. For some people it comes on suddenly. If you have been...
Can I Help You?
Midlife, which for me began at around the age of 35, has been an interesting period and a deeply questioning time. You wanted your life to be so perfect but the reality is very different from how you had imagined it. You have a busy life, yet some important aspects of...
Counselling Needs and Desires Series
“Counselling Needs and Desires” My counselling clients have many needs and desires that are shared with me. I will be exploring some of these here – it would be interesting to hear how these may touch on your own desires and experiences – please do leave me a comment...
