What is PTSD

PTSD, or Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, is a natural response to living through something deeply distressing or life-threatening. It’s not a sign of weakness — it’s a sign that something overwhelming happened to you, and your mind and body are still trying to make sense of it.

What’s difficult about PTSD is that the trauma doesn’t always stay in the past.

You may know the event is over, but your nervous system still feels on high alert. You might find yourself:

• Reliving the trauma through flashbacks, nightmares, or intrusive thoughts

• Feeling anxious, numb, or disconnected from yourself and others

• Avoiding reminders of what happened — even everyday situations

• Startled easily, unable to relax, or always waiting for something bad to happen

• Carrying shame, guilt, or self-blame that doesn’t feel like it belongs to you

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PTSD is your mind doing its best to protect you — but it doesn’t have to stay this way.The brain and body hold on to trauma in ways that can be confusing and painful. But the good news is that with the right support, they can also learn to feel safe again.

How counselling can help: In trauma-informed counselling, we move at your pace. There’s no pressure to share everything at once — or at all. Instead, we focus on helping you feel grounded and in control. Through gentle exploration, psychoeducation, and body-based techniques, we work together to reduce the intensity of symptoms and reconnect you with a sense of safety.

Your system is just doing what it needed to survive. Healing is possible. There is space here for your story, your pain, and your hope for something different.