Some experiences are so overwhelming, so painful, so unexpected, that they leave a lasting imprint – not just on your memory, but in your body, your relationships, and your sense of self.
And no matter what you’ve tried – medication, counselling, distraction, avoidance – the past won’t stay in the past.
You may not even think of it as trauma. You may just know that something doesn’t feel right – that sleep is difficult, trust is hard, or something inside you always seems to be bracing.
Or perhaps you’ve lived with flashbacks, nightmares, or a sense that you’re still living with what happened, long after it ended.
At The Surrey Centre, we hold these experiences gently – with care, curiosity and deep respect. We don’t push you to retell the story. We work with what lives in the present – the impact, not the event – and move at a pace that feels safe for your body, mind and soul.
- Anxiety, panic, or constant hyper-alertness
- Emotional numbness, detachment, or a sense of “checking out”
- Shame or self-blame, even when you know it wasn’t your fault
- Intrusive memories, flashbacks, or nightmares
- Difficulty trusting, resting, sleeping, or eating
- Feeling disconnected — from others, from your body, from yourself
- Patterns of addiction, self-harm, or emotional overwhelm
- A sense of being “other,” broken, or somehow too much
- Past trauma resurfacing months or even years later
We take a relational, body-aware, trauma-informed approach, which means we don’t retraumatise in the room.
You won’t be pushed to relive what happened.
Instead, we create safety around the trauma – not through it.
Often, we don’t even need to speak about the event itself. We focus on how it lives in you now – in your thoughts, your breath, your relationships, your beliefs about yourself.
Together, we may:
- Work gently with grounding, containment, and nervous system regulation
- Explore how early experiences shaped your current responses and patterns
- Use creative or symbolic expression when words feel too sharp
- Reconnect you to the parts of yourself that had to go quiet
- Gently untangle the belief that you’re to blame, or that you’re not enough
- Offer EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing) if appropriate — an evidence-based process that supports the reprocessing of distressing memories without needing to re-tell or re-live the trauma
In EMDR, you remain in control. With the support of your therapist, you’ll be guided through a process that helps reduce the distress attached to traumatic memories — allowing the event to stay in the past, where it belongs.
Whether your trauma was a single event, something ongoing, or something that’s only just beginning to surface – we’ll walk with you, slowly, gently, at your pace.
Even if it’s been years. Even if you’ve never told anyone. Even if no one else saw.
You are not broken. You are not alone.
And healing is possible – even if you no longer believe it is.