Areas of focus

Complex trauma

An environment rather than an incident.

What you might recognize

Some people can name the one thing that happened. Many more grew up inside a climate of unpredictability, criticism, or a caregiver who needed looking after. At the time, it may have just felt like normal life. What it leaves behind tends to show up later, in small and persistent ways.

You might not always know what you are feeling, or what you want. You can probably tell when someone else is struggling and miss it completely in yourself. Closeness starts out fine and then gets harder. You may have spent years looking after everyone, and asking for something still feels wrong. These were all sensible ways to get through at the time. If they are getting in the way today, it is worth finding out who you are without them.

What you might
wonder about

Was it bad enough to count?There’s no threshold you have to clear to deserve help, and no scale that decides for you. What still shapes your life is worth taking seriously.
Why does this still hit so hard?Because some reactions that feel outsized now were exactly the right size for something older. We go slowly enough to let that make sense.
Why do I feel like something’s wrong with me?That feeling usually started as someone else’s message from early in life. We look at where it came from, and whether it deserves the last word.
Where would we even start?You don’t need the right words or a place to begin. We start with whatever’s here today, and the rest finds its way in, in its own time.