All our trauma therapists are trained counsellors but understanding the
distinctions between a trauma therapist and a counsellor can help you make an informed decision about the type of support you need. While both professionals provide valuable mental health services, their training, focus, and methods often differ.
A trauma therapist is specifically trained to work with individuals who have experienced trauma. This could include childhood abuse, sexual assault, military combat, natural disasters, or any other event that has caused significant psychological distress.
Counsellors provide a broader range of support for various life issues and psychological concerns. They help clients navigate challenges such as relationship problems, career difficulties, stress, anxiety, depression, and personal development.
Methods and Approaches:
Trauma therapists often employ specialised techniques designed to help individuals process and heal from traumatic experiences. These may be therapies like:
- Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR)
- Somatic Experiencing
- Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (TF-CBT)
- Prolonged Exposure Therapy
Counsellors use a variety of therapeutic approaches depending on the client’s needs and the counsellor’s training. These may include:
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
- Person-Centered Therapy
- Solution-Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT)
- Psychodynamic Therapy
Scope of Practice:
The primary focus of a trauma therapist is to address the impacts of trauma. They help clients understand and manage symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), dissociation, anxiety, and depression that often accompany traumatic experiences.
The work of a counsellor is varied depending on the modality that the counsellor works within and setting. Typically counselling focuses on improving overall mental health and well-being. While they can certainly help clients deal with traumatic experiences, their training is not as specialised as that of a trauma therapist.
Credentials and Qualifications:
Trauma therapists have received additional training/certification in trauma specific therapies which is likely took over a year or two to complete and specialist trauma supervision. They may also have qualified as a social worker, psychologist or counsellor.
Counsellors usually have a degree or diploma in counselling or psychology. There are many different schools of therapy from CBT, psychodynamic and person centred to name a few. They work in a variety of settings to include the NHS, Employee Assistance Programmes, private practice, community settings, schools, prisons etc.
Choosing the Right Professional
When deciding between a trauma therapist and a counsellor, consider the nature of the issues you are facing. If your primary concern is related to a traumatic experience, seeking a trauma therapist may be more beneficial. For broader mental health support, a counsellor may be the appropriate choice. Both professionals play essential roles in promoting mental health and well-being, and the right fit depends on your specific needs and goals.
Please visit our therapiesTrauma Therapy page for a more detailed breakdown of what trauma therapy is and a sample of some of the therapies our therapist offer.
Prior to therapy commencing each client will go through an online assessment with their therapist to ensure that online therapy is suitable for them. Not every difficulty is appropriate to work with online due to distance and support systems not being as readily available as they would be in face-to-face therapy but this is decided on an individual basis. If your therapist feels that you may need support during our work together then it is usual for them to work with you to put together a safety plan of support or coping strategies that you can use between sessions should you become overwhelmed. You can also access additional resources by looking at your ‘I need help now‘ page.
No, not everyone is suitable to work with online which will be determined in assessment. If this is the case your therapist will help you to access more suitable support in your local area by writing to your GP, referring to local services or by giving you recommendations.
As professionals we have a duty of care to all clients to ensure we are working safely and ethically. Whether we see clients face to face or online we would begin the therapy process by going through some historical information and assessment together. Prior to our first session we will send you several questionnaires to be completed before the first session commences. Assessment is an important part of the trauma therapy journey as it helps to inform a roadmap and ensure that we are not missing anything significant that may be contributing to your current experiencing. If there are any problems when filling in the forms, please let your therapist know. There will also be regular assessments throughout the work to monitor your progress and evaluate therapy goals. Certain trauma therapies also have their own built in assessments to monitor progress.
If your therapist has any concerns before you start your work together then they will arrange to have a brief telephone conversation with you. This may result in you both agreeing to put together a safety plan before starting work or they may offer information of alternative sources of support for you to make contact with whilst you also engage in therapy. On the rare occasion that therapy is not deemed suitable online your therapist will help you to access more suitable in person support in your area by referral to local services or recommendations.
Disclaimer: Please note that we are to unable to provide a clinical diagnosis as that is beyond the scope of our training. We have been trained in using several trauma and mental health assessment tools that allow us to consider appropriate treatment pathways that then inform our practice. For any official diagnosis, you would need to seek out the relevant medical professional. Please always start with your GP.
As trauma therapy is a specialist area and in high demand there are times when we will operate a waiting list. We will let you know on the site when this is in place. The usual wait time is between 6-18 weeks depending on which therapist you are looking to work with but please get in touch as we can give you a more accurate idea. In this time we will send out the assessment forms so you can start with those and recommend some resources.
All our therapists are qualified counsellors and traumatologists and are registered members of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) which demonstrates their commitment to their ethical framework and in providing their clients with a safe and therapeutic environment. You can obtain a copy of the BACP ethical framework from their website at anytime and a copy of their complaints procedure should ever need it.
Please contact therapists individually for more about their professional registrations.
Yes as most of our therapists work in public services as well they all hold enhanced level DBS checks.
It will start by going through some basic information and assessment forms sent to you via email. We strongly recommend that as an online client you use an encrypted email server for sending and receiving email exchanges when engaging with counselling, or communication between which helps to ensure that communication will not be intercepted by a third party. A free and secure email provider is www.protonmail.com.
Once you have agreed a date and time with your therapist you will be sent a link inviting you to a meeting via Zoom which encrypts the session and is password protected. All you need to do is click on the link provided and zoom will install a small piece of software on your computer. You just type in the password and will be admitted to the waiting area until the allocated time. Video counselling is a lot like face to face therapy as you can see each other’s faces but it’s not quite the same as being in a room together with the whole self.
You need to make sure that you are in a safe and private space for the full therapy hour. You are welcome to bring a soft drink to the session but please do not bring food. Although Zoom has the facility to record sessions this feature will not be used unless it has been discussed it in detail beforehand. After the session you may find it helpful to choose a mindful or pleasant activity to engage in for a while to help feel more grounded in returning to the offline world.
Please note that any inappropriate behaviours or inappropriate dressing will result in the termination of any of our therapy sessions with immediate effect. If this should happen, we reserve the right to charge you in full for the session.
Everything you discuss with your therapist is held in the strictest of confidence however there are a few exceptions. If they thought you were going to hurt yourself or someone else then they might need to tell someone about it. This is something they would normally try and talk with you about first. This is something you will discuss with your therapist during assessment and it will be in the therapy agreement between you and your therapist.
The content of your sessions whether face to face or online will not be communicated with a third party except for the purposes stated in agreement with your therapist and with the therapist’s supervisor to ensure that they are working ethically and safely with clients.
For online clients it is really important to maintain confidentiality when working online via video call by ensuring that you are in a room which is free from interruption by another person for the duration of our session. If this is not possible, or you become interrupted then the therapist may have to terminate the session or reschedule.
It is not permissible to record or publicise the content of your therapy sessions whether written (email or IM) or verbal (video or voice call) or share them with a third party or other aspects of personal and public forums.
In respect of online therapy via email, IM, SMS, and webcam the UK police force and other international government authorities can ask for access to an individual’s email account or synchronous messaging account where there is suspicion of illegal activities. On this basis we are not able to guarantee confidentiality in circumstances which lead to access being granted.
All our therapists are registered with the Information Commissioners Office as a Data Controllers and Data Processors and maintain and store brief, factual notes relating to your sessions which are securely stored. We will not share this data with anyone else other than yourself, unless required by a court of law.Any electronic contact (such as emails) that we have during the process of assessment and ongoing sessions will be deleted at the termination of therapy or before if it is no longer deemed relevant to our work.
This website www.onlinetraumacentre.co.uk is hosted by AWS (Amazon Web Services) who adhere to the requirements of GDPR.
This is something you will need to discuss during assessment with your trauma therapist as it is dependent upon your progress and which treatment pathway you follow. It is something your therapist will continually review and discuss with you.
The client and therapist relationship will remain a professional relationship as we all have an ethical duty to maintain boundaries in order to provide clients with a safe and confidential space. Clients can sometimes find this difficult due to the intimate nature of therapy and it is something we will always talk to you about if we thought you were struggling with it. Contact between sessions is limited to us sending you resources after a session and changes in arrangements only, unless otherwise agreed with the individual therapist.
The online trauma centre has a social media presence as do some of our therapists. In order to maintain professional boundaries, our therapists personally will not be able to accept any invitations for contact with current or past clients and we will not initiate contact with clients via social media sites or forums.
It is not permissible to record or publicise the content of sessions whether written (email or IM) or verbal (video or voice call) or share them with a third party or other aspects of personal and public forums.
Please check with our individual therapists to understand what age group they work with.
Trauma therapy sessions generally start anywhere from £70 – £120 for a full hour depending on the practitioners location, level of expertise, experience and whether an intensive or 90 minute session.
*PLEASE NOTE we all have a concessionary rate available for those on low income, or in the UK Army, RAF or Navy so please see the concessionary tab.
We want trauma therapy to be accessible to everyone who needs it (as we have been there ourselves!). We each have a concessionary spot at a lower cost so please enquire. If this is still out of what you are able to pay due to your current circumstances then please email us for a chat.
These spaces are time-limited to a maximum of 30 sessions which is enough for trauma stabilisation and at least one trauma process. It may involve you going on a waiting list if those spots are already occupied for a while.
Please email us for further details.
If you are experiencing difficulties outside of your therapy session then please visit our “I need help now” page for details of where you can find immediate support outside these times. Unfortunately, we do not offer a crisis service or support inbetween sessions.
Trauma therapy is not ‘talking therapy’ and does require a certain level of commitment to work outside of the session which may ask for daily or weekly homework depending on where you are in the process to help you get the most from it. If you do not engage with the homework then you are not receiving the treatment.
If you do not feel you are ready for this level of commitment then a different type of counselling may be more suitable at this time.
That’s a great question as we often hear that therapy can make us feel worse before we feel better. The truth is when we suffer from PTSD we are already feeling pretty awful as symptoms often cause us to re-experience the trauma involuntarily.
Some of the processes may cause an exacerbation of PTSD symptoms in the beginning of treatment but we will make sure you have the tools (from phase 1) to manage any temporary increase. It’s something we monitor regularly and you are welcome to reach out to your therapist during that time if symptoms increase and you are struggling so they will advise you.
Any strange dreams, thoughts or emotions during this time is totally normal and in fact shows us that you are processing the trauma. Making a note of these to share with your therapist or journalling during this time can be really useful.
We value your feedback as it helps us grow as practitioners, so please feel free to let us know if you feel like we are not understanding you or if something is not helpful.
If you have a complaint then we hope this is something you can discuss and work through together with your therapist. If it cannot be resolved between you, then the BACP complaint procedure is available on their website www.bacp.co.uk.