FREEDOM FROM TRAUMA

Bonita is a qualified Professional Personal Performance Coach, a trained NLP, Hypnotherapy and Kinetic Shift Practitioner. She specialises in treating anxiety, stress, trauma & PTSD. She offers corporate training in Confidence and Resilience and works internationally. future-edgecoaching.co.uk

23 “Once the feelings associated with a specific trauma are reduced, the relief is immense.” I n my previous teaching career as a Deputy Head Teacher, I encountered increasing numbers of stressed and anxious staff and I wanted to understand what this really was. I discovered many had been traumatised by incidences and child protection issues and they were often at breaking point. The desire to help them led to a new understanding of how trauma affects how people think, feel and perform. I realised more and more people were suffering with PTSD and were held back by events from their childhood, work environment or family situations. I’d also recovered from my own trauma and was very aware of the effect trauma had on my mindset and body. I trained in coaching, NLP and kinetic shift therapy and work to help people to recover from trauma and improve their futures. How does trauma present? Trauma or a flashback is any significant singular event or occurrence that causes a mental, emotional or physical manifestation in the body. It’s a reminder of the past event and these effects are the body’s defence system kicking in. They are often unpleasant and distressing to experience; increased heart rate, sweaty palms, feelings of panic and the real belief that something is happening. These symptoms can be brief but very intense and a person can sometimes forget where they are or revisit the traumatic event mentally and emotionally. Significant events or trauma affects confidence and resilience, even many years later. We are often unaware of the trauma or event as it’s been buried as a coping strategy but shows up when resilience and confidence dip. Kinetic Shift and Quick Induction Hypnotherapy These models of therapy and coaching identify and treat the “trigger”, and this is the key to making a significant difference to the speed of improvement. These tools were game changers for me and, more importantly, for the people I help. How does it work? It works by creating links from the past – using past strengths, past achievements, finding exactly when things started to feel different and exploring any thoughts or feelings with significant meanings in order to discover the impact; then identifying what you need to hold onto and what you need to get rid of - and why. After the trauma or anxiety has been dealt with, there are daily coping/ maintenance techniques and tools to use. These help you to become free, release and separate the past trauma from the present and look to a new future. With anxiety, stress, PTSD or Complex PTSD, working with a counsellor or CBT therapist can be successful; but what’s often missing is the next steps for the future and how to make them. By combining the therapies with coaching skills, success on all levels can be achieved. PTSD, anxiety and stress can be successfully treated, and you can lead a very happy life thereafter. The secret ingredient is simply the desire to get rid of the past and not to allow yourself to be defined by it.