Trauma Treatment Weybridge is for people who know that something in them has never really had a chance to heal. You might function, show up for work and family, even look “together” from the outside – yet your body tells a different story. Perhaps you wake tense, scan for danger throughout the day, dread certain places or sounds, or feel strangely detached from your own life. In my Weybridge practice I offer trauma treatment that is somatic and EMDR-informed, so that change is gradual, kind and solid enough to carry into everyday routines.
We begin not with pressure to tell everything, but with listening to your body’s version of events. As you speak, we notice how your breath moves (or doesn’t), what happens in your chest when you mention particular people, how your shoulders respond when you talk about “coping”, whether your stomach drops when you imagine saying no. These physical signals are not an inconvenience; they are your nervous system showing us where it still believes danger lives. Trauma Treatment Weybridge starts from this honest information rather than asking you to squeeze your experience into a neat story.
From there we create the first bits of ground under your feet. That can be as simple as feeling the support of the chair, sensing the firmness of the floor, letting your eyes look around the room so your body remembers it is here rather than back in an old scene. We experiment with small shifts in breath, posture and attention and choose the ones that bring even a tiny drop in tension. These become short, repeatable practices you can carry into real moments: before you open an email that makes your stomach knot, after a contact that leaves you shaken, or as you prepare to sleep.
As these anchors become familiar, regulation becomes the base of our trauma work. Many people living with trauma feel stuck on a pendulum between hyper-alert (jumpy, angry, panicked) and shut-down (numb, spaced out, exhausted). Together we widen the space in between. We move gently in and out of activation – touching a difficult memory or feeling briefly and then deliberately returning to something steady in the present. Over time, your system learns that it can visit painful material and still find its way back, rather than being pulled into flashback or collapse.
Somatic awareness helps us catch the early signs that your system is nearing its limit. You might notice a tightening jaw when someone steps too close, a rushing in your ears in crowds, your vision narrowing at raised voices, or a familiar emptiness when conflict appears. Instead of treating these as embarrassing or inconvenient, we treat them as essential signals. We design compassionate responses at this early stage – a pause, a grounding gesture, a boundary phrase, a choice to step back – so your body doesn’t have to shout to be heard.
When enough stability is in place, we can bring EMDR into the work. EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing) uses gentle left-right stimulation – eye movements, taps or sounds – to help your brain and body reprocess memories that are still stuck in “now” time. The aim is not to erase your past, but to allow those experiences to be stored differently so they no longer trigger the same level of alarm. In my Weybridge practice EMDR is always titrated: we work in short rounds, pause often to track your sensations, and return to grounding whenever needed. You stay in charge of pace, focus and depth.
Emotional processing is paced in layers. We work with what is ready, not with everything at once. Some sessions might focus on a particular flashback image or bodily memory; others may be about long-held beliefs such as “it was my fault”, “I’m never safe”, or “I don’t matter”. Somatic work gives these beliefs a bodily context – where they live in you, how they move, what softens them – while EMDR helps reduce their grip. It is completely acceptable to arrive with fragments rather than a clear narrative; we build understanding gradually as your system allows.
A key part of Trauma Treatment Weybridge is carrying gains into everyday life. Together we map where trauma responses appear most frequently: stepping into certain buildings, opening messages from particular people, going to bed, sitting in waiting rooms, walking down specific streets, making decisions. For each situation we create small, practical supports – a way of entering a room that feels safer, a short ritual before and after appointments, a grounding plan for nights, a realistic strategy for dealing with contact that is currently overwhelming. These small, consistent changes are often where life starts to feel more possible.
As regulation strengthens, many people notice quiet but powerful shifts. Nightmares may gradually ease, or become less vivid. Startle responses soften. You might notice more space between trigger and reaction – enough to choose whether to stay, leave, speak, or rest. Some describe feeling more real in their own bodies again, more able to register moments of comfort or connection, instead of only scanning for threat. The past remains part of your story, but it no longer runs every scene.
The format of trauma treatment is flexible. You can work with me in person in Weybridge, online from home or work, or with a blend of both depending on your health, travel and responsibilities. Some people find a weekly session helpful; others need a different rhythm to respect energy levels, shifts or caring roles. We agree the structure together and adjust as things change so that therapy supports your nervous system instead of becoming another demand.
Throughout, we keep the work practical and grounded. Tools and insights are chosen because they stand a chance of surviving busy days, complicated relationships, hospital visits, childcare and low-energy evenings – not because they sound impressive in theory. You do not need a diagnosis or a perfectly organised account of what happened to begin. We can start from your current reality: symptoms, patterns, “odd” reactions, blank spots, or simply the sense that your body is still living in yesterday.
If you are curious about Trauma Treatment in Weybridge and would like to know whether this somatic, EMDR-informed approach might help, you are welcome to begin with questions. To enquire or arrange an initial session, please use the contact page: https://www.cherie-james.com/contact
— you can outline what brings you, what feels hardest right now, and what kind of pace sounds manageable. From there, we can explore together whether this way of working is a good next step for you.
FAQ
Q1. How does somatic EMDR support trauma treatment effectively?
By stabilising first with grounding and regulation, then processing stuck moments in short bilateral sets with clear consent.
Q2. Will I learn skills that work under pressure?
Yes—portable anchors, doorway pauses, boundary lines and evening wind‑downs you can actually keep.
Q3. Can I mix online and in‑person sessions?
Yes—Weybridge appointments and secure online options can be blended to fit your week.