Supporting new mothers to heal their own childhood trauma so as to not pass it onto the next generation
Trauma healing supports the whole family
Our social enterprise provides free trauma-specific therapeutic services to support women in the perinatal stage and their partners to address the relational wounds of their own Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) as they enter the new life stage of parenthood.
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Expectant and new mothers with their families can access specifically designed interventions, empowering them to understand the ways childhood trauma can influence how they feel today, so they can enter this most exciting and challenging time with emotional resilience, confident that their past will not be carried forward into their future.
FEATURED SERVICES
Trauma Counselling Programme
Belfast or Online
COST
DURATION
DELIVERY
Free of charge
10 x 50 min sessions
One-to-one
The Trauma Counselling Programme has been designed to support clients in identifying the emotional impact of their childhood trauma by locating where it is stored in their body. Through a series of exercises, clients are empowered to work with stored trauma imprints and release the emotional potency of them from the body.
Group work for previous programme attendees
Belfast or Online
COST
DURATION
DELIVERY
Free of charge
1. 5 Hours
Maximum 8 clients
Once clients have completed the Trauma Counselling Programme, we offer free monthly group work, so that clients can continue to develop skills obtained. The group also offers a space for clients to share their experiences of being a parent, with those who encounter similar challenges as a result of their past.
Training for Industry Professionals
Belfast or Online
COST
DURATION
DELIVERY
Tbc
1 Day or Half-Day
Group presentations
We offer a variety of training courses for professionals working with women in the perinatal stage and their families, which includes psycho-education around the psychological and physical impacts of trauma, as well as how to identify Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) during assessment and screening appointments.
OUR TEAM MEMBERS
Janet Williams
Clinical Lead – HCPC registered Counselling Psychologist
Founder of the Trauma Counselling programme, presenter of trauma-informed training and psycho-education for perinatal professionals, facilitator of Body Awareness group sessions.
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Janet trained in Psychotherapy 20 plus years ago, had children and a career diversion running a family business, to return to her love of therapy in 2015. She completed various trainings culminating in a profession doctorate in Counselling Psychology.
Her thesis "What Happens When The Abused Child Becomes a Mother?" explored the psychosocial impact of childhood trauma on young mothers and what best supports them to heal so that they feel empowered as they take o the role of mother.
Heidi Limbert
Programme Lead
Strategic lead including funding, networking and organisational development.
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Heidi is a registered Nurse and Health Visitor who has had a particular interest in mental health for more than 25 years. With a Masters in Public Health she has been the lead of multiple Children and Family centres run by the local authority in Bath, where the Trauma Programme found its origins. Her passion is all things related to perinatal, childhood and adult mental health, whilst supporting vulnerable families to thrive. Together with a passionate, hard-working and dedicated team, she has developed and leads much needed services for parents with young children.
Kathryn McPolin
Operations Manager
Kathryn’s multifaceted role consists of operational administration, marketing, research, stakeholder liaison, and training programme coordination.
Kathryn has a degree in Business and Management (Hons) from the University of Glasgow. She has a wealth of experience building relationships with both public and commercial bodies in the world of sales and events. Coming from Northern Ireland she has a warm, friendly personality and a passion for helping others. In her free time she loves to travel and embrace diverse cultures. She is eager to combine these interests to make a positive impact on individuals and communities across the UK.
ABOUT US
The Trauma Counselling Programme was founded by Counselling Psychologist, Dr Janet Williams, with the support of Heidi Limbert, who integrated the programme into perinatal interventions offered at a local authority Children & Family service in Bath, UK.
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The organisation is dedicated to providing assistance to vulnerable new mothers and their families, who require help to resolve their childhood trauma so that they can thrive in parenthood and form deep bonds of secure attachment with their offspring.
We receive referrals (140 by end 2023) from local midwives, health visitors, social workers and family support workers, as well as other relevant organisations who support women and their families in the perinatal stage.
We also work with relevant professionals to foster consistent trauma-informed care in their services.
We have established a cost-effective model where trainee psychotherapists and counsellors can carry out their voluntary placements by joining the programme, which allows us to offer the service free of charge to clients.
Based on the success of the programme in Bath, we are replicating the model in Belfast.
The expansion and reach of our work is reliant on local authority or national funding streams, and relevant philanthropic ventures.
We have robust data providing substantive evidence of the efficacy of the intervention and case studies available for commissioners and funders on request.
DATA SO FAR...
The Trauma Programme has been running since 2020 in Bath. During the COVID pandemic, all of the sessions were carried out online, which proved to still be effective (according to comparative data). A measurement scale called the Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS) is administered before and after the programme, providing invaluable data which consistently confirms the efficacy of the intervention.
Case Studies are anonymously written at the end of each programme, which provides rich qualitative evidence of the impact of the work, in terms of specific ways the clients have been empowered and gained confidence in their ability to address their emotional challenges from their past.
The Trauma Programme has been completed by 45 new or expectant mothers to date. Please contact us to view our data so far...
TESTIMONIALS
Client SR
"I feel I am now able to keep my anger under control and my cup of water has not overflowed. I was helped to understand that I should not blame myself."
Client MJ
"I am more confident in myself; I can recognize feelings and why I am having them; I am more in control over my life as a result.”
Client JP
"There are still things to work on, but I feel I have had a safe space to release a lot of my emotional trauma and to work on my grief. Janet has been a wonderful support I felt really seen and understood; her understanding and explaining my neurodiversity has really helped too.”