Trauma Therapy Singapore

Understanding Trauma

What is Trauma:

Trauma occurs when events overwhelm an individual’s ability to cope, affecting their sense of control, connection, and meaning. It can result from a single event, multiple events, or a series of related incidents, happening at any age. Common causes include abuse (verbal, physical, or sexual), domestic violence, major accidents, sudden loss, violent crimes, cyberbullying, witnessing traumatic events, and parental neglect.

Symptoms of Trauma

• Hyperarousal Symptoms: Panic, anxiety, fear, phobias, self-harm, anger outbursts, and changes in sleep or eating habits.
• Intrusive Symptoms: Nightmares, obsessive thoughts, flashbacks, or hallucinations.
• Numbing Symptoms: Dissociation, depersonalization, alexithymia, or anhedonia.

Mental Health Conditions Affected by Trauma:

Trauma can lead to PTSD, complex PTSD, major depressive disorder, generalized anxiety disorders, dissociative identity disorder, and maladaptive coping mechanisms.

Steps Involved In Trauma Therapy 

• Safety: Ensure physical and psychological safety by engaging necessary resources.
• Stabilization and Self-Management: Build coping skills and promote therapy engagement.
• Assessments: Conduct thorough history-taking, psychological assessments, and goal formulation.
• Referrals: Consider pharmacological treatment or specialist treatment if needed.
• Addressing Trauma Memories: Readiness desensitization and reprocessing of thoughts, feelings, and sensations.
• Coping Strategies: Consolidate, re-evaluate, and practice healthier responses to future scenarios.
• Addressing Co-morbidity: Focus on addiction recovery, eating disorders, and other related disorders.
• Systemic Issues: Address relational or community factors.

* Note that the steps are not always linear.

Evidence-Based Approaches and Techniques used for Trauma Therapy:

• Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)
• Internal Family Systems (IFS)
• Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)
• Expressive Therapy, including Art Therapy, Sandplay, and Symbol Work.
• Schema Therapy

Meeting Your Therapist session

Fill in the form for an introductory 20-minutes session to meet the therapist assigned to you. The objective of this session is for you to share briefly your issue with our therapist, ask any questions you may have about therapy and assess if there is a good fit for you and therapist to work together. You will not be charged for this session. We will assign you another therapist if it is not a good fit. If you are comfortable with the therapist assigned, you can extend the session to a full 60 minutes session provided the therapist is available.

Joselyn Loh – Founder and Clinical Director 

Joselyn is a Certified Clinical Trauma Professional. She is trained in Trauma-Focused CBT, Schema Therapy, Expressive Therapy in Sandplay and Symbol Work. She is experienced in working with couples who experienced trauma due to infidelity, individual who experienced childhood trauma, relational trauma and children who witnessed and experienced trauma due to parental divorce and other trauma.

Melissa Yoong – Consultant Senior Psychotherapist 

Melissa has over a decade of experience and holds a Bachelor’s in Social Sciences (Psychology) from the National University of Singapore and a Master’s in Counselling from Monash University. Her expertise includes working with trauma, PTSD, depression, anxiety, psychoses, and personality disturbances. Melissa is trained in EMDR, Gottman Method Couples Therapy, and EFCT. She integrates psychodynamic, emotion-focused, and somatic approaches in her therapy.

Juliana Pang is a Psychotherapist 

Juliana has a Master’s in Counselling from Monash University. Juliana specializes in addiction and rehabilitation counselling, managing anxiety, depression, anger issues, burnout, and PTSD. She is trained in EMDR, the Gottman Method, and the Emotion-Focused Couples Therapy. Additionally, she is a Certified Partner Trauma Therapist and Certified International Gaming Disorder Professional.