Trauma-Informed Counselling vs Trauma Therapy: What’s the Difference?
- Kirsty Richardson
- Nov 12
- 5 min read
Updated: 4 days ago
Trauma is more common than we often realise, and its effects can ripple across every part of a person’s life, mental, physical, and emotional. Trauma doesn’t just impact individuals; it can shape families, communities, and society as a whole. Yet awareness of trauma, and how to respond to it safely, is still limited in the UK. Without correctly informed support, people can be unintentionally retraumatised, and the help they receive may not be long-lasting.
Thankfully, businesses and organisations are becoming increasingly more trauma-informed, implementing approaches that recognise the widespread impact of trauma. This includes training not just frontline staff but also maintenance and support staff, ensuring that all interactions with clients or residents are sensitive to trauma. In housing services, frameworks such as Psychologically Informed Environments (PIE) are being adopted to create safer, more supportive settings.
What Is Trauma?
Trauma is defined as an event, series of events, or set of circumstances that a person experiences as physically or emotionally harmful or life-threatening, which has lasting effects on how they function. Trauma can be acute (from a single event), chronic (ongoing, such as childhood abuse or bullying), or vicarious/secondary (experienced indirectly, such as through supporting someone else who has been traumatised).
It’s important to understand that trauma is subjective, it’s the brain and body’s response to an experience, not the experience itself. What is deeply harmful to one person may be less so to another. For example, persistent bullying in a school playground can be just as damaging to mental health as exposure to war or serious accidents.
Trauma changes the brain. It can trap the nervous system in a state of fight, flight, or freeze, causing hypervigilance, anxiety, or dissociation even long after the traumatic event has ended. People with trauma may experience:
Emotional flashbacks or intense emotional reactions to seemingly small triggers.
Hyperarousal, including difficulty sleeping, irritability, or a constant sense of danger.
Physical symptoms such as chronic fatigue, digestive issues, or headaches.
Difficulty trusting others, forming relationships, or regulating emotions.
The brain areas most affected include the amygdala (detects threat), hippocampus (the part of the brain that helps us store and recall memories and understand our experiences), and prefrontal cortex (decision-making and regulation). Trauma can reduce the size or function of these areas, meaning the brain is more likely to interpret everyday situations as threatening, long after the original harm.
Trauma can also interact with social and structural factors. Racism, poverty, and systemic inequality can act as ongoing sources of stress and trauma, compounding personal experiences and making recovery even more challenging.
For more on the neurobiology of trauma, Dr. Arielle Schwartz provides a clear explanation here.
Trauma-Informed Counselling
Trauma-informed counselling isn’t about delivering therapy to process trauma directly; it’s about how we approach support so that people feel safe and respected. A trauma-informed approach is a framework can be applied across any service, from housing support to therapy, and helps prevent re-traumatisation. Practitioners who apply this approach have an understanding of how trauma impacts the brain and nervous system, and how these effects can influence behaviour in ways that might be misunderstood or perceived negatively by someone who isn’t trauma-informed.
Key elements of trauma-informed practice include:
Safety: Creating an environment that feels physically, emotionally, and psychologically safe.
Transparency: Explaining processes and decisions clearly.
Collaboration: Working alongside clients to empower them in decision-making.
Empowerment and Choice: Helping clients regain a sense of control often lost through trauma.
Cultural Awareness and Intersectionality: Recognising that trauma is experienced differently depending on social and cultural context, as well as multiple aspects of a person's identity- eg race, gender, sexuality, disability, or socioeconomic status.
Being trauma-informed means the counsellor also understands the potential for re-traumatisation and actively works to prevent it. This approach can be applied across services, not just in therapy, to benefit anyone who may have experienced trauma (GOV.UK, n.d.).
Trauma Therapy
Trauma therapy, on the other hand, involves specialised interventions for those directly experiencing or recovering from traumatic events. It can help manage intense emotional reactions, intrusive memories, and symptoms of PTSD or complex trauma. (Cook & Newman, 2014; Forbes et al., 2010).
Trauma therapists receive specialised training to safely guide clients through deeper processing of trauma, using evidence-based methods such as...
Trauma-Focused CBT: Helps clients understand and reframe thoughts and beliefs related to trauma.
EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing): Helps the brain process traumatic memories safely.
Internal Family Systems (IFS): Works with different parts of the self, especially wounded or protective parts, to resolve internal conflict and access the core Self.
Somatic and body-focused therapies: Support regulation of physiological responses to trauma.
Exploring different types of therapy can help you find the method that feels right for you. Asking questions, doing your own research, and discussing choices with a qualified therapist ensures the therapy you choose matches your comfort, goals, and the type of trauma you’ve experienced.
Why the Distinction Matters
Knowing the difference helps you understand the kind of support you’re receiving:
Trauma-Informed Counselling: Creates a safe environment, supports self-regulation, and helps clients access resources.
Trauma Therapy: Actively works with trauma symptoms, helping people process past experiences and build resilience.
Even if you aren’t ready for trauma therapy, trauma-informed counselling can be incredibly healing- it can validate your experiences, help rebuild trust, and prepare you for any specialised treatment if needed. However, it’s important to recognise that for those with severe or complex trauma, it may not always be the safest starting point, and more specialist trauma therapy might be needed at the outset to ensure stability and safety.
Why a Trauma Therapist Can Be Important
While a trauma-informed counsellor can help you feel safe, understand your experiences, and develop coping strategies, a trauma therapist offers a more specialised approach for those experiencing PTSD or complex trauma. Trauma therapists provide a structured and safe space to explore deeper, often distressing experiences, while helping you manage intense emotions that may arise during sessions.
Even if you’re already seeing a counsellor, knowing when a trauma therapist might be needed can be an important part of your recovery. It helps ensure the support you receive matches what your nervous system and emotional wellbeing require. Combining trauma-informed counselling with specialist therapy when appropriate creates a pathway that prioritises safety, understanding, and long-term healing.
Creating a Safe and Supportive Experience
When seeking support:
Choose services or practitioners who prioritise safety, transparency, and collaboration.
Ensure your boundaries are respected, and you feel in control of your pace. A safe practitioner will not invalidate or minimise your experiences, encourage you to push your trauma away or rush your healing. They will work within the limits of their training and expertise and will refer or signpost you to specialist support when needed.
Ask about additional resources, such as specialist therapy, support groups, or self-care strategies.
Receiving support for trauma is often most effective when it’s holistic, because trauma can affect us in many different ways. This can mean engaging in different forms of therapy over time, joining support groups, and building a safe care practice and a community that understands your specific experience. Recovery is often a staged process, and taking it step by step can help create lasting healing.
Comments