Karin Sephton Psychoanalytic Psychotherapist

Karin Sephton

Analytic and dynamic Psychotherapist and Counsellor, specialising in resolving Trauma

Fremantle and Margaret River, Western Australia

worldwide via Skype

As well as practising analytical and dynamic 'talking therapy', counselling people on longer - and shorter term basis since 30 years, I have also specialised in effective therapeutic intervention for trauma. I feel passionate about assisting people to achieve positive life changes and gain lasting relief from lifelong pain and trauma.

If you feel that yesterday’s trauma and today’s anxiety and depression are ruling your life, I can assist you to overcome all these symptoms, quickly and safely, AND without drugs.

About Karin

Using modalities like TRTP and EMDR, changed my understanding of effective therapeutic intervention, especially for trauma.

I am a certified TRTP Practitioner of ‘The Richards Trauma Process’. This allows me to work specifically with trauma and stress-related issues.

I have been practising as a Psychotherapist and Counsellor for more than 30 years, but I also have extensive experience as a  body-oriented somatic therapist in private and public practice.

I strongly believe that a therapist can work better with the suffering and distress of others not only through professional and ongoing theoretical training, but also with a true knowledge of themselves.

I live in Margaret River and I work in Fremantle and Margaret River or via skype anywhere in the world.

I speak English and German

Qualifications & Education

• 
  
  Certified TRTP Practitioner


• 
  
  Advanced Diploma of Psychotherapy


• 
  
  Clinical Member: - Psychotherapy and Counsellors of WA (PACAWA)


• 
  
  Clinical Member: – Psychotherapy and Counsellor Federation Australia (PACFA) Membership 21219


• 
  
  Advanced Diploma Rebalancing (somatic therapy)

What is trauma?

Trauma can result from a major traumatic or life threatening event – or from prolonged stressful times, which have often occurred in our childhoods, or later in life.

Trauma lives in our unconscious and our body.

If a ‘normal’ person experiences a life threatening or stressful event they release stress hormones – and experience the Fight/Flight or Freeze mode. But after the event they can self-regulate and return to calm.

If a ‘traumatised’ or stressed person experiences those events, they can get stuck in the Fight/Flight or Freeze mode. Here is why:

When there is a traumatic or stressful event, the body produces stress hormones like adrenaline etc. Adrenaline causes your heart rate to increase and diverts most of the circulation away from your major organs to your larger muscle groups in our arms and legs. This allows us to fight, flee or freeze.

Adrenaline causes our Amygdala to fire up (the part of the brain responsible for the response and memory of emotions, especially fear). It shuts down our frontal lobe function, which blocks off our logical thought processes. We act on ‘instinct’ and the ‘older’ part of our brain takes over.

During a traumatic event or period of extreme stress the Hippocampus (the part of brain responsible for processing long term memory and emotional responses) gets overloaded with stress hormones. It has difficulty taking that event or period of stress into the past, into last week, last month or last year. Therefore, if we are triggered by an event – as far as the body and the unconscious are concerned – it is happening now: -“He is coming for me now, the fire is coming now”, and so on.

So the Hippocampus can’t make the event a memory, it is as if there is a 24 hour , 7-day a week movie running in the unconscious and in the body telling us – ‘it is happening now’.

Consciously the person knows that the event is long past, but the body continues to respond as if it is happening now. So we get stuck in Fight /Flight/ Freeze mode.

In our everyday life we experience this in difficulties as sleeplessness, nightmares, racing heart – and every little thing can trigger the Fight/Flight/Freeze response: “it is happening now!”

There are feelings of depression, anxiety, stress, exhaustion and ‘my brain doesn’t work, I can’t think’. There are also gut and other body problems, heightened startled reflex, jumping at shadows … and there can be unbridled rage!

This is called PTSD – post traumatic stress disorder. The Fight/Flight/Freeze button remains switched on. But not everybody needs to experience PTSD to be impacted by Trauma.

Anxiety, panic attacks, self-sabotaging, addiction, OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder), or shutting down as in depression are all symptoms of trauma or stressful periods.

The Richards Trauma Process - TRTP – the 3-4 sessions

Our inner world is often very difficult for us to deal with.

And it can feel nearly impossible to share those feelings with anyone, even those closest to us.

TRTP is a dynamic, rich and sequenced series of steps, uniquely designed to each client’s needs.

The first meeting is an optional complimentary ½ hour session. This is a chance for us to meet, discuss the process more and any accompanying sessions, and to explore your special individual  needs.

We use Hypnosis or 'focused attention' in all 3-4 sessions. 'Focused attention' is nothing more than ‘imagining’ such as when you bite into a lemon and allow yourself to imagine the feeling of the bite and the taste of the lemon. Focused attention happens all the time in our lives – you are ‘in hypnosis’ when you are spacing out while watching TV. That’s why advertisement works: it slides into your unconscious. Similarly, we use hypnosis – to talk to your unconscious.

session 1

You are changing your underlying negative unconscious core beliefs and you will be introduced to the truth of who you really are:

Everyone takes on negative unconscious core beliefs: these are ideas about us and our world and often begin before birth and continue throughout childhood. During those years we are like sponges, picking up other people’s ideas about who we are. Some of these limiting beliefs can be:

• I don’t matter,


• I am not loveable,


• I am a nuisance,


• It’s all my fault


• I am stupid,


• I don’t belong,


• I shouldn’t be here


• It’s not safe to be here, and so on…

These ideas lodge in our unconscious mind. They keep us locked in patterns of thought, emotion and behaviour and form the foundation of our lives. In order to work with trauma you can change those negative unconscious core beliefs into positive ones and will be introduced to your authentic self.

session 2

You are going to take the emotional charge and pain out of your past, and move into a place of empowerment in relation to the trauma. You won’t only address the symptoms of the trauma or stresses, but also the underlying causes.

We are using hypnosis to speak directly to your unconscious and the body. You are moved from being stuck in a flight/fight/freeze mode to an empowered self. You move from not feeling safe to: “I am safe now. It’s over”. Calm returns, the memory of the trauma is placed in the past. The nervous system is calmed and the symptoms cease.

session 3

You are creating the future. You will be able to see the future without the limiting past. It’s over, and you are safe now and can plan the future

You are NOT locked in to your past.  You can grow and live your life in the direction you want and truly leave the past behind.

Psychotherapy & Counselling Services in Fremantle and Margaret River

Counselling and Psychotherapy are professional services that support people to develop a better understanding of themselves and others, address life difficulties and make the changes they want in their lives.

Issues emerging in ourselves, our relationships, at work or ‘just living our lives’ can improve from reflection, inquiry and professional discussion.

It can be a liberating experience to open up our private dialogues and bring in another perspective, which in turn can open new ways to look at ourselves. At the heart of the therapeutic work undertaken together, clients discover a stronger sense of identity, personal responsibility, self worth and empowerment, which once triggered or remembered, inevitably can lead to the fulfilment in a wide range of personal goals.

My therapeutic approach is to provide a supportive and non-judgemental atmosphere in which you feel safe to explore and resolve their present difficulties. It is a process of inquiry into your thinking and feelings, believing that you have within you some hidden wisdom about the causes and solutions to your sufferings.

My role in this process is to hold and contain you during the process of unravelling, while at the same time guiding and supporting you to access – your own understandings and insights. There is no magic wand or quick fixes – but there is a way to resolve and make sense of emotional pain and distress – so you can manage life better.

For some people it might take only a few sessions to bring relief.

However, I have found from experience that for others most problems are driven by conscious and unconscious unresolved issues stretching back to childhood. These are often intensified by life, work – or relationship issues. For these people the process can be a more transformative experience, which takes more time.

Karin Sephton. Psychotherapist Fremantle, welcomes all – adults, teenagers & couples – for consultations about:

• Anxiety


• Depression


• Anger


• Grief


• Trauma, stress and stress management


• Addiction


• Self-esteem and shyness


• Making and maintaining close relationships


• The quest to live life more fully

Fees & Appointments

TRTP and specialised Trauma work

The process consists of 3-4 sessions, of at least 2 hrs per session.

Each session is uniquely tailored to individual needs.

The whole process takes 3-4 weeks to complete.

The first ½ hour appointment is complementary.

The fee per session for the process is $250.

However, all concerns regarding payment are discussed.

This process is not re-traumatising and completely confidential.

Fees & Appointments

Psychotherapy

Karin offers a free ½ hour consultation  to discuss your personal circumstances.

The standard fee charged for each session is $120. However, all concerns regarding payment are discussed.

A session lasts about 50 Minutes. Please give 24 hours notice of cancellation or a fee for your missed session will be charged.

The sessions are highly confidential.

Contact Karin Sephton

Psychotherapist and specialising in Trauma work

You can contact me via email on karinageha@gmail.com or by calling me on 0409 298 727.