Complex trauma is not a sign that something is wrong with you. It's a sign your nervous system adapted to survive chronic stress, a lack of safety, and relational wounding.
This is why, from a somatic and emotional perspective, we don’t try to get rid of the patterns complex trauma created. Instead, we focus on helping the nervous system feel safe enough to move beyond survival.
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Most conventional ways of addressing complex trauma treat it as something to fix or erase.
But what if we saw complex trauma not as who you are, but as your body's natural responses to an environment that once felt unsafe?
Because neuroscience shows us that the nervous system adapts and organizes itself around the circumstances it grew up in.
From a somatic and emotional perspective, the healing complex trauma requires gently befriending the survival patterns your body created.
To notice them without shame.
To create inner safety for your body to alchemise stored trauma energy into life-force energy.
If you’re curious and want to explore a radically compassionate approach to supporting your body metabolising the imprint of complex trauma, join my upcoming workshop and learn science and tools that can help your body transform these survival responses into pathways of healing.
"Effie helped me get to the core of my problem, gave me tools to transcend it, and techniques to help me feel and release emotions I used to shut down out of fear. She helped me feel ‘whole’ again. To anyone thinking of working with Effie, I'd say do yourself a favour and do it. She's been incredibly helpful to me and I will always be grateful the universe sent her my way."
Dave Cooke
Complex trauma lives not just in your thoughts, but in your physiology and emotional energy.
This is why trying to resolve it only through cognitive methods, like talk therapy, often isn't enough.
Understanding the somatics and energetics of your nervous system, and how to work with your body and emotional energy, can be pivotal in healing the imprint of complex trauma.
As Your physiology shifts and your emotional energy goes from stuck and fragmented to flowing more freely inside your body, your nervous system no longer ‘needs’ to stay locked in survival.
If you wish to learn the principles of somatics and energetics of complex trauma to support your healing, don’t miss my workshop, The Somatics and Energetics of Complex Trauma.
This workshop can open a door to a new healing paradigm that honours the whole of you.
This workshop is for you if you experience ANY of the following:
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Feeling stuck in cycles of dysregulation
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Difficulty trusting others or forming secure relationships
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Fear of intimacy or fear of abandonment
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Chronic hypervigilance or feeling constantly "on edge"
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Feeling emotionally numb or disconnected from your body
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Long term patterns of self-blame, shame, or inner criticism
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Difficulty making decisions, overthinking, or mental confusion
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Collapsing under stress or feeling like life is "too much"
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Chronic fatigue or burnout from living in survival mode
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Heightened startle responses, sleep issues, or ongoing stress-related symptoms
"Working somatically with Effie helped me be more familiar with the sensations in my body and be comfortable to sit with my feelings. I've struggled with urgency and I'm now able to notice when my body is in the fight or flight, and to ground myself. Effie also helped me realize how my core wounds are playing out in my life, and I'm better able to notice when I'm acting out of a wound. My skin has also cleared over the months after working on my trauma, which was unexpected but now makes sense since I was always in fight or flight and never gave my body a chance to relax. Working with Effie was so beneficial and in the end I noticed huge improvements in my mental health."
Allie Westrup
More specifically you'll learn:
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What trauma energy is and how it becomes stored in the body through complex trauma
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The difference between trauma energy that keeps you stuck and life-force energy that brings vitality
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The relationship between your physiology and emotional energy, and how this becomes disrupted by long-term trauma
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The core somatic and energetic patterns of complex trauma and what this means for healing
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The somatic mechanics of transforming trauma energy into life-force energy
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How to use the signals of complex trauma as guides for trauma healing and nervous system regulation
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Why self-attunement is essential in trauma healing and how to develop it
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How to cultivate an embodied sense of safety to support the healing of complex trauma
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Polyvagal Theory tools to help naturally metabolise repressed trauma and emotional energy
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A model for sustainable somatic and energetic processing in daily life
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Somatic Experiencing safety principles for the effectively releasing trauma energy
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FOUR somatic exercises to support the processing of trauma and repressed emotional energy
"Your guidance has helped me immensely. I feel that my mental and emotional state has improved a lot, and it happened in the best moment in my life. In certain ways my whole mindset shifted and I learnt a new approach. It works! I'll be using the methods you taught us."
Szilvia Frank
"Effie's course has been life changing for me. I decided to join because of her philosophy, her story and because I felt that she'd 'get' me. She broke down complex information so it was understandable, gave me tools to support myself with my cPTSD, anxiety and depression, and she offered persistent and reliable guidance. There has been such a transformation for me and I'm in a totally difference place compared to where I was before."
Corina Ebnother
Join me for the 3-hour workshop.
9 October, 2025. 6pm BST / 1pm EST / 10am PST
Replay will also be available.
Register HereWhat previous workshop participants say...
Overwhelming in a very good way!
Anonymous
"A very deep and informative workshop."
Anonymous
About me
What’s led me to what I do today is a story that started when I was 10 and experienced trauma that involved family loss and mental dis-ease. Back then the stigma of mental health was even worse than it is today and, as a result, I spent my childhood feeling a lot of shame. This painful experience motivated me as an adult woman to go on a path to figure out how people can heal and live good lives after trauma.
It's come as no surprise that I've become a trauma educator and somatic coach supporting people privately and in groups. I have been trained in Dr. Gabor Maté's somatic-based psychotherapeutic approach, as a Mental Health and High Performance Coach and, I'm also currently training in Somatic Experiencing.
Through my studies and training, my work with hundreds of clients privately and in a group setting, and my personal transformation journey, I've seen again and again that with the right tools, guidance and community we can recover from trauma, feel better and live better.
I’m also a corporate trainer having run workshops on resilience, mental health and performance for organisations such as NatWest and The Centre for Entrepreneurs.
What nourishes me is the sun, the sea and meaningful conversations with friends. I hate small talk and I'm fascinated by people's life stories. In my free time, I love writing poetry and fiction, and travelling.
