What is My New Therapy Model: Integrated Trauma Therapy?
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I have been studying psychology and different models of psychotherapy for over 30 years. I was introduced to my first model, psychosynthesis, by a lovely, kind counsellor called Huli who helped me through my overwhelming grief at the traumatic loss of my father, aged just 25. This was, without doubt, the worst thing that has ever happened to me. My dad was a complicated, tricky man in some ways, but I loved him deeply and his loss was impossible to process. I just didn’t know how to grieve and was stuck in a horrible, frozen grief for what felt like an eternity.
That led me to seek counselling – something I had never even considered before – and it helped me get defrosted inside, so I could release all that pain and sadness that had been locked away in my heart. That time was doubly hard because I had been living in Asia for two years after university, so arrived home to a paralysing mix of grief, culture shock and confusion about what to do with my life. Towards the end of our work together, Huli asked if I had ever thought of being a counsellor. I had not, but people always told me I was a good listener and our work had helped me so much, I was intrigued.
I took a few introductory courses and then did a three-year counselling training in psychosynthesis from 1994-7. Although I wasn’t ready to start working as a counsellor (I took a long detour into journalism first), I eventually retrained and have now spent 15 years in private practice. My long and winding journey has encompassed many different models of therapy: psychosynthesis, integrative counselling & psychotherapy, CBT, trauma-informed stabilisation treatment, compassion-focused therapy, mindful self-compassion, somatic therapies, schema therapy and internal family systems. I am a long-term meditator and student of Buddhism, so I also weave in the rich, 2,500-year-old wisdom of Buddhist psychology into my work with clients.
I took a deep dive into some of these therapy models and love them all, in different ways. But rather than seeing any one of them as The Truth, my brain likes to integrate, weave together, create a rich, healing stew that draws on the best each model has to offer. I have always been baffled by people who say that this or that model is the best, and superior to all other approaches. That has never made sense to me – every way of understanding and healing the human mind and body has something wonderful to offer, so why not draw from the best of each?
What is integrated trauma therapy?
My new model also emerged organically from writing my new self-help book, on healing childhood trauma, due to be published in June 2026. Writing a book is a great way to focus the mind and explore questions like: What do I believe about therapy? What has helped my clients the most? What seems like a good idea but doesn’t work well in practice? How can you weave different strands together so it’s coherent and not confusing, with clear goals but also flexible enough to fit each individual, rather than a rigid, one-size-fits-all approach?
In researching my self-help book I read hundreds of books, academic papers and imbibed countless other forms of knowledge and wisdom. It seemed a natural process for me to integrate the best of all these wonderful ideas into something uniquely my own. And so integrated trauma therapy (ITT) was born. It’s important to note here that I think all of the models listed above are powerful, highly effective treatment modalities in their own right. Many of my colleagues offer their clients pure versions of, say, schema therapy or IFS. And these people are kind, compassionate, highly skilled clinicians, so their clients get huge benefit from the therapy.
I’m not saying ITT is in any way superior to these models, it’s just the way my restless, quirky brain works. And it’s what I have offered hundreds of clients over the years, who seem to love integrated trauma therapy and find it comforting, enlightening and, most importantly, healing. Here are three key principles of my model:
Trauma and neglect are at the root of all psychological problems. As someone who specialises in complex trauma, I have come to understand that all psychological problems have trauma and/or neglect at their root. Some of my clients have truly awful trauma histories, coming from families that were unbelievably cruel, highly neglectful or dysfunctional and chaotic. Treating them without understanding trauma would be like trying to heal a broken leg without X-rays or a plaster cast, it just wouldn’t work.
But we now know from decades of research that what is called ‘small t’ trauma is far more pervasive than previously thought. You experienced small t trauma if you were bullied at school, experienced consistent racism or homophobia as a child or teen, grew up in a high-conflict family, had parents who had severe mental-health problems or substance-abuse issues, were forced to move home or school many times as a child, had chronic health problems or multiple surgeries… The list of experiences that can be traumatic for children is a long one, because kids are so sensitive and have underdeveloped minds, brains, nervous systems and ways of coping with adversity. What is merely painful for an adult can be traumatic for a child.
Your nervous system needs regulating. In recent years, we have seen a proliferation of wonderful somatic therapies like somatic experiencing, sensorimotor psychotherapy and polyvagal-informed therapy. These approaches start from the premise that trauma profoundly affects every aspect of your mind-body system, especially your nervous system. If you are highly stressed, anxious, agitated or angry, your sympathetic nervous system is overactive, linked to the fight-or-flight response in your brain. That’s why somatic therapies often focus on activating your vagus nerve, which forms the parasympathetic nervous system. This is involved in many functions within your body, but is also involved in feeling calm, safe, peaceful and at ease.
To help regulate your poor, frazzled nervous system, ITT involves a number of somatic practices, with a particular focus on breathwork and guided imagery, to help you feel calm, safe and grounded. I initially recorded these practices for my clients on Insight Timer, but my collection has grown in size and popularity so many thousands of people worldwide have now benefited from my practices and meditations. This fills me with joy, because my life goal is to help as many people heal their trauma as possible.
If you have experienced trauma, learning some simple, effective ways to help yourself when you are in ‘hyperaroused’ emotional states like being stressed, anxious or angry, or ‘hypoaroused’ states like sadness, grief, shame or depression, is non-negotiable.
Your self is multiple, not singular. All cutting-edge therapies now embrace the idea of ‘multiplicity of self’, meaning your mind is made up of many different parts, modes, subpersonalities or whichever word is chosen to describe the different aspects of your psyche. As I explain in my book, this is far from a new idea – Freud’s model of psychoanalysis was based on the notion of three aspects of the psyche – the ego, superego and id – in dynamic relationship with each other. Freud’s student-turned-rival Jung coined the term ‘inner child’. This idea – that there are different parts of us in some kind of complex, inner relationship – has been explored for over a century.
But as trauma-informed models like schema therapy and IFS began to proliferate in the 1980s and 90s, we gained powerful new ways of working with parts like the Inner Critic, Worrier, Perfectionist, Soother and Inner Child. Whichever flavour of therapy you choose, it’s crucial to work with these different aspects of yourself, especially if you have experienced trauma. Otherwise you and your therapist will run into mysterious blocks and obstacles which might be termed resistance or avoidance, but are really just protective parts blocking progress because they feel sidelined and ignored. Integrative trauma therapy is a parts-based model and everything I do with my clients flows from this premise. They seem to love it and find it deeply healing, which is wonderful.
I will share more about my new approach over time, but I hope that was an interesting and helpful introduction for you. And if you are struggling right now, for any reason, sending love and strength from my heart to yours.
Love,
Dan ❤️
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