Rob Wills Counselling and Trauma Therapy
in Edinburgh and Online

Trauma Therapy

Below is some more information about the Neuro Affective Relational Model (NARM) and Somatic Experiencing (SE). I use either or both of these modalities alongside my counselling work to address all categories of trauma, including:

  • Pre- and peri-natal, e.g. fetal distress, birth trauma, early surgeries
  • Medical, e.g. surgery and anesthesia
  • High impact and failure of physical defence, e.g. falls and car accidents
  • Inescapable attack
  • Sexual trauma
  • High Fevers
  • Suffocation
  • Choking
  • Drowning
  • Physical injury, e.g. poisoning and burns
  • Natural and man-made disasters: e.g. horror, torture, ritual abuse and war
  • Developmental e.g. childhood abuse and neglect



The Neuro Affective Relational Model (NARM) and Complex Trauma

NARM is a method of psychotherapy specifically aimed at treating attachment, relational and developmental trauma, otherwise referred to as “Complex Trauma” (C-PTSD). It integrates top-down (talking) psychotherapy with somatic approaches, all within a relational context. NARM holds that while what happened in the past is significant, it is not the past itself that creates the difficult symptoms experienced in the present. Instead it is the persistence of "survival styles", learned in childhood and essential for survival at the time, that are still operating in the here and now. These survival styles distort the present moment and create suffering, often in the form of ongoing disconnection from our authentic self and from others. NARM works specifically with the core themes of identity distortion and physiological dysregulation in order to help restore the capacity for connection and regulation.


Somatic Experiencing (SE)

SE is a short-term naturalistic approach to the renegotiation and resolution of post-traumatic stress reactions. It holds that we each have innate mechanisms, shared with other mammals, that can regulate and neutralise the high levels of arousal associated with our defensive survival behaviours. SE normalises the symptoms of trauma, which are expressions of the aroused state, and offers the steps needed to resolve them. By developing an awareness of body sensations, whilst also cultivating a sense of safety and groundedness, you can access these restorative physiological action patterns and allow the highly aroused survival energies to be safely and gradually renegotiated and neutralised.

SE holds that emotional and psychological trauma is the result of extraordinarily stressful events that disrupt our normal sense of safety and security. Traumatic experiences can often involve a threat to life but any situation that leaves us feeling overwhelmed and isolated can be traumatic. It is not always the objective facts of the experience that determine whether an event is traumatic but rather our subjective response and emotional reactions to the event. SE sees traumatic symptoms as not arising from the event itself. Instead they are viewed as the result of residual energy from the experience that is not fully ‘discharged’ from the body that remains ‘trapped’ in the nervous system causing ongoing distress and discomfort.


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