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TRAUMA therapy on the sunshine coast

Trauma can affect your thoughts, emotions, body, relationships, and sense of safety in the world. Trauma isn’t caused by an event alone but also by how the nervous system processes it, and even subtle triggers can keep the body feeling “stuck” in survival mode.

What is TRAUMA?

Trauma is the emotional and psychological response to a deeply distressing or disturbing event that overwhelms a person’s ability to cope. This can include events like accidents, natural disasters, assault, abuse, combat, sudden loss, or repeated adverse experiences over time.

Not everyone who experiences a traumatic event develops long-lasting difficulties — some people naturally recover, while others may develop symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) or other trauma-related conditions. Trauma can affect your thoughts, emotions, body, relationships, and sense of safety in the world.

WHAT CAUSES TRAUMA?

Trauma doesn’t come from the event alone, but also from how the nervous system perceives and processes the experience.

Factors that can contribute include:

  • The severity and duration of the event

  • Early childhood adversity

  • Prior mental health difficulties

  • Lack of social support afterwards

  • Repeated or chronic trauma (e.g., ongoing abuse)

Trauma can also occur indirectly — for example, through witnessing harm to others, learning about a loved one’s trauma, or through vicarious trauma in caregiving roles.

WHAT HELPS REDUCE TRAUMA?

The good news is that trauma symptoms are highly treatable, and many people recover with the right support.

Evidence-based therapies include:

  • Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (TF-CBT): Helps reframe unhelpful thoughts and safely process memories.

  • Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR): Uses bilateral stimulation to help the brain reprocess traumatic memories.

  • Prolonged Exposure Therapy: Gently and gradually helps reduce fear by facing traumatic memories and avoided situations in a safe, supportive way.

WHAT’S THE NEXT STEP?

Talk to your doctor about how you are feeling. They can write you a Mental Health Care Plan to see a psychologist for trauma-focused therapy.

  • Connect with a psychologist and start trauma-focused therapy.

  • Practise body calming strategies, such as controlled breathing, mindfulness, and grounding techniques.

  • Move your body, rest well, and avoid drugs and alcohol.

  • Stay connected to trusted friends, family, or support groups.

  • Be patient — healing takes time. Even small actions, like attending your first session or taking a walk, are meaningful steps forward.

Did You Know?

You don’t have to talk about all the details to heal — some therapies focus on how the trauma lives in your body and mind today, not on re-telling the story.

  • Triggers can be subtle — a smell, a tone of voice, a season — and can set off a strong reaction even if you can’t pinpoint why.

  • Trauma can show up in ways you don’t expect — like feeling irritable, chronically tired, overly “busy,” or emotionally numb — as your nervous system tries to protect you from feeling unsafe.

  • Sometimes “numbness” is protection. Emotional or physical numbness is your body’s way of shielding you until you’re ready to feel and process.

  • Certain body-based therapies (like gentle stretching, breathwork, or other mindful movement) can help when words aren’t enough. The body often needs to release what it’s holding onto.

MORE INFORMATION FROM LEADING ORGANISATIONS

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What’s the Next Step?

• Talk to your doctor about how you are feeling. They can write you a Mental Health Care Plan to see a psychologist for trauma-focused therapy.

  • Connect with a psychologist and start trauma-focused therapy.

  • Support your body — move it, rest well, and avoid drugs and alcohol.

  • Stay connected to trusted friends, family, and/or support groups.

  • Be patient — healing takes time. Even small actions, like attending your first session or taking a walk, are meaningful steps forward.

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our team

you’re in good hands

Our team of psychologists are highly trained and qualified to support you on your well-being journey. Each psychologist holds at least a master’s degree and is committed to ongoing professional development, ensuring the highest standard of care. Beyond their professional skills, they are genuinely wonderful individuals who love what they do, creating a warm and welcoming environment for all.

Laura Scherman

Principal Clinical Psychologist

  • BPsychSc (Hons), MPsych(Clin), MAPS

    Founder and Director of Full Life Psychology, Laura leads a unified, skilled team of compassionate therapists dedicated to helping people live a meaningful and FULL LIFE.

    In her own clinical work, Laura values building strong therapeutic relationships with her clients and creates a warm, nurturing, and respectful space where people feel safe to freely talk through the challenges they are facing and to learn ways to better navigate them. Laura wants her clients to feel seen and heard and to know that they matter. Evidence-based therapies Laura uses include Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Schema Therapy, and more recently, Eye Movement Desentisation and Reprocessing (EMDR) Therapy. Laura works with clients aged 16 and up and has supported people from diverse backgrounds, such as working professionals, students, pastors and leaders, retirees, police officers, new parents, and more, always respecting their personal values and goals.

    Areas of interest include:

    • Anxiety

    • Self-worth

    • Burnout

    • Adjustment issues

    • Resolving historical behaviour patterns

    • Women’s mental health

    • Health in leadership

    • Faith and psychology

    Laura has experience presenting to groups of people in various educational and church settings.  She lives on the Sunshine Coast with her husband and two children, and in her free time enjoys conversations with loved ones, creativity, traveling, and new experiences.

DR ALEXANDRA LAMONT

CLINICAL Psychologist

  • B.SC(HONS), DPSYCH(CLIN), GCADS, MAPS, FCCLP

    Alex is a compassionate and empathetic clinical psychologist dedicated to supporting clients build self-awareness and foster hope, empowering them to lead more fulfilling lives despite the challenges they face. Alex employs evidence-based therapies such as CBT, ACT, Schema Therapy, Prolonged Exposure, and EMDR to help clients aged 18 years and older achieve their goals. She supports individuals dealing with depression, trauma/PTSD, anxiety, grief and loss, substance use, and interpersonal challenges. 

    Having done a stint in the Australian Army as a military psychologist, Alex has a keen interest in working with veterans. After moving to Australia from Zimbabwe/Botswana over 20 years ago, she understands the cultural challenges of relocation and loves connecting with people from diverse backgrounds and spiritual beliefs. Before becoming a psychologist, Alex trained as a nurse and midwife in South Africa, grounding her in a holistic understanding of care. She is an avid traveller, a bookworm, a Tour de France fan and has run a marathon or two in her time.

    Key interest areas:

    • Trauma

    • Veterans

    • ADHD adult assessments

    • Anxiety

    • Depression

    • Stress and burnout

    • Faith and psychology

KERRIN VAN DER KRUK

Psychologist

  • BA(PSYCH), BPSYCH(HONS), MPROFPSYCH, MAAPI

    Kerrin is a friendly, supportive and passionate psychologist with a Masters in Professional Psychology.  Kerrin draws on her own life skills from raising a large family, to create a relaxed, safe space for her clients to explore their challenges in a compassionate and uplifting atmosphere. She works together with her clients, drawing upon their own strengths, to help them take courageous steps forward towards achieving their goals and living the life that they want to live. She enjoys assisting her clients in developing more awareness of their unique patterns of behavioural responses, to identify the impact these responses have on their life, and to better equip clients to engage in more helpful behaviours which improve their outcomes.

    Kerrin offers both individual and couples therapy. When meeting with couples, Kerrin works from an Emotional Focused Therapy and Schema Therapy framework to help clients better understand their relationship patterns of interactions and gently guides them in a way to restore connection and promote resilience in their relationship.

    Kerrin has worked with people from a variety of backgrounds across the life span, in both private practice and government settings and now works predominately with people over the age of 15. She is skilled in a variety of evidenced-based therapies which she tailors to each situation, including Schema Therapy, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), and Emotionally Focused Therapy. Kerrin is also trained in trauma focused therapies such as Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR) Therapy, and trauma-focused Cognitive and Behavioural Therapies (CBT).

    Her areas of interest include:

    • Relationships and marriage health

    • Attachment and personality difficulties

    • PTSD and complex trauma

    • Sleep/awake difficulties

    • Emotional regulation difficulties, suicidal thoughts, and self-harm

    • Depression, grief and adjustment challenges

    • Anxiety and panic symptoms

    • Anger, stress and burnout

    • Addictions and substance misuse

    • Life transitions and stuck points