Understanding Your Journey at First Response Counselling

At First Response Counselling, our role as counsellors is to help you understand, process, and express your feelings in a safe, supportive environment. Through therapy, we work collaboratively with you to develop a clear path forward, helping you achieve your personal goals and regain a sense of balance and control in your life.

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We see you as a person with a unique story—not a label. You are invited to share what is happening in your life and how it is affecting you, in a warm, friendly, and non-judgemental space. To support this process, we use evidence-based techniques tailored to your needs, including Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR), Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT), and Mindfulness.

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Trauma & PTSD – Understanding, Support, and Outcomes

Trauma can take many forms, from single events to ongoing or complex experiences. Everyday life can feel disrupted by symptoms such as:

• Intrusive memories, flashbacks, or nightmares

• Emotional numbing or detachment

• Hypervigilance, irritability, or sudden anger

• Difficulty trusting others or forming relationships

• Dissociation or feeling disconnected from yourself

• Avoidance of reminders of trauma

At First Response Counselling, we specialise in trauma-informed care to help you:

• Reduce intrusive memories and flashbacks

• Restore emotional stability and resilience

• Improve relationships and trust

• Develop coping skills to manage anxiety, hypervigilance, and dissociation

• Build confidence, self-compassion, and a sense of safety

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Our trauma-focused therapies—EMDR, DBT, ACT, Schema Therapy, and Mindfulness—are applied in practical, structured ways. Therapy may include techniques for grounding, emotion regulation, cognitive restructuring, and processing traumatic memories, with clear steps toward measurable progress.

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