Childhood trauma and complex PTSD can continue to shape how you feel, relate and respond long after the original experiences have passed. You may understand intellectually that you are safe now, yet still experience anxiety, shame, emotional overwhelm, shutdown or intense reactions in relationships.
I’m Jennifer Nurick, a Master’s-qualified Clinical Psychotherapist and trauma therapist with 21 years’ experience. I offer online childhood trauma and complex PTSD therapy to adults across Australia and internationally.
My approach integrates Internal Family Systems (IFS), EMDR, somatic psychotherapy, attachment-based therapy and trauma-informed relational work. Together, we gently explore the wounds and protective responses formed through earlier experiences, helping you develop greater self-understanding, compassion and choice.
What Is Childhood Trauma?
Childhood trauma develops when experiences overwhelm a child’s capacity to feel safe, supported and understood. It may involve abuse, neglect, loss or violence, but it can also arise through experiences that are less visible.
These may include:
- Emotional neglect or a lack of warmth and responsiveness
- Living with conflict, coercive control or unpredictability
- Having a parent who was emotionally unavailable or overwhelmed
- Being criticised, shamed, bullied or frequently compared
- Taking responsibility for other people’s emotions
- Growing up around addiction, mental illness or family instability
- Experiencing separation, abandonment or significant loss
- Feeling unable to express your needs, emotions or authentic self
- Having to become independent or emotionally mature too early
Children often adapt by becoming highly alert, pleasing others, suppressing emotions, withdrawing or disconnecting from their needs. These responses can be intelligent forms of protection at the time, even when they create difficulties later.
What Is Complex PTSD?
Complex post-traumatic stress disorder, often called complex PTSD or CPTSD, is associated with prolonged or repeated trauma, particularly when escape, protection or emotional support were limited.
Alongside trauma-related symptoms, complex PTSD can affect emotional regulation, self-worth and relationships. You may experience:
- Emotional flashbacks or reactions that feel much younger than your current age
- Persistent shame, guilt or a sense of being fundamentally flawed
- Hypervigilance and difficulty relaxing
- Emotional numbness, shutdown or dissociation
- Difficulty trusting other people
- Fear of rejection, abandonment or intimacy
- People-pleasing, perfectionism or over-responsibility
- Harsh self-criticism
- Confusion about your needs, identity or boundaries
- Repeating painful relationship patterns
Not everyone who has experienced childhood trauma has complex PTSD. A formal label is not required for therapy to help you understand and work with the effects of your experiences.
How Can Childhood Trauma Affect Adult Relationships?
Early relationships help shape your expectations of closeness, safety, trust and emotional responsiveness.
If love or attention felt inconsistent, you may become anxious when another person seems distant. If your needs were ignored, criticised or overwhelming to others, you may learn to suppress them and rely only on yourself. If closeness was both comforting and frightening, you may alternate between longing for connection and pushing it away.
These patterns can appear as anxious, avoidant or disorganised attachment. You may overanalyse messages, seek reassurance, choose unavailable partners, struggle to set boundaries or withdraw when intimacy becomes intense.
Trauma therapy helps you understand these patterns as protective adaptations rather than personal failures. You can learn more about this connection on my Attachment Therapy page.
What Does Trauma Therapy Involve?
Trauma therapy should be paced according to your needs and capacity. The first stage often involves building safety, trust and stability rather than immediately revisiting painful memories.
Together, we may work on:
- Recognising triggers and protective responses
- Developing grounding and emotional-regulation skills
- Understanding your attachment and relationship patterns
- Building compassion for younger and protective parts
- Strengthening boundaries and a sense of personal agency
- Processing unresolved memories when you feel ready
- Reconnecting with your body, emotions and needs
- Developing greater access to your adult Self
You remain in control of what you share and explore. We can slow down, pause or focus on stabilisation whenever needed.
The goal is not to erase the past. It is to release the stuck stress and burdens of earlier experiences so that the past has less power over your present.
Which Therapies Can Help With Childhood Trauma and CPTSD?
I use an integrative approach because complex trauma can affect thoughts, emotions, the body, relationships and the sense of self.
My approach may include:
- Internal Family Systems (IFS) to understand the protective parts that manage fear, shame, perfectionism, people-pleasing, emotional numbing or withdrawal. IFS also helps us compassionately approach younger parts carrying unresolved pain.
- EMDR to process distressing memories, beliefs, images and bodily responses that continue to feel emotionally present.
- Somatic psychotherapy to work with sensations, tension, numbness, activation, shutdown and other embodied effects of trauma.
- Attachment-based therapy to understand how early relationships shaped your expectations of closeness, trust, rejection and emotional safety.
- Trauma-informed relational therapy to create a therapeutic relationship in which your boundaries, autonomy, pace and emotional experience are respected.
- Energy healing, where appropriate, as a complementary part of an integrative approach that honours your psychological, physical, emotional and spiritual experience.
You can learn more about these approaches on my IFS Therapy, EMDR Therapy and Spiritual Therapy pages.
How Do IFS and Parts Work Help With Complex Trauma?
Trauma creates different parts with seemingly conflicting needs. One part may long for connection while another fears being hurt. One may push you to achieve or care for everyone, while another feels exhausted, angry or hopeless.
Internal Family Systems helps you approach these parts with curiosity rather than judgment. Instead of trying to eliminate a protective response, we explore what it is trying to prevent and what it needs to feel safer.
As protective parts begin to trust your adult Self, we may gently work with the more vulnerable emotions and experiences they have been protecting. This can support greater inner resolution, compassion, clarity and freedom.
Work With Jennifer Nurick
I’m a Master’s-qualified Clinical Psychotherapist, PACFA Clinical registrant, EMDR practitioner and Level 2-trained Internal Family Systems therapist. I have worked in private practice for 21 years, supporting adults and couples with attachment wounds, childhood trauma, complex trauma and relationship difficulties.
I have twice served as a Program Assistant on IFS training courses in Australia and receive monthly supervision specifically focused on my IFS practice. My additional training includes somatic psychotherapy, Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy and energetic health.
I am also the author of Heal Your Anxious Attachment, published by New Harbinger. My style is warm, relational, collaborative and non-pathologising.
Rather than asking what is wrong with you, we explore what happened, how you adapted and what your protective system needs now.
You can also view my Psychology Today profile for further information about my qualifications, specialties and approach.
Online Childhood Trauma Therapy in Australia and Internationally
I offer online childhood trauma and complex PTSD therapy to adults across Australia and internationally. Online therapy allows you to work from a private and familiar environment.
During an initial session, we discuss your current concerns, relevant history, goals and support needs. We also consider which therapeutic approaches and session length may be most appropriate for you.
Frequently Asked Questions About Childhood Trauma and CPTSD Therapy
Do I need a CPTSD diagnosis to begin therapy?
No. You do not need a formal diagnosis to explore how childhood trauma or repeated relational experiences continue to affect your emotions, relationships and sense of self.
Will I have to talk about everything that happened?
No. You decide what you share, and trauma therapy does not require you to describe every detail. We begin by developing safety and understanding your current needs before approaching painful experiences.
How long does complex trauma therapy take?
The timeframe varies according to your history, current circumstances and therapeutic goals. Some people notice meaningful shifts early, while longstanding or complex patterns may benefit from sustained work.
Can childhood trauma cause anxious or avoidant attachment?
Childhood trauma and emotional neglect can shape anxious, avoidant or disorganised attachment responses. These patterns are adaptations and can change through supportive relationships, self-awareness and therapy.
Can childhood trauma and CPTSD therapy be done online?
Yes. Online trauma therapy can include IFS, somatic work, attachment-based therapy and appropriately adapted EMDR. We assess your privacy, stability, support and individual needs before beginning deeper trauma processing.
Ready to Begin?
Reaching out for support can feel vulnerable, particularly if your feelings or needs were not safely received in the past. Therapy offers a compassionate space to understand your experiences, work with protective patterns and develop greater security within yourself and your relationships.
If you are ready to begin healing the effects of childhood trauma or complex PTSD, I invite you to reach out.