Trauma therapist

Hi @CBT ,

Welcome to the forums @CBT 

Well done on making your first post and reaching out. 

Unfortunately, as this is an anonymous forum for peer support, members are not able to share their location or names of practitioners. 

Do you have a GP you can ask?

Note: your post above was edited to remove the more specific region of melb.

Hi I can ask my psychotherapist as she’s part of the Melbourne world but lives in Perth do you want me to ask -

or are you cool now ? she would only ask with one type of trauma therapy. 

actually I’m pretty stoked that you ask - how cool are you 🪴🌿
@PeppyPatti 

@CBT if you ring Blue Knot they can refer to to trauma informed psychologists and counsellors based on location and out of pocket costs. 

@Dimity @CBT @PeppyPatti hey welcome to the forums

Unfortunately coz everyone's experience is difference endorsing a particular therapist could end up being more harm than help 😞 It happened to me that someone told me a certain therapist was amazing and it got me quite stuck. 

If you call Blue Knot @Dimity is right they have trauma informed psychiatrists and psychologists they can refer. Might not be relevant but just letting you know CASA is a centre for sexual assault that has a free phone line as well as a waitlist for trauma therapy. I had six sessions there for free with a psychologist.

Good luck 🙂

Hi @CBT 

As others have said, BlueKnot Foundaion keeps a database of Trauma Informed practitioners

There is no minimum standard to sign up to the database. If a psychologist contacts BlueKnot and says "I'm totally Trauma Informed", then they go in the database with no quality control

They are taken out if BlueKnot gets complaints. But my understanding is BN rarely hear meaningful feedback

@DogMan79 are you saying that Blue Knot can't be trusted? Is there evidence of this this?

Or are you speculating based on concerns about the listing process?

@Dimity @DogMan79 i dont know if i got a list from them or used their advisory panel or something but i found someone through there. I have had mixed experiences with Blue Knot. I used their phoneline a bit and it didn't help so much. I personally think finding a trauma thearpist, looking at what worked for me, it was through referral from someone I know and trust. I try and listen to ppl i trust.

For example I was in a public service and I didn't trust many ppl there, including ex clients I spoke to or some of the staff. But there was an amazing peer worker at the service and I felt safe with them. She advised that one of the psychologists there was very trauma informed, and I trusted her, and pursued working with that therapist. Its just part of trauma i feel, that trust is hard. I feel like how we find therapists or services is important, and it can't be too random. You could get lucky, but its too risky.

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@Dimity wrote:

@DogMan79 are you saying that Blue Knot can't be trusted? Is there evidence of this this?

Or are you speculating based on concerns about the listing process?

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I was just relaying what the BlueKnot worker told me. 

Fair enough @DogMan79 @EternalFlower .

BlueKnot once referred me to a social group for an ethnic/cultural minority I didn't belong to.

A psychologist I found through Psychology Today who claimed to be trauma informed said some awful things including that if I'd experienced childhood trauma it was because I was a habitual liar. It was our 3rd session and I hadn't yet opened up to her. I never went back.

@Dimity @CBT @DogMan79 @PeppyPatti thanks for this discussion about sourcing therapists. its really valuable, as I always thought it was just me who struggled to find a good fit. Always feels helpful to know ur not alone, and to validate that finding a therapist for trauma is quite tricky, essentially.

For me, i have been in public mentla health, so i've seen maybe 30 clinicians there - but while it sounds like WHOAH so many - its just that if you're in the ED, go to PARC, case managed, participate in a "HOPE" program,  or in  a psych ward, you are treated by a "team" so you meet a lot of different ppl. 

Of all those 30, there's probably been about 8 that i really connected with. And trust was very strong. One of those individuals told me about a specific mental health clinic, so I pursued that, as I trusted him. Or sometimes even the triage ppl gave me advice or tips, if I trusted them, I followed through. But advice from ppl I didn't trust ended poorly. I try to follow my gut in who's safe, and listen to their wisdom.