Jayne Hopkins EMDR Trauma Therapist at Forgeways Therapy

08/04/2026

What CPTSD Actually Is

CPTSD (Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder) comes from prolonged, repeated trauma, especially in relationships, not single events.

It’s not about one accident.
It’s not about one incident.
It’s about being unsafe for a long time, especially when escape isn’t possible.

Typical origins:

• Childhood emotional abuse
• Psychological abuse
• Narcissistic parenting
• Chronic neglect
• Coercive control
• Long-term domestic abuse
• Captive environments (emotionally or physically)
• Identity suppression
• Chronic invalidation
• Being trapped in unsafe relationships

PTSD vs CPTSD (simple)

PTSD:
“Something terrible happened to me.”

CPTSD:
“Something terrible happened to me for a long time, and it changed who I had to become to survive.”

Core Features of CPTSD

1. Nervous system dysregulation

Your body doesn’t feel safe even when nothing is happening:

• Hypervigilance
• Startle reflex
• Chronic anxiety
• Freeze response
• Shutdown
• Fatigue crashes
• Panic without clear cause

2. Emotional flashbacks (not visual memories)

You suddenly feel:

• Small
• Ashamed
• Trapped
• Worthless
• Helpless
• Overwhelmed
• Unsafe

No images. Just emotional states.

3. Identity damage

You don’t fully know who you are because you were shaped around survival:

• People-pleasing
• Fawning
• Perfectionism
• Fixing others
• Over-responsibility
• Self-blame
• Shame-based identity
• “I am the problem” core belief

4. Relationship trauma

You learned that love equals danger:

• Trauma bonding
• Fear of abandonment
• Fear of closeness
• Hyper-independence
• Tolerance of mistreatment
• Attraction to unsafe people
• Confusion between intensity and intimacy

5. Nervous system exhaustion

Long-term survival mode leads to:

• Chronic fatigue
• Pain syndromes
• Autoimmune patterns
• GI issues
• Brain fog
• Sleep disorders
• Somatic symptoms
• Fibromyalgia patterns
• Dysautonomia

The trauma adaptations (not flaws)

These were intelligent survival strategies:

• Fawn = stay safe by pleasing
• Freeze = stay safe by disappearing
• Fight = stay safe by controlling
• Flight = stay safe by escaping
• Fixing = stay safe by stabilizing others
• Perfectionism = stay safe by being flawless
• Hypervigilance = stay safe by scanning
• Dissociation = stay safe by numbing

None of these are character defects.
They are adaptations to danger.

CPTSD healing includes grief for:

• The childhood you didn’t get
• The safety you never had
• The self you couldn’t be
• The life that might have been
• The love that wasn’t safe
• The years lost to survival
• The version of you that never got to rest

This grief often feels like:

• Anger
• Sadness
• Regret
• Emptiness
• Mourning
• Longing
• Bitterness
• Confusion

All normal. All human.

Healing CPTSD is not about:

• “Moving on”
• “Forgiving”
• “Positive thinking”
• “Letting go”
• “Being grateful”
• “Reframing everything”
• “Staying strong”
• “Just calming down”

Healing CPTSD is about:

• Building internal safety
• Nervous system regulation
• Trauma-informed therapy
• Somatic healing
• Boundary repair
• Identity rebuilding
• Grief processing
• Safe relationships
• Learning what calm feels like
• Relearning trust in your body
• Learning rest without guilt
• Separating danger from memory
• Self-compassion skills
• Learning agency
• Learning choice
• Learning “no”
• Learning safe connection

(From CPTSD Explained)

19/03/2026

Noticing the beauty of birdsong regulates your nervous system

27/02/2026

Hang in there...Spring is on its way.
If you can, look out for hazel catkins..and then look closer to spot the bright pink female flowers. Theyre awesome..and might just brighten your day

24/02/2026

Ive just been asked what I would say to someone who is curious about the benefits booking an Intensive Therapy Retreat with me.......

Booking an EMDR Trauma Therapy Intensive offers a focused, immersive approach to healing that can create meaningful progress in a shorter period of time than weekly sessions. By dedicating longer, protected blocks of time, clients can safely access and process traumatic memories without the repeated stop–start of traditional therapy, allowing the nervous system to settle more deeply into regulation. Intensives also reduce the emotional disruption of revisiting difficult material week after week, making the experience more contained and supportive. Many people find this format especially helpful if they feel stuck in therapy, have limited availability, or want to move forward before a life transition. With careful preparation and tailored pacing, an EMDR intensive can support deeper insight, reduced trauma symptoms, and a renewed sense of clarity, resilience, and emotional freedom.

If you have half a day, full day, 2, 3 or 4 days....and want to invest in making real changes... drop me a line to discuss options..day sessions or overnight retreats..

24/02/2026

20/02/2026

Today is the last day for applications Complete the form if you are on low income and would like to apply for a bursary to access upto 10 EMDR therapy sessions with me (or other qualified local therapists) for greatly reduced cost.

01/02/2026

EMDR EUROPE ACCREDITED PRACTITIONER

Oh yes!

Feeling pleased with myself!

12/01/2026

Pleased to be involved with this wonderful local scheme, set up to support those on low income to access therapy...

07/01/2026

DBT can really help. It sits well with EMDR trauma therapy... drop a line if you want to hear more...

It's 1961.
A 17-year-old girl is locked in a psychiatric ward.
The doctors don't expect her to survive.
She would go on to revolutionize
how we treat the "untreatable."

She spent 26 months there.
Seclusion rooms. Electroshock.
Burning herself. Banging her head against walls.

But Marsha Linehan made herself a vow:

She would get out of hell.
And she would find a way
to help others escape it too.

Decades later, she did exactly that.

She created Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT).
A treatment that would save countless lives.

Here's what Marsha Linehan taught us
that we desperately need today:

1/ Acceptance and Change Aren't Opposites
↳ Traditional therapy pushed only for change
↳ Linehan realized this felt invalidating
to people in extreme pain
↳ The breakthrough: Hold both.
Radical acceptance AND commitment to change.

2/ Validation Is a Clinical Intervention
↳ Before you can help someone change,
they need to feel understood
↳ Validation isn't agreeing.
It's acknowledging their pain makes sense.
↳ People can't hear solutions
until they feel heard.

3/ Skills Can Be Taught
↳ Emotional regulation isn't a personality trait.
It's a skill set.
↳ Distress tolerance can be learned.
Interpersonal effectiveness can be practiced.
↳ What was once called "untreatable"
became teachable.

4/ Meet People in Their Crises
↳ DBT includes phone coaching between sessions
↳ Skills aren't useful if they're only practiced
in the therapy room
↳ Real change happens in real moments.

5/ Your Suffering Can Become Your Purpose
↳ Linehan didn't hide from her past. She used it.
↳ In 2011, she publicly revealed
her own hospitalization
↳ Lived experience isn't a liability.
It's credibility.

Linehan gave us one phrase
that captures her life's work:

"The goal is to build a life worth living."

Not symptom-free. Not cured. Worth living.

She understood that healing isn't about erasing pain.
It's about creating meaning alongside it.

60+ years after that locked ward,
we are helping people build lives worth living

Words by Dr. Eric Arzubi MD. Psychiatrist.

04/01/2026

BLOEDD 📢 CALL OUT (Cymraeg isod)

On new years day at 5:30 pm we assisted North Wales Police in supporting someone experiencing a mental health crisis. Specially trained police officers had assisted them and with our support everyone was off the hill by 9pm.

We know this can be a hard time of year. If you or someone you know is struggling, please seek support. Phone 111 and press 2, or the samaritans on 116 123, or you can chat online with them if that suits you better.

As this is a sensitive issue, we have turned off comments on this post. Check on your friends this January and let's support each other through these dark days.

⛑️⛑️⛑️

Ar Ddydd Calan am 5:30 pm, fe wnaethon ni gynorthwyo Heddlu Gogledd Cymru i gefnogi rhywun sy'n profi argyfwng iechyd meddwl. Roedd swyddogion heddlu wedi'u hyfforddi'n arbennig wedi'u cynorthwyo a chyda'n cefnogaeth ni roedd pawb oddi ar y bryn erbyn 9pm.

Rydym yn gwybod y gall hwn fod yn gyfnod anodd o'r flwyddyn. Os ydych chi neu rywun rydych chi'n ei adnabod yn cael trafferth, ceisiwch gefnogaeth. Ffoniwch 111 a gwasgwch 2, neu'r Samariaid ar 116 123, neu gallwch sgwrsio ar-lein gyda nhw os yw hynny'n fwy addas i chi.

Gan fod hwn yn fater sensitif, rydym wedi diffodd sylwadau ar y post hwn. Edrychwch ar eich ffrindiau ym mis Ionawr a gadewch i ni gefnogi ein gilydd trwy'r dyddiau tywyll hyn.