If you are seeking a PTSD therapist Calgary resident can rely on, you’ve come to the right place! Here at Virtuous Circle Counselling, we are completely focused on creating a safe and inclusive space for our clients to pursue the health and wellness that they deserve. While addressing PTSD symptoms may be difficult, it is a task that we can undertake together to help regain the quality of life that you are seeking.

Post-traumatic stress disorder is a debilitating disorder that can lead to a massive reduction in the quality of your life. Most common but not exclusively, PTSD is associated with traumatic events such as: war, rape, natural disaster, grief & loss, witnessing a traumatic event.  PTSD can manifest in a variety of different ways depending on the source of trauma.

It is understood that symptoms can vary from person to person and overtime post event. As a therapist we can assist you to manage intrusive memories associated with the traumatic event. These can include recurrent memories, reliving the memory as though it were happening again, nightmares as well as experiencing significant emotional distress when triggered by the traumatic event. Symptoms also impact changes in mood and thinking. You may have begun to feel negatively towards yourself, the world or previously valued support systems. We see often that people feel hopeless and express difficulty experiencing pleasure as they have become emotionally numb. Relationships may become strained and difficult to manage. Physical reactions that include being on alert, easily frightened, expressing angry outbursts, feeling overwhelming guilt or shame as well as engaging in self-destructive behaviours. If you have been living through any of these symptoms, there is hope and through intensive therapy provided at Virtuous Circle Counselling, your life can become more manageable and you can break free from the shackles of trauma.

One of the more common ways to address PTSD is through Prolonged Exposure Therapy.  PTSD exposure therapy involves focusing on the things that bring us fear or trigger our traumatic memories. This may be intimidating or even frightening to imagine but the evidence has supported time and time again that Prolonged Exposure is the gold standard to effective recovery.  As therapists, our goal is to reinforce breathing and grounding techniques while you experience an anxiety provoking symptom. You will create a memory hierarchy and rate your levels of subjective distress (SUDS) while we work through elements that have attributed to your index trauma. We then begin to assign in-vivo exposure, meaning ‘in real life’ tasks that aim to enhance your confidence while you work through the processing of your feelings and emotions. While avoidance to reminders of trauma can provide temporary relief, it is not a long-term and viable strategy. All this might seem overwhelming, unimaginable but it works and you can begin to move past the debilitating state that you may find yourself in today. By pursuing guided PTSD exposure therapy Calgary clients can begin to untangle the threads that have become crossed, thus leading to a healthier and happier life.

PTSD therapy Calgary residents can entrust Virtuous Circle Counselling in supporting you with the recovery you need. We have been trained with the knowledge and tools to help guide you toward relief, health, wellness, and happiness.

Therapy is all about meeting clients where they are at.  In order to maximize your comfort, we also offer both virtual and phone-based therapeutic services. Book an intake session today!