Client stories
Beth was having an elective C-Section four day’s later. She was having full-blown panic attacks when thinking about returning to the hospital where her first birth went so terribly wrong. Her counsellor had run out of options to help her. After two sessions of therapy she had a completely calm and uneventful C-Section and sent me a smiling mother-baby photograph saying how joyful she was.
Judy’s son was horribly injured in a car accident in which two of his friends died. Although he was fully recovered from his injuries, Judy still felt exhausted, her body was racked with aches and pains, and she couldn’t sleep well. After one session of therapy she released all of her stress an fully engaged with life again.
Jasmine was wracked with flashbacks, anxiety, depression, survivor guilt, chronic pain and disability after a life-saving transplant. Five sessions of therapy relieved all of her symptoms and she’s now back in her full-time professional role, including helping transplant recipients and the families of donors.
Melanie is a school teacher who had a horrible fear of confined spaces. She couldn’t use toilets or lifts and hotel rooms caused her great anxiety. Travelling was a nightmare. Now she says she stayed in the 16th floor of a hotel and wasn’t even bothered by the lift.
June presented with severe PTSD, uncontrollable episodes of rage, horrendous gut problems, severe chronic pain, and infertility. She was unable to work or study. June had a history of complex and severe trauma, including severe physical injury and spinal damage. She is now a mother oof two healthy children, has completed a Master’s Degree and is on her way to completing her PhD.
Zoe had to travel home to look after her dying father, with whom she had a complex and difficult relationship. Through Havening she was able to let go of her painful feelings and resentments towards her father and help him have a more peaceful death.
Tama was a client in his twenties with ADHD, Autism and severe social phobia. He barely left home, was afraid of meeting strangers, he got no exercise and had an unhealthy diet. He was unable to get a job or drive a car. After a handful of sessions, Tama completely lost his social phobia, confidently talked to strangers, started going to the gym regularly, lost weight and improved his diet.
Children
Louise was an eight year old girl who fell through a window suffering severe lacerations and life-threatening haemorrhage. She was rushed to hospital and needed surgery to repair all her wounds. This experience left her fearful and withdrawn. Her mother was also traumatised by witnessing the event. In one session we were able to completely relieve the trauma in both mother and child. When asked about the hospital experience, Louise just laughed and said it was funny!
Ben was too afraid to use the toilet block at school because he sensed there was something bad or evil in the building. So he purposely dehydrated himself each day and didn’t use the toilet until he returned home from school. In one session he was able to use magic powers to remove the evil thing from the toilet block and his fear was completely resolved.
Chris was eleven years old and had severe school anxiety. We learned that a group of boys had been bullying him at school. We took away the trauma of the bullying and also used Havening to build his confidence. He no longer missed school days.
Ellen was eight years old and has been severely traumatised by hospital experiences as a young child. She also had a serious needle phobia and hated visiting doctors or the hospital for ongoing care of a serious chronic condition. Over a large number of sessions she resolved much of her trauma, lost her needle phobia, regained her confidence, and was able to receive hospital treatment without freaking out.
Jody was ten years old and had developed OCD and compulsive hand-washing. She was terrified of germs, exacerbated by the events of the COVID-19 pandemic. We were able to reframe her thoughts about germs (there are good ones too) and was taught to sooth herself with self-Havening, rather than compulsive hand washing.
Eleven year old Ellen presented with four years of severe chronic pain syndrome affecting both ankles and she was unable to weight-bear. She hobbled around on crutches and was missing months of school. Her mother had taken her to multiple practitioners, doctors and therapist, without relief. One session of Havening plus a homeopathic remedy was enough to cure her pain, she threw away the crutches and returned to school the next Monday.
Trevor was my youngest ever client at five years old. He had a terror of butter, which nobody could explain. He wouldn’t allow it to be put on the table at dinner time. His school friends teased and tormented him. His mother applied the havening touch while we explored the topic and desensitised the word and the thoughts of butter, in a very playful way. With his agreement, we fetched some butter and he practised being close to it without feeling fearful. We never did discover the cause of this strange phobia but he learned not to let it bother him any more.
Whanau
Sometimes, trauma resonates all around a family, spreading down through the generations, or affecting multiple members of a family that witnessed the same tragedy.
Family members are very closely linked in their energy so doing healing work on one can directly benefit others. if multiple family members have witnessed the same event, we can do group therapy and release the trauma from all members of the family at the same time.
For intergenerational trauma, I have worked with three generations of multiple whanau members, gradually unpicking the trauma, helping people build healthier relationships, and creating a safer environment for bring up the tamariki.