Sexual Trauma Counselling
Nobody told you it would show up like this. You didn’t even notice your body was freezing — it’s always been this way. Sex feels like something you just ‘do’ and not experience, something you endure rather than want. You’ve spent years either avoiding sex or blocking it out during. The other side of this story is those of you who use sex as a way to be connected as thats the only way you know how, the only way you feel loved, or even as a punishment because this is all you deserve.
What happened to you has taught you that your body was not worth protecting, saying “no” isn’t safe, or wasn’t an option. Saying “no” could be dangerous, so not saying anything and going along with it was the safer option. Love and body violations for you – well, they live in the same place and its hard to pull them apart.
You’ve carried these stories into every relationship – it doesn’t matter if you were a child or an adult – every relationship since has been affected by sexual trauma. The shame, confusion, and body dysmorphia gets dragged along for the ride. It doesn’t matter what your trauma experience looked like. You or someone else may have called it a minor event, it wasn’t. It changed you and you deserve support and to experience sex and intimacy the way your body wants.
This is a space where nothing you bring will be too much. Where your body sets the pace and your story doesn’t need to be a certain size to be taken seriously. We work with the parts of you that learned to freeze, disappear, comply or stay on high alert — gently helping them understand they don’t have to work so hard anymore, and you don’t have to talk about the details if you do not want to.
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Key Benefits
- A trauma-informed approach that prioritises safety, choice, and control – you’re in control of what we explore and when
- Therapists who understand sexual trauma without you having to explain or justify it
- Support as you go through the court process if that is your journey
- Support from a specialist counsellor experienced in sexual trauma, complex trauma, and developmental trauma
- Work beyond talking that explores your body and emotional reactions and the parts of you that still carry your experience
- Honouring those parts of you that protected you
- Understanding why your body does what it does and learning to work with it instead of against it
- Space to explore intimacy, sexuality, relationships, and identity without shame or judgement
- In-person counselling in Perth (Midland or Ellenbrook) and secure online therapy options Australia-wide
What is sexual trauma counselling
Counselling for sexual trauma is specialised support for people who have experienced sexual assault, abuse, coercion, or violations of bodily autonomy, in childhood or adulthood.
We will not force disclosure or revisit details before you’re ready. Instead, we focus on building safety, understanding how trauma has shaped your responses, and gently supporting your system to move out of survival mode.
Many people arrive carrying responses that once kept them safe in some way (dissociation, shutdown, people-pleasing, hypervigilance, difficulties with intimacy or pleasure). Together, we make sense of these responses with compassion rather than judgement.
Approaches we use
Sexual trauma doesn’t just live in your memory. It lives in your body — in the way you flinch, freeze, shut down, or go somewhere else entirely. That’s why talking about it is rarely enough on its own.
We draw on approaches that are proven to work with trauma — not just talking about it, but actually shifting it.
Therapy may include a combination of:
- Trauma-informed counselling and psychotherapy
- EMDR therapy for processing traumatic memories safely without having to retell the story over and over
- Parts work to understand and support protective survival responses, all the different parts of you that can feel like they are pulling in all different directions
- Body-based and somatic approaches to support nervous system regulation and trauma processing
- Sex-positive, kink-aware therapy within the kinkWISE approach
- The ReClaim Framework brings all of this together in a way that is shaped around you, not a formula
Everything moves at a pace that feels safe for you. You’re in charge of what we do and when. Consent is part of every single session — not just assumed.
Areas we may explore
Depending on your needs and readiness, sexual trauma counselling may support you with:
- Healing after sexual assault or childhood sexual abuse
- Trauma-related intimacy or sexual difficulties
- Dissociation, freeze, fawn, or shutdown responses
- Shame, self-blame, or confusion around boundaries
- Rebuilding trust in yourself, your body, and relationships
- Navigating consent, desire, and pleasure after trauma
There is no expectation to talk about anything before you’re ready.
Who is this for
This service is for adults who:
- Have experienced sexual assault, abuse, or sexual trauma – no matter how long ago
- Live with the long-term impacts of childhood or adult sexual abuse
- Have never called it abuse but know something happened that wasn’t right or changed you
- Feel stuck despite previous therapy attempts
- Struggle with intimacy, sexuality, or feeling safe in your body
- Shut down, disconnect, or just going through the motions during sex
- Use sex as the only way to feel close to someone
- Uses sex to punish yourself because you feel its all you deserve
- Feels they have an addiction to sex
- Carry shame, confusion, or a quiet sense that their body isn’t their own
- Are in a relationship where sexual trauma is affecting both of you
- Want trauma therapy that feels respectful, paced, embodied, and goes deeper than talk therapy
You do not need to have all the words, a clear story, or a specific goal to begin.
