Understanding Trauma

Healing Trauma, PTSD, and Grief at Our Retreat in Italy

At Healing Trauma Retreat, we welcome those who are carrying the invisible weight of trauma, PTSD, complex PTSD, or profound grief. Held in the peace and safety of a restored monastery in the Umbrian hills, our intimate retreats (just four guests at a time) are designed to gently support your healing process—no matter how long ago the pain began.

Understanding Trauma

Trauma is not defined by the event, but by the impact it leaves on your nervous system. You may feel anxious, numb, dissociated, or constantly on high alert. These are not signs of weakness—they are signs of a nervous system doing its best to protect you.

Whether your trauma stems from childhood neglect, emotional abuse, medical procedures, loss, violence, or relational betrayal, the imprint it leaves can shape how you experience the world. Our work is to help you safely meet and release that imprint.

PTSD and Complex PTSD

PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder) can arise after a single overwhelming event. Complex PTSD often develops from repeated trauma over time—especially when it occurs in early life or within close relationships.

Symptoms may include flashbacks, emotional dysregulation, a deep sense of shame, and difficulty trusting others. But you are not broken. These responses are normal adaptations to abnormal experiences.

At our retreat, we work with the nervous system to restore a sense of safety, using evidence-based approaches alongside deeply intuitive, compassionate care.

When Grief Becomes Traumatic

Grief is a natural response to loss, but when it’s complicated by trauma—such as losing someone suddenly or under distressing circumstances—it can overwhelm the body’s capacity to process.

You may feel stuck, numb, or lost in cycles of guilt and what-ifs. This kind of grief needs as much gentle attention as any other form of trauma.

A Sanctuary for Healing

Our trauma retreats are built around rest, regulation, and reconnection. Each day combines trauma-informed therapy, somatic practices, nature, silence, and nourishing food. We take care of everything so you can focus entirely on yourself.

This is not a group therapy retreat. It is a space where you can be held in kindness, without pressure or expectation. There is no need to perform your pain.

Who Comes to Heal Here?

We welcome adults of all ages and backgrounds, including those who have tried talk therapy but found it wasn’t enough. Many of our guests are therapists, carers, and survivors who have spent years tending to others, and now need a space to receive.

You don’t need a diagnosis to come. You only need to feel that something inside is asking for your attention.

Begin Again, Gently

We know it can feel daunting to seek help, especially when you’ve been carrying pain for years. But healing is possible. In the quiet of these ancient hills, with skilled support and no more than four guests at a time, something begins to shift.

If you’re ready to feel more like yourself again—or meet yourself for the first time—we’re here.

Learn more about our upcoming retreats or reach out for a confidential conversation.

 

Grief, Trauma & the Body: How I Can Help You Heal After Loss

“You can die from a broken heart.”

This isn’t just a poetic metaphor — it’s a medical and psychological reality.
A major study in Denmark found that those experiencing intense, unrelenting grief were nearly twice as likely to die within ten years of their bereavement. This isn’t simply about sadness — it’s about what happens in the nervous system, in the immune system, and in the deep unconscious when grief goes unprocessed.
As a trauma psychotherapist with over 20 years of experience, I’ve sat beside hundreds of women facing the aching, often terrifying landscape that follows loss. Whether the death was sudden, drawn out, or complicated by relational wounds, I see again and again how grief — when combined with unhealed trauma — can become frozen, leaving the bereaved in a kind of emotional paralysis.
Why Grief Doesn’t “Just Pass” — Especially After Trauma
Many people are told that grief is linear, or that it should be “lighter” after a certain amount of time. But those who carry trauma — especially complex PTSD from childhood, abandonment, relational rupture, or medical trauma — often find that grief becomes static. They don’t “move through it.” They stay stuck in it.
This is not because something is wrong with them — it’s because the nervous system is overwhelmed.
When someone you love dies, and especially if you cared for them through illness or suffered powerlessness during their decline, the body can enter a state of trauma response. If you had PTSD or unresolved trauma already, the death acts like an earthquake that shakes loose all the fault lines underneath.
Grief and trauma then become entangled:
• You may feel numb, disconnected, or unable to cry.
• You may experience panic, nightmares, or guilt.
• You may not remember things clearly, or feel like part of you “died with them.”
• You may avoid places, memories, or relationships that trigger unbearable emotion.
• You may feel that joy, purpose, or connection are permanently out of reach.
This is not a personal failing. It is a survival response.
How I Support Clients Stuck in Grief
I offer a very different kind of grief therapy — one that understands the body, not just the mind. In our work together, whether through 1:1 trauma therapy or at my intimate Healing Trauma Retreats in Italy, we explore how grief, PTSD, and the nervous system interact. Together, we:
• Gently release the shock and unresolved trauma embedded in the body
• Explore unfinished emotional business or unspoken goodbyes
• Rebuild a sense of safety, meaning, and identity after loss
• Honour the relationship that was, while allowing life to resume in its own time
• Work with parts of the self that feel frozen, shamed, or abandoned in the grief
This is especially important for those who nursed a partner or parent through terminal illness, who experienced traumatic hospital care or medical betrayal, or who lost someone in a sudden, disorienting way.
What Makes This Approach Different
Unlike talk therapy alone, my approach includes 1:1 Trauma Therapy, somatic techniques, body memory work, trauma-informed movement, and — for those attending the retreat — daily integrative healing with massage, therapeutic presence, and a nourishing environment in a restored Italian monastery.
Here, grief is not rushed or pathologized. It is witnessed, tended to, and allowed to move — so that you are not left stuck in the moment of loss, but can slowly, safely begin to find yourself again.
⸻
If You’re Ready to Begin
Whether you’ve recently lost someone or are still carrying the pain of a death years ago, it’s never too late to heal. Please reach out if you’d like to talk. I welcome women into my retreats and private sessions who feel called to reclaim life — not by forgetting the person who died, but by remembering who they are, even in the aftermath.
You are not broken.
Grief is not a problem to solve.
But you do deserve to be supported through it — especially if trauma has left you without a map.

Explore Your Healing Options

Whether you’re drawn to a Healing Trauma Retreat or considering one-to-one therapy, I invite you to begin with a complimentary 30-minute call. Together, we can explore your needs and discover the path that feels right for you.

✨ One-to-One Therapy
Available from November 2025
Ongoing sessions: €115 for 60 minutes

I’m here to answer your questions and guide you toward the support that best serves your healing journey. Please reach out anytime—I’ll be happy to connect.

Book Your Complimentary Call