What is PTSD?
This page is about post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD. What it is, why it develops, and how psychological support at Integro Health can help you work through it in a safe, non-judgemental environment in South West WA.
PTSD is a set of reactions that can develop after a traumatic event, one that involved actual or threatened death, serious injury, or violation. It can follow an accident, assault, disaster, or frightening experience, and it is common among first responders, veterans, and healthcare workers as well as the wider community. PTSD can involve reliving the event through flashbacks or nightmares, avoiding reminders, feeling constantly on edge, and changes in mood and thinking. It is a recognised and treatable condition, not a character weakness or something you should have got over by now.
Why PTSD develops
During a traumatic event, the brain focuses entirely on survival. Sometimes the experience does not get processed and filed away like an ordinary memory. Instead it stays raw and easily triggered, so that a sound, a smell, or a situation can throw you straight back into the feeling of the original event. The nervous system stays braced for danger, which is exhausting and hard to switch off. Many people living with PTSD also experience anxiety, depression, or difficulties with sleep, and PTSD sits within the wider picture of trauma.
What we often see in practice is that the symptoms, however distressing, are the mind’s attempt to protect you. Hypervigilance, avoidance, and being easily startled all made sense when danger was real. Understanding them this way, rather than as signs that something is wrong with you, is usually where healing begins.
At Integro Health, we work in a trauma-informed way. That means we go at your pace, help you feel safe and steady first, and never push you to revisit more than you are ready for.
How we work with you on PTSD
There is no single correct path through PTSD, and there is no timeline you are failing to meet. What we do is work alongside you, gently and at a pace you control, using approaches grounded in psychological evidence and shaped by your individual story.
Understanding your experience
Your first sessions are about building a picture of you, not just the PTSD, but your history, your relationships, your emotional world, and what you are hoping life might look and feel like. There is no rush here. We ask questions because we genuinely want to understand.
Building safety and stability first
Before any deeper work, we help you feel more grounded and in control day to day, with tools to steady your nervous system, manage flashbacks, and ease the constant sense of threat. This foundation means that processing the trauma, when you are ready, never leaves you overwhelmed.
Working with the underlying layers
When you are ready, we work with the traumatic memories themselves using approaches like EMDR and trauma-focused CBT, which are among the most effective treatments for PTSD. The aim is to help your brain finally process what happened so it settles into the past, where it belongs.
Building new ways of responding
As the memories settle, we help you rebuild a sense of safety and choice in daily life, so that reminders lose their power and you can do the things PTSD had been keeping you from.
Ongoing support at the right pace
Change rarely happens in a straight line. Sessions are spaced to suit where you are, more frequent during difficult periods, stepped back as you gain ground. We are here for as long as the journey needs us to be, whether that is a few months or considerably longer.
Meet the Team
At Integro Health, you do not just book a clinic. You choose a practitioner who understands you. Our team of experienced psychotherapists brings clinical depth, genuine warmth, and a broad range of specialisations together under one roof. Take a moment to read about each of our practitioners and find the right fit for where you are right now.
Dr Paul King
General Practitioner
MBBS Bachelor of Medicine/ Bachelor of Surgery
FRACGP Fellow of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners
Jools Fordyce
Social Worker & Family Therapist
Bachelor (Hons) – Applied Social Science with Diploma in Social Work
Postgraduate Diploma in Family and Relationship Therapy
Brooke Eden
Psychologist
Bachelor of Psychology
Graduate Diploma of Education
Member of the Australian Association of Psychologists Inc.
Nicholas Kerr
Psychologist
Masters of Psychology (Organisational)
Bachelor of Arts
Member of the Australian Association of Psychologists Inc.
Carli King
Office Administrator
As Practice Manager, Carli keeps the daily operations of Integro Health running smoothly, ensuring our clients always receive the highest standard of care.
What you can expect when you reach out
No judgement, ever
Whatever you have been through, and however your PTSD shows up, you will be met with warmth and genuine care. Not a lecture, and not a checklist.
A whole-person lens
We look at every part of you, your mental, emotional, physical, social, and spiritual wellbeing, because PTSD rarely lives in just one part of a person’s life.
Evidence-based approaches
We draw on EMDR and trauma-focused CBT, the approaches with the strongest evidence for PTSD, tailored to you. Not a one-size protocol, but a genuinely trauma-informed response.
In-clinic and online options
Whether you can get to our Eaton clinic in Bunbury or you need the privacy and convenience of telehealth, we can work with you wherever you are in South West WA and beyond.
What people get wrong about PTSD
One of the most persistent myths about PTSD is that it only affects soldiers or people who have been through combat. In reality, PTSD can follow any overwhelming event, including accidents, assaults, medical emergencies, and experiences in everyday jobs and lives. You do not need to have been to war to develop it.
Another common misconception is that having PTSD means you are weak, or that you should have recovered by now. PTSD is not about strength of character. It is about how a particular experience was stored by the nervous system, and it can affect the most resilient of people. Struggling with it is not a failing.
We also see many people in South West WA who have lived with PTSD for years, avoiding reminders and hoping it would fade, before reaching out. By that point, the avoidance has often narrowed life considerably. One of the first things we do is help you feel safe enough to begin, because PTSD very rarely resolves on its own.
Finally, many people avoid help because they fear treatment means describing the trauma in detail, over and over. Modern PTSD treatment is not like that. Individual therapy and counselling, delivered privately one-on-one at our Eaton clinic near Bunbury or by telehealth to locations like Margaret River, is carefully paced, and approaches like EMDR require far less retelling than people expect.
Is what I am experiencing actually PTSD?
It is common to wonder whether what you are experiencing is PTSD, or whether you are overreacting to something you feel you should have moved past. The honest answer is that the label matters less than the impact, and only a proper assessment can confirm a diagnosis.
If a past event still intrudes through flashbacks or nightmares, if you go out of your way to avoid reminders, if you feel constantly on edge or easily startled, or if you feel numb and cut off, even some of the time, then it is worth exploring with a psychotherapist. You do not need to be certain it is PTSD to deserve support, and we can help you understand what is going on.
How PTSD shows up
PTSD is generally understood through a few clusters of experience:
Reliving the event through intrusive memories, flashbacks, or nightmares that can feel as vivid as the original experience.
Avoidance of the people, places, thoughts, or feelings that serve as reminders, which can gradually close life down.
Being on high alert, feeling tense, easily startled, irritable, or unable to sleep, alongside changes in mood and how you see yourself and the world. When trauma has been prolonged or repeated, especially early in life, the picture may be better described as complex PTSD.
At Integro Health, we are not here to reduce you to a diagnosis. What we care about is whether these experiences are getting in the way of you feeling well, thinking clearly, and living the way you want to. You can read more about what the first session looks like here.
Your questions answered
Yes, in many cases. A Mental Health Treatment Plan from your GP provides access to a Medicare rebate for up to 10 individual sessions per calendar year with a registered psychologist. Your GP will assess your eligibility, and your sessions at Integro Health can be structured to make the most of those rebated appointments. It is worth speaking with your GP in Bunbury, Busselton, or wherever you are located to get a referral in place before your first session.
Yes. You do not need a diagnosis to reach out. Part of what we can do early on is help you understand what you are experiencing and whether it fits PTSD or something related. Support is based on how you are affected, not on having the right label in place first.
Yes. Everything you share in sessions is confidential. There are narrow legal exceptions, for example if there is an immediate risk of serious harm to yourself or another person, but outside of those circumstances your privacy is protected. We will explain these boundaries clearly in your first session so there are no surprises.
Yes. We offer telehealth sessions across South West WA and Australia-wide, which means you can access support from anywhere, whether you are in a regional area like Manjimup or Collie, or simply prefer the privacy of attending from home. Telehealth sessions work in the same structured, safe way as in-clinic appointments.
This varies with the nature of the trauma and whether it was a single event or repeated over time. PTSD following a single event can sometimes be worked through in a focused course of sessions. Where trauma has been prolonged or began in childhood, treatment usually takes longer and is done in careful stages. We always move at your pace and review progress with you.
No, not in the way people fear. We build safety and stability first, and you stay in control of what you share throughout. Some of the most effective treatments for PTSD, such as EMDR, help your brain reprocess the memory without needing you to describe it in detail or relive it over and over.
No referral is needed to book a session. If you wish to access Medicare rebates through a Mental Health Treatment Plan, you will need a GP referral first, but you are welcome to contact us directly and we can guide you through that process if needed.
We use the approaches with the strongest evidence for PTSD, tailored to you. EMDR helps the brain reprocess distressing memories so they lose their intensity, often without lengthy retelling. Trauma-focused CBT helps you work through the beliefs and reactions the trauma left behind. Where trauma is complex or early, we may draw on schema therapy as well. Safety and pacing come first, always.
Medically reviewed by
General Practitioner
The clinical information on this page has been reviewed for accuracy by Dr Paul King, General Practitioner at Integro Health. It is general information, and not a substitute for personal medical or psychological advice.
