Childhood and complex trauma
Early experiences that taught you to stay guarded, self-reliant, or small, and still shape how safe you feel today.
Trauma Counselling Gold Coast
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Soul Counselling · Trauma Support · Gold Coast
Trauma healing on the Gold Coast, at a pace your body agrees to
If an old wound, a sudden shock, or hurt inside a close relationship still lives in your body as tension, dread, or bracing, you are not broken. These are survival patterns your nervous system learned. Christina offers gentle, paced trauma counselling online and by phone, from her Gold Coast base at Southport.
Book a free 15-minute assessment → Ask a question firstPrefer to talk first? Call 0479 144 561
Research suggests around 75 percent of Australians live through a traumatic event at some point, and roughly 11 percent will experience post-traumatic stress, though most people do not go on to develop a lasting disorder. In Queensland, the ABS 2020 to 2022 study found that 23.7 percent of people aged 16 to 85, close to 954,400 residents, experienced a mental health condition in the previous 12 months.
Sources: ABS National Study of Mental Health and Wellbeing, 2020 to 2022; AIHW.
Five-star Google reviews
People keep saying the same thing.
One conversation in, most clients say they’ve finally been understood.
“I truly felt heard for the first time in all my life and deeply understood.”
“When I came to Christina I was drowning in darkness… now I’m finally thriving again.”
“Due to her mediumship I was able to see core issues that I wasn’t able to recognise before.”
How trauma might be showing up for you
- Small, seemingly ordinary moments set off a reaction that feels far bigger than the trigger itself.
- You notice yourself shutting down, freezing, over-pleasing, or staying quietly on high alert most of the time.
- Memories or physical sensations arrive as if the event is still happening right now.
- Trust, boundaries, feeling safe, and your own sense of worth all feel harder than they should.
- Part of you wants support, and part of you is afraid of being pushed to relive things too fast.
Whether you settled here years ago or arrived on the Gold Coast to start again, what you carry is welcome here.
How Christina works
Safe, paced trauma support that keeps you in charge
You will never be asked to force a disclosure or perform a breakthrough. There is no requirement to retell what happened in detail to be helped. Sessions are paced around your sense of safety, your consent, and what your system can genuinely process today.
Safety first
You stay in choice throughout, deciding what to share, what to leave, and how slowly or gently we move.
Body-aware depth
We work with the nervous system as much as the story, so calm becomes something your body can feel, not just understand.
Root-level healing
Over time we gently meet the pattern sitting underneath the survival responses, rather than only managing the surface.
Go deeper
Read a deeper look at how trauma lives in the body
If you like to understand something before you step toward it, our longer trauma article walks through why the nervous system braces long after danger has passed. It explains freeze, hypervigilance, and why gentle pacing matters. Reading it asks nothing of you and commits you to nothing.
Read the trauma counselling blogA quiet place to start, in your own time.
What we can work through
Common trauma themes people bring
Trauma can come from a single overwhelming event or from something painful that repeated over months or years.
Relationship and betrayal wounds
Hurt inside close or intimate relationships that has left trust, closeness, and your own worth feeling fragile.
Shock, accident and loss
A sudden event, injury, medical scare, or bereavement that your body has not yet been able to settle from.
Frontline and work-related strain
The accumulated weight carried by first responders, health, hospitality, and shift or fly-in fly-out workers over time.
About Christina
The counsellor behind Soul Counselling.
Christina Feyes founded Soul Counselling in 2016 and is a counsellor with training in psychology, social work, and human services, along with more than ten years of experience. She is based on the Gold Coast and works with clients right across Australia by video and phone.
Her approach brings together clinical knowledge, grounded and practical counselling, and intuitive insight. That means you can work with the everyday, workable steps and, when you are ready, the deeper layers underneath, all at a pace that stays comfortable for you.
Common questions
Before you book.
If your question is not here, the free 15-minute assessment is the easiest way to ask it.
Is trauma counselling expensive?
You can start without spending anything. Christina offers a free 15-minute assessment with no card and no obligation, so you can get a feel for how she works and whether it suits you before deciding anything. There really is nothing to lose in that first conversation. It is simply a chance to be heard, ask questions, and sense whether this feels like the right kind of support for you right now.
Do I need a referral to start?
No referral is needed. You are welcome to reach out directly and arrange your free 15-minute assessment whenever you feel ready. You do not need paperwork, a diagnosis, or anyone else’s permission to talk to someone. Some people come with a clear sense of what they want to work on, and others simply know that something feels heavy. Both are completely valid reasons to make contact.
Are sessions online, and is Christina really Gold Coast based?
Christina is genuinely based on the Gold Coast, at Southport, so she knows this region well. To keep support flexible and easy to fit around your life, sessions themselves are held online by video and by phone rather than in a clinic room. That means you get someone who understands the local rhythm, while still being able to meet from wherever you feel most comfortable, anywhere on the Coast or across Australia.
What if I do not know where to start?
That is a very common place to begin, and it is completely fine. You do not need to arrive with a tidy explanation or a plan. Many people simply notice that something is not sitting right and want space to make sense of it. In your first conversation, Christina will follow your lead gently, without pressure, and together you can find a starting point that feels manageable rather than overwhelming.
Will I have to retell everything that happened?
No. There is no requirement to give a detailed account of what happened for the work to help you. Healing does not depend on reliving the event or narrating every painful part. You decide what you share and what you keep private, and sessions are paced around your safety. Much of the work can focus on how trauma shows up now, in your body and daily life, rather than on the story itself.
How many sessions will I need?
There is no set number, because every person and every history is different. Some people come for a short, focused period around a specific event, while others value ongoing support as they work through deeper or longer-standing patterns. There is no expectation to commit to anything long term. You are free to go at your own pace and to reassess as you go, keeping what is useful and letting the rest be.
Is online trauma counselling private and effective?
Yes. Sessions are held privately by secure video or phone, and many people find that being in their own safe space actually helps them settle and open up more easily. Working from home, or somewhere that already feels calm, can support the nervous system rather than working against it. For a great many people, gentle, paced trauma counselling delivered online is every bit as meaningful as sitting in a room together.
What if I need urgent help right now?
Soul Counselling is not a crisis service and cannot provide emergency support. If you are in immediate danger, please call 000. For support at any hour you can reach Lifeline on 13 11 14 or Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636. For specialist help with complex trauma, the Blue Knot Helpline on 1300 657 380 offers trauma-informed support. Please reach out to one of these services if things feel unsafe, and consider Christina’s counselling for gentler, ongoing work once you are safe.
Trauma work can be gentle
You are welcome to begin with a free 15-minute assessment, with no card and no obligation, simply to sense whether Christina feels safe enough for a next step.
Book your free 15-minute assessment →Prefer to talk first? Call 0479 144 561
Trauma support across the Gold Coast
Feeling unsettled in a place that looks like paradise
The Gold Coast draws many people who came to start fresh or leave a painful chapter behind, yet the body can keep bracing long after the move is done. Living somewhere sunny and holiday-bright can add its own quiet pressure to appear fine, to keep up, to not let the ease of the place expose how heavy things still feel inside. First responders, nurses, hospitality crews, and fly-in fly-out workers often absorb strain shift after shift with little room to set it down. From Southport to Surfers Paradise, Broadbeach, Burleigh Heads, Palm Beach, Robina, Coomera, Nerang, and up into the Hinterland, that gap between the outside picture and the inner reality is more common than most people admit.
- You relocated to the Gold Coast to leave something behind, yet your body still stays braced.
- You are a first responder, nurse, or frontline worker carrying more than you can easily put down.
- You work hospitality or fly-in fly-out shifts and feel worn thin beneath a capable surface.
- You keep telling everyone you are fine while quietly bracing against the next wave.
Sessions are held online and by phone across the Gold Coast and all of Australia, so support fits around your life. You can also explore all Gold Coast counselling services.
Safe enough to do the work
Support that meets you where you already feel steady
For many people the hardest part of trauma work is trusting that they will not be pushed. On the Gold Coast, where life can move quickly and appearances matter, having one space that moves at your speed can change everything. Nothing here depends on you performing recovery.
Christina is a qualified counsellor offering trauma-aware, paced sessions in which you stay in control of what is shared and when. You can join online from wherever feels safe, whether that is your home in Robina, a quiet room in Burleigh, or a parked car between shifts. Nothing is pushed before you are ready.