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ReselfMe Therapy
Therapy for Complex PTSD, Dissociation and Attachment Trauma
This is a place for the parts of you that have learned to disappear in order to survive. If you live with complex PTSD, if you dissociate, if you lose time, feel outside your own body, or notice that you often cannot quite locate yourself in the present moment, you are not imagining it, and you are not alone in it. Many people who come to see me have spent years being told, gently or otherwise, that they are simply anxious, or overly sensitive, or that they think too much, when in fact their nervous system learned, very early in life, that disappearing was the safest thing to do. Many have also gone from doctor to doctor, trying to find a physical explanation for what they feel in their body, the racing heart, the exhaustion, the pain that moves and will not settle, only to be told again and again that nothing is wrong, when the truth is that something is very wrong, it simply cannot be seen on a scan, because what is dysregulated is the nervous system itself, not any single organ.
At ReselfMe Therapy, we begin with the understanding that dissociation, difficulty trusting others, and a fragmented sense of self are not flaws in your character. They are intelligent adaptations that your mind and body built, often in childhood, in response to relationships or environments that were frightening, inconsistent, or emotionally unsafe. This is the territory I work in most closely, complex trauma, dissociation, attachment wounds that formed before you had words for them, and the long, quiet aftermath that is often called developmental trauma.
I do not ask you to be more resilient, and I do not ask you to push through. I ask you to slow down enough that we can work together, carefully and at a pace your nervous system can actually tolerate, so that the parts of you that split off in order to cope can gradually be understood, welcomed back, and integrated. You do not need to fix yourself. You need space to find your way back to yourself, gently, and at whatever pace feels safe for you.
About Me & the Therapy I Offer
My name is Julia Martinez, and I am an integrative psychotherapist, accredited with the BACP, holding a master's degree in psychotherapy, and working with adults and adolescents. I trained in the United Kingdom, and I have lived here for eighteen years, though my own roots lie elsewhere, and I mention this because the way I listen and the way I understand emotional survival is shaped by more than one culture, more than one language, and more than one way of making sense of pain.
I hold specialist training in the treatment of complex trauma and dissociative disorders, including Janina Fisher's Certified Clinical Trauma Professional training at Level Two, which focuses specifically on complex trauma and dissociation. This is not a general interest area for me. It is the centre of my clinical practice, and it is the reason people often find their way to me after other therapy has helped a little, but has not reached the parts of them that still feel frozen, absent, or split off. I also attend conferences and additional trainings regularly, since this field continues to develop, and I want to remain closely in touch with modern psychotherapeutic developments in the treatment of trauma and dissociation, rather than relying only on what I learned when I first trained.
I work with clients who often describe themselves in similar ways, even though their histories are different. They tell me they feel like they are watching their own life from a distance. They tell me they lose time, or lose track of conversations, or find themselves acting in ways that do not feel like them. They tell me that closeness with other people feels both desperately wanted and quietly terrifying. If any of this is familiar to you, then what you are describing very likely has a name, and it very likely has a path through it.
My approach, the Reself Method, for complex trauma and dissociation
Over years of clinical work, I developed an approach that brings together what I have found, in practice, to genuinely help people with complex PTSD, dissociation, and attachment trauma move toward a settled and integrated sense of self. I call this the Reself Method, and it is trauma informed, relational, and paced according to your own capacity, rather than a fixed programme applied the same way to everyone. The method draws on four strands of clinical work.
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Depth therapy, to understand the emotional patterns you inherited and adapted to long before you had any choice in the matter
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Somatic listening, since the body holds memory and threat response that the thinking mind cannot always access, which matters greatly in dissociation, because the body often knows what the conscious mind has had to forget
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Parts work and internal awareness, so the different states of you, the one who copes, the one who freezes, the one who watches from a distance, can be recognised and brought into relationship with one another
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Steady relational presence, because attachment wounds heal through a relationship that is consistent and safe enough to be trusted, slowly, over time
This work is not about analysing your history for its own sake, and it is not about reliving distressing memories before you are ready. It is about building enough safety and enough internal awareness that genuine integration becomes possible, so that you can live from a coherent sense of self, rather than moving between fragments of yourself depending on what the moment demands.
Who this work is for
This way of working tends to be most helpful for people who recognise some of the following in themselves. A history of childhood emotional neglect, instability, or relational trauma that shaped how safe closeness ever felt. Ongoing struggles with dissociation, whether that means losing time, feeling detached from your own body, or feeling as though you are observing your life rather than living inside it. A diagnosis, or a strong suspicion, of complex PTSD, sometimes alongside anxiety, depression, or difficulties with relationships and self-worth. A sense that you have done a great deal of work on yourself already, and understand your history intellectually, and yet something still feels stuck, absent, or unreachable underneath.
If any of this describes you, then the work we would do together is not about starting from nothing. It is about finally reaching the layer that talking alone has not been able to touch.
How To Get Started
If you feel ready to take a first step, the way to begin is a free twenty-minute consultation, either by phone or by video call, during which I will ask some gentle questions about what has brought you to therapy now, and you can ask me anything you would like about how I work. This call also gives us both a chance to sense whether we are a good fit for the depth of work you are looking for, since with complex trauma and dissociation in particular, the relationship with your therapist matters as much as the method itself.
I offer sessions in person, in a calm and private practice room in Chigwell, a short walk from the nearest tube station, with convenient parking nearby for those who prefer to drive. I also offer online sessions by Zoom for clients anywhere in the United Kingdom, which many people with dissociative symptoms find easier at first, since working from a familiar and safe space can support the nervous system while trust is still being built. Sessions are available Monday to Friday, between ten in the morning and eight in the evening, and I am always happy to discuss timing that works around your life.
What to expect in the first session
I understand that beginning therapy, particularly around dissociation or complex trauma, can feel daunting, sometimes even more so than beginning therapy for a more clearly defined issue, since you may not yet have the words for what you are experiencing, or you may worry that what you describe will sound strange or hard to believe. It will not. I have heard it before, in many different forms, and my priority in the first session is simply to help you feel safe enough to begin.
We will spend our first meeting getting to know one another, at whatever pace feels comfortable for you. There is no pressure to explain everything, or to explain it in the right order, or even to explain it in words at all. Sessions run for fifty minutes, and where verbal expression feels difficult, which is common with dissociation, I also draw on creative methods, including metaphorical cards and elements of art therapy, since these can sometimes reach what language, for now, cannot.
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MA in Integrative Psychotherapy and Counselling, Regent's University London
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MBACP Accredited
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Certified Clinical Trauma Professional, Level Two, Janina Fisher, specialising in the treatment of complex trauma and dissociative disorders
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Diploma in Counselling Children and Young People, SPC Training Academy
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Certificate in Children's Brain and Emotional Development, The Tavistock and Portman NHS
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Diploma in Psychosomatic Therapy, mind body trauma work, PSY2.0, Moscow
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Life Coaching, Animas, London
Qualifications
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