Sharon Nicholson

Something In You Has Been Waiting To Return

You just want to feel like yourself again.

You have gone over it more times than you can count.

You feel haunted by it, or by them.

It may have happened months ago, maybe years ago, and still the looping hasn't stopped.

Still the rumination.

Still the pounding heart.

Still the heavy sense of shame.

You understand it, and still you cannot shift it.

You are not in crisis.

You are somewhere quieter and in some ways harder to bear.

You are stuck.

Whether it was infidelity that shattered something you trusted completely.

Whether it was a partner, parent, family member, or close friend who slowly took you apart from the inside.

Whether the harm was invisible, hard to name, even harder to explain.

The betrayal may have also opened something else. Older pain may have surfaced. Childhood experiences may have begun to make a different kind of sense as you recognise familiar patterns.

If that is your experience, it belongs here too. This work holds all of it.

Your mind keeps going over it.

Your body is still bracing.

And something in you knows that going over it one more time isn't what will set you free.

What you are really looking for is yourself

Not the version shaped by what happened, but the one that was always there underneath.

Your true self. Who you really are.

The answers your mind keeps searching for aren't found through more thinking.

They live in your body.

And that is where we begin.

This is where something different becomes possible.

🌿 “I finally feel like it’s ok to be me.”
— Client experience

Book your free clarity call

Do I See Myself Here?

You might recognise some of this.

Your mind replays it, the conversation, the moment, the discovery, on a loop you didn't choose and can't seem to stop.

You second-guess your own memory. Your own reactions. Your own sense of what was real and what wasn't.

You've tried talking about it. You understand it, or you think you do, and still something hasn't shifted.

Still the bracing. Still the hypervigilance. Still the feeling that some part of you is stuck in a moment that happened months or years ago.

You look completely fine from the outside while something essential is missing on the inside.

You've lost trust in your own instincts, in your ability to read people, situations, yourself.

You second-guess decisions you would once have made without thinking.

You feel responsible for other people's emotions in a way that quietly exhausts you.

You edit what you say before you say it.

You make yourself smaller without quite deciding to.

You just don't feel like yourself anymore...a shadow of who you used to be.

You know something has to change.

You're just not sure what, or how, or whether anything can actually reach the place where this lives.

If any of this sounds familiar, you are in exactly the right place.

What becomes possible from here

Sharon Nicholson
Registered MBACP, Accred

Betraya trauma
Narcissistic Abuse Recovery

Healing Has To Reach Deeper Than Understanding

You don't need to keep carrying this alone.

If you have tried therapy before, and still something hasn't shifted, that is not a reflection of you.

It is a reflection of what trauma is and where it lives.

Talking reaches the mind, and the mind already knows.

What hasn't been reached yet is the place in the body where it is still being held; the nervous system that is still bracing, still scanning, still waiting for something that hasn't come.

That is what this work reaches.

Why Brainspotting?

Brainspotting works differently

Rather than processing through language, it works with the nervous system directly, using your field of vision to locate and gently release what the body has been holding. It doesn't ask you to find the words. It meets you where the words run out.

Evolved out of EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitisation & Reprocessing) Brainspotting is often experienced as surprisingly powerful, yet gentle and intuitive.

→ How Brainspotting works, and why it's different

Book your free clarity call

Find Your Door

Where Would You Like To Begin?

Different experiences need different kinds of support.

Whether you are recovering from narcissistic abuse, navigating betrayal trauma, or looking for steady ongoing therapy, there is space here for your healing to unfold in the way that feels right for you.

Sharon Nicholson
Registered Member MBACP, Accred

Betrayal trauma therapy intensives

Feeling better faster isn't a shortcut. It's a different kind of container

In standard weekly therapy, you open something, the hour ends, and you carry it through the week. The nervous system may never quite get to finish what it started.

Intensives change that.

Sustained, body-led work, with enough time for something to shift.

Book your free clarity call

Betrayal Trauma & Infidelity Intensives

For those past the initial shock of betrayal, including infidelity — stuck, ruminating, hypervigilant, and ready to find themselves again.

This is for you if you can't access what you truly want from underneath the noise of the betrayal.

Includes the Finding Ground post-intensive companion and a follow-up session for integration.

Betrayal Trauma Intensives

Sharon Nicholson
Narcissistic Abuse Specialist

Therapy intensives

Narcissistic Abuse & Relational Trauma Intensives

For those who are no longer living in an emotionally harmful environment, but still feel deeply impacted by the relationship.

Whether the relationship was with a partner, a parent, a sibling, a family member, or a close friend. Whether the harm happened months or years ago, or began much earlier in life.

Ready for concentrated, body-based processing, and the returning to yourself that becomes possible from here.

Includes the Finding Ground post-intensive companion and a follow-up session.

Relational Trauma Intensives

Sharon Nicholson Trauma Therapist UK

Relational Trauma, Narcissistic Abuse, Profound Loss

90-Minute Sessions — Ongoing Support

For those who need a consistent, reliable space to work through betrayal trauma, narcissistic abuse, or relational trauma at a slower pace, week by week, over time.

These are 90-minute sessions to allow for deeper processing.

If you're navigating another form of relational loss or invisible grief, and wondering whether this space might be right for you, a clarity call is always the right place to start.

90-Minute sessions

Not Ready For Therapy Yet? There is Somewhere to Begin

Your Healing Companion

Sharon Nicholson
Registered MBACP, Accred

Relational Trauma Healing Companion

No Longer a Ghost in Your Own Life® is written directly to you, in the form of personal letters. 197 pages of tools, psychoeducation, and somatic support for those navigating betrayal trauma and relational harm — at your own pace, in your own time.

Includes a free sleep companion: When the Nights Are Loud.

🌿 "The note I made when reading was ... 'this fits like a Lego brick'"

— Companion Reader

£47 · Instant digital download · Less than the cost of a single therapy session

Begin with the companion

Meet Me

I'm Sharon Nicholson, BACP Accredited Counsellor, Brainspotting Practitioner, and Certified Narcissistic Abuse Specialist™ with over 20 years of clinical practice.

I work exclusively online, across the UK.

I work relationally and trauma-informed, and integrate Brainspotting where appropriate, particular when experiences are held in the nervous sysyand talking therapy alone is not enough.

Put simply, I built this practice because I needed it and it didn't exist.

Like so many, I have my own lived experience of betrayal and relational trauma. I understand the pain, the confusion, the shame, the exhaustion, the particular disorientation of trying to make sense of something that may have been designed not to make sense.

I understand what it is to appear capable on the outside while something essential has quietly gone missing.

That's why I do this work, not just because of my training, because I know what's possible on the other side of it, because I have lived it, and because I have had the privilege of witnessing it again and again.

🌿 "To anyone thinking about starting this Brainspotting journey with Sharon, all I can say is just do it! The benefits are huge and it's time those of us who are affected by the past break free from it all and move forward with peace and happiness. Brainspotting is truly remarkable and Sharon is an excellent guide. I can highly recommend it!"

— Client experience

→ Read more about me

Frequently Asked Questions

Please contact me through the enquiry form if you cannot find an answer to your question.

How do I know if what I experienced was relational trauma?

Relational trauma often leaves people feeling changed in ways that are hard to fully explain, even long after the relationship or situation has ended.

You may find yourself overthinking, replaying conversations, doubting your own perceptions, struggling to trust yourself, or feeling as though your system is still bracing for something.

Sometimes the harm is obvious. Sometimes it is subtle, cumulative, and difficult to put into words. Many people minimise their experience because there was no single clear event. And yet something in them knows they have been deeply affected.

If you feel persistently on edge, emotionally overwhelmed, shut down, or disconnected from yourself after a relationship, this work may be relevant for you.

What if I understand what happened, but still cannot move on?

This is one of the most painful and confusing experiences after relational trauma.

Many people already understand the situation intellectually. They can name what happened and why it affected them. And still, nothing inside them settles.

That is not a lack of insight.

Even when something makes sense in your mind, your body may still be responding as though the danger is present. It is this gap between understanding and felt experience that often keeps people stuck.

Our work together does not rely on you thinking harder about what happened. It supports your system in coming out of survival mode, at a pace that feels safe enough to shift.

Why do I still feel attached to someone who hurt me?

After relational trauma, attachment can remain even when trust has been deeply ruptured.

You may find that part of you knows the relationship was harmful, while another part still feels emotionally pulled toward it. This can feel deeply confusing and often carries shame.

This is a common nervous system response to relational injury, particularly where there has been inconsistency, emotional intensity, or betrayal.

Nothing about this means you are doing it wrong. It reflects how attachment systems adapt under stress and threat.

Therapy can help you relate to these patterns with more understanding, so they begin to soften rather than dominate your internal world.

Why do I still feel attached to someone who hurt me?

Traumatic relationships can create powerful emotional and physiological attachment patterns, particularly where there has been intermittent care, betrayal, manipulation, emotional inconsistency, or prolonged hypervigilance.

Part of you may know the relationship harmed you, while another part still feels emotionally tethered to it.

This inner conflict can feel deeply confusing and shame-inducing. But it is a recognised nervous system response to relational trauma, not a reflection of your worth or intelligence.

Therapy can help you understand these patterns with compassion while gently supporting your system to loosen the grip they still hold.

Can therapy still help if the relationship ended years ago?

Yes.

Relational trauma does not always resolve simply because time has passed. Many people seek support months or even years later, when they notice that something still feels unresolved inside them.

Sometimes a later experience reactivates older wounds. Sometimes clarity only begins to emerge once the nervous system is no longer in the relationship itself.

This work can be meaningful no matter how long ago your experiences were.

What if I do not know whether I want to stay or leave?

After betrayal, many people feel intense pressure to make immediate decisions about the relationship.

But relational trauma often creates confusion, emotional flooding, hypervigilance, grief, attachment conflict, and nervous system overwhelm. Part of you may feel deeply hurt and unable to imagine rebuilding trust. Another part may still love your partner, want the relationship, or hope something can still be repaired.

Both experiences can exist at the same time.

Therapy does not require you to already know what you want.

Our work is not about pushing you toward staying or leaving. It is about helping you reconnect with yourself beneath the fear, shock, confusion, and survival responses that betrayal can create.

From there, clarity often begins to emerge more naturally and truthfully.

What is Brainspotting?

Evolved out of EMDR, Brainspotting is a focused, body-based approach to working with trauma held in the nervous system.

Rather than relying only on talking or cognitive understanding, it helps access deeper emotional and physiological material that may not be fully reachable through conversation alone.

It can be particularly helpful for overthinking, emotional looping, hypervigilance, shutdown, shame, and experiences that feel “stuck” despite insight.

Sessions include bilateral music and are paced carefully and collaboratively, with attention to safety and regulation throughout.

How is this different from traditional talking therapy?

Talking therapy can be incredibly valuable, especially for understanding your experience.

But many people arrive here after already understanding a great deal, and still feeling stuck.

Relational trauma is often held at a nervous system level, not just a cognitive one. This means change may need to happen not only through insight, but through felt experience and regulation.

My approach integrates relational depth with nervous system–informed trauma therapy to support change at both levels.

The aim is not only to understand what happened, but to help you feel more settled, present, and like yourself again.

Do you work online across the UK?

Yes. Sessions are exclusively offered online to adults across the UK.

Many people find that working from a familiar, private space makes it easier to engage gently and consistently with this kind of deeper therapeutic work.

For intensives, some people chose to create their own retreat-like experience. They may book time at a quiet hotel, cottage or lodge, integrating other wellness experiences into their 2 or 3 days.

As long as you have quiet privacy, stable wi-fi connection and a space that feels safe for you, your intensive sessions can be held from wherever feels right for you.

Ready To Begin?

You don't need the perfect words to start. Many clients come become they feel stuck, anxious, or emotionally exhausted. A free clarity call is a quiet, no-pressure conversation about where you are and whether working together feels right.

Sharon Nicholson is a BACP Accredited Counsellor and Brainspotting Practitioner working exclusively online with women across the uk. This practice specialises in the lasting effects of relational trauma, narcissistic abuse, and betrayal, including C-PTSD and the anxiety, hypervigilance, shame, and emotional overwhelm these experiences so often leave behind.

Brainspotting is a neuroexperiential, body-based approach that works in a similar way to EMDR. Evolved out of EMDR, it is often experienced as more gentle and more intuitive.

If you have been searching for EMDR therapy and want to understand how Brainspotting compares, a free clarity call is the right place to start.

Offering online trauma therapy across the UK, including Weymouth, Dorset and surrounding areas.

Specialising in relational trauma, narcissistic abuse recovery, and betrayal trauma — through the body, not just the mind.

The content on the website is for informational purposes only. It Is not intended as professional advice, treatment or diagnosis. Please seek appropriate qualified support from your healthcare provider where necessary.

Relational Trauma Specialist| UK