Trauma and Chronic Pain?
Supporting Regulation and Recovery
Breaking the cycle
If you’re experiencing the ongoing effects of trauma or living with chronic pain, support is available. Drawing on contemporary pain science and trauma-informed principles, it is possible to explore new ways of working with persistent symptoms and trauma-related patterns.
The journey of recovery
You may be just starting your journey, or you may have already explored a number of therapeutic approaches. When symptoms persist, it can feel frustrating or discouraging.
Understanding patterns within the nervous system and stress response can offer a different lens through which to view ongoing pain or trauma-related symptoms.
Understanding the interplay between trauma and chronic pain
As a physiotherapist with additional training in trauma-informed approaches, Carole works with people experiencing chronic pain and trauma-related presentations — sometimes separately, sometimes together.
Contemporary research suggests that trauma and prolonged stress responses can influence nervous system sensitivity and stress regulation. In some individuals, this heightened vigilance may be associated with persistent pain or emotional distress.
Chronic pain and trauma are not always directly connected. However, in complex cases, exploring nervous system regulation can be an important component of care.
A Holistic, Biopsychosocial Approach
Carole integrates physiotherapy with trauma-informed and mind–body approaches in her work with trauma and chronic pain.
She incorporates The Richards Trauma Process (TRTP), Internal Family Systems Therapy (IFS or 'parts' work) and a ‘hands on' approach called Associative Awareness Technique (AAT) alongside physiotherapy and embodied approaches where appropriate. Read more about these techniques here.
These frameworks focus on emotional processing, nervous system awareness and self-regulation within a structured therapeutic setting.
WHY TRTP, AAT and IFS?
These approaches are grounded in contemporary understandings of how emotional processing, neural pathways and stress regulation may interact with persistent symptoms.
Emerging research in mind–body medicine continues to explore how learned stress responses and neural sensitisation can contribute to ongoing distress or pain in some individuals.
Carole integrates these approaches thoughtfully and collaboratively, with the intention of supporting greater awareness and regulation over time.
Carole Young
Trauma and Chronic Pain Therapist
Carole has over 35 years of experience in occupational rehabilitation and workplace health. She has contributed to the development and implementation of Workers Compensation rehabilitation frameworks in Australia and has written extensively in the field. In addition to her clinical work, she has studied, taught and consulted in sustainability for more than a decade.
Carole integrates physiotherapy with additional professional development in trauma-informed and mind–body approaches. Contemporary pain science recognises that persistent pain can, in some cases, involve nervous system sensitisation and heightened stress responses. This understanding has expanded the way many clinicians view chronic pain beyond purely structural explanations.
Her clinical focus is working with individuals experiencing complex and persistent pain presentations through an integrated, trauma-aware approach.