By Vienna Farnell
As more and more people awaken to the concept of complex trauma and its far reaching impacts on mental, emotional and physical health outcomes, UMA BOX is preparing a space for those who have been affected. A space where they can begin their journey to healing with the best possible start, accessing specialist therapy for people affected by complex trauma and CPTSD.
Vienna FARNELL SITS DOWN FOR A VIRTUAL FIRESIDE CHAT WITH UMA BOX FOUNDER and one of Health Foundry’s newest members, Nicole Svensson, to share her journey so far and the change UMA BOX is seeking to bring to the mental health system within the UK.
Thank you for making the time to meet with us. Can you tell us about UMA BOX?
UMA BOX is a specialised therapy platform for users with childhood trauma (complex trauma) & CPTSD. Such trauma is usually a result of chronic early childhood experiences. At present, the mental health system doesn’t operate from a complex trauma lens.
Within the mental health system, many therapists don’t have training on Complex Trauma and the modalities that are most used are not effective for complex trauma.
“There is a massive gap between research and clinical practice. Many therapists operating don’t have extended training on complex PTSD which is needed, because those with complex trauma have specific and different needs that mainstream talk therapy alone cannot address. At UMA BOX, we are bridging that gap by placing neuroscience at the core of our therapeutic approach to complex trauma.”
Whether you seek treatment through the NHS or privately, something I observed was that you often have to vet your therapist to see if they are equipped to address complex trauma.
So even though we are noticing more people connecting the effect their childhood trauma has had on their mental health, there are others who are not aware and many therapists are not equipped which means many people get the wrong therapy or find it harder to access the help they need.
Even when seeking therapy online, trauma is an umbrella term. There is trauma experienced as an adult, PTSD, however complex trauma from early years is something else.
Even though there are many similarities in the effects of all trauma, it is important to differentiate between adult trauma, single-event trauma (PTSD), and complex trauma from early years. To give you an analogy:
A child suffering abuse or neglect during their early years will have different implications than an adult suffering the aftermath of rape or a car accident. These are different types of trauma with different impacts.
CPTSD has only been a diagnosis since 2019 in Europe. You can get diagnosed in the UK but unfortunately many of the numbers we have for complex PTSD are quite skewed. Many are yet to be diagnosed, many people will go undiagnosed and many people think they have or have been diagnosed with depression, anxiety - which many people have, but for many this may simply be the aftermath of their complex trauma and CPTSD. Many also have a normal PTSD diagnosis. So the numbers are quite skewed.
Either way it is really important that people get the right kind of therapy and a skilled therapist that has training on complex trauma and the developmental arrest of a healthy child development. That’s why I founded UMA BOX, to enable people to access specialist therapy.
When doing some research about CPTSD, this kind of trauma is something that can lead to greater risk of developing physical health problems, too, right?
Oh yes, that’s another reason why UMA BOX is needed.
Mainstream psychotherapy and talk therapy can be great to a certain extent, you can learn the depth of yourself, build a nurturing relationship with a therapist...
But when we look from a complex trauma lens, we look at a mind and body approach - it’s all one.
We can’t forget the body. You can’t think your way out of trauma. That’s why the cognitive approach alone is at a loss. That’s where we go wrong.
Neuroscience has opened up our understanding and this is why traditional talk psychotherapy is limited in working with complex trauma as it completely forgets the role of the body (nervous system) in healing. We need to integrate both together.
“You can’t think your way out of [complex] trauma. That’s where we go wrong.”
Absolutely.
It’s a massive issue and I’m excited for our future. I do believe that we are in the early days of a paradigm shift and we are in the infancy.
It’s heartbreaking waking up to the reality of childhood trauma (complex trauma) and how prevalent it is…It’s bittersweet but it's also very needed. A lot of people are stuck living their life in dysfunction, suffering in survival states, thinking that they have anxiety, depression…but really, my personal belief is that many more than we dare to admit exist on the complex PTSD spectrum.
This sounds like it could be a life changing tool for many. With any condition, if you find out you’ve potentially been misdiagnosed and go on to get the right treatment, it can change everything.
It changes everything. And while this is not about collecting diagnoses, the important thing is that people do get the right kind of care and education. It can be life changing.
When you wake up to the very fact you do have CPTSD from childhood trauma, it can be life changing in terms of the healing journey you start on. So many things make sense. So I think education is really important.The right education and support.
What led you personally to this realm of complex PTSD?
My whole life I’ve been shaped by complex trauma, from all angles really. When I was younger, I was really interested in psychology and why people behaved in a certain way. I grew up in a home with an abusive parent which I think led me into trying to understand why people are like that.
I then studied criminology because I was so fascinated by the subject. I went on to do most of my career within the third sector, criminal justice, specialising in gangs and serious violence. I’ve worked in partnership with the Met Police and NHS. I’ve spent a lot of time supporting really vulnerable traumatised communities within the criminal justice system.
During working I gained such an interest in trauma and complex trauma especially, I wanted to try and change and trauma-inform the criminal justice system. And I’m still very passionate about that! That then led me into studying complex trauma and trauma informed practice, I did a Master’s degree in that. So it’s really from all angles.
“When we look at complex trauma we can take extreme examples […] but then there’s so many other people that also have very high levels of complex trauma, [that] might be in a functional job, working [...] looking functional on the outside but on the inside are really struggling every day through pain and dysfunction.”
It’s really interesting how your work in the criminal justice sector has also drawn you to working on a platform for specialist childhood trauma (complex trauma) & CPTSD therapy. You saw how trauma can affect people’s outcomes.
Yeah, and It’s crazy how many people that work with some of the most traumatised individuals have zero training.
But what’s so interesting though when we look at childhood trauma (complex trauma) is we can take extreme examples like the communities I work with, serious violence and gang violence, we can see that but then there’s so many other people that also have very high levels of complex trauma, but they might be in a functional job, working, having children, looking functional on the outside but on the inside really struggling every day through pain and dysfunction.
The third person could be someone who is homeless on the street with substance abuse issues. It can really play out in so many different ways but suffering is all the same.
Speaking from my own experience, I always looked like a functional individual from the outside but before my own healing journey, it was really bad. If I had to go back to that level of functioning I probably would not do that.
My personal belief is that so much of adult mental health is from a complex trauma lens and early years trauma. That’s my truth.
“For many there was no life before the trauma. That’s what makes it so complex, one knows nothing else.”
Is there anything you’re looking forward to for UMA BOX in the next year?
In the next few weeks I am starting a pilot project with organic matching between clients and therapists, where I facilitate the matching process, aim to build out the therapist network and gain feedback from both sides to shape UMA BOX in the most effective way serving both sides of the therapeutic relationship well.
I’m still looking for a co-founder - because this is bigger than myself.
Early next year, I want a functional platform for UMA BOX.
I am excited for the UMA BOX platform to come to life, growing a community that I can serve.
I am also excited about getting to know more amazing individuals who are all on their journeys to make a positive impact.
It’s still such early days, but that’s the plan. I think next year is going to be really exciting!!
More personally, would you be happy to share a random fact about yourself?
[laughs] Sure, I can give you lots of random facts!
Great!
Random facts about me. During my childhood in Sweden I did circus and something called equestrian vaulting which is basically gymnastics on horses, a random sport from Germany. The funny thing is people used to call it circus and I used to get offended because it’s not circus - it’s an actual sport!
When I was younger I learned to unicycle and I also played violin. My violin teacher was so fascinated by it that when we had a concert, he asked me to cycle in with my violin on my unicycle.
I also love sports and health. I’m into basic biohacking as I find it a massive part of healing and staying sane.
Currently I do Crossfit. I’m one of those annoying ones!
Thank you for those genuinely interesting random facts! Can you still ride a unicycle and play violin?
I don’t play the violin but give me a unicycle, a thousand percent I could! I also learned some silks stuff and at Crossfit whenever we do a ropes activity, my coach tells me off because I’ll start to like swing myself from the ropes [laughs].
Awesome! How did you find out about Health Foundry, what made you want to become a member?
I met Freya from re;mind in February and found out about Health Foundry through her. Although UMA BOX is in the early stages, I thought it was time, time to be in a space with other companies in Health Tech and that it would be beneficial to be part of the community.
It’s great to have you as a member. Any final thoughts?
I feel grateful. It’s like full circle. Having experienced complex PTSD myself, understanding the mental health sector, having worked with traumatised communities and also having studied complex trauma.
There are so many complexities in this arena and we didn’t touch base on them all as I thought that is for a longer conversation. I am confident to say that I truly believe UMA BOX is so needed, it shouldn’t be so hard to find the right therapy.
You are doing amazing and important work. We wish you and UMA BOX every success and look forward to being a part of your journey!
To learn more about UMA BOX and stay updated, follow: