VERNA: The Added Value of a Combined Approach

In the world of rehabilitation and emotional healing, having a practitioner who can connect the dots between mind, body, and function can be life-changing. Verna has a unique blend of skills that allows her to support clients not just in managing daily life but in healing deeply from trauma — maximising impact and creating space for genuine transformation.

The OT Lens: Rebuilding Daily Function

As an OT, Verna’s mission is to help people re-engage in the activities that give their lives meaning — whether that’s cooking, parenting, working, or simply moving through daily routines with independence. Working with physical, cognitive, and emotional barriers that stand in the way of these goals as an OT she will create personalised strategies to overcome them.

The Counselling Approach: Addressing the Emotional Landscape

As an OT, Verna knows that regaining function isn’t just a mechanical process — it’s an emotional journey and as a qualified counsellor her counselling skills are so crucial. Many clients dealing with illness, injury, or trauma carry heavy emotional loads: grief, frustration, anxiety, loss of identity. She can help clients can process these feelings, make sense of their experiences, and start to rebuild their inner resilience. She doesn’t separate “doing” from “feeling” — she recognises they are intertwined at every step.

The EMDR Perspective: Healing at the Root

Adding even greater depth to her work, Verna is also a trained EMDR practitioner.

EMDR is a powerful, evidence-based therapy designed to help people process and resolve traumatic memories that are “stuck” in the brain. Trauma — whether from accidents, medical emergencies, assault, or other life-changing events — can profoundly impact not just mental health, but also physical recovery and engagement in life. With EMDR, Verna helps clients desensitise distressing memories, reframe negative self-beliefs, and rewire emotional responses — creating new pathways for healing at the neurological level.

For many clients, EMDR unlocks progress where traditional therapy alone may stall — making it a vital tool for unlocking recovery across mind and body.

Verna integrates trauma work into functional recovery, recognising that trauma can sabotage progress if left unaddressed.

What makes Verna’s practice unique isn’t just that she wears three hats — it’s how she blends them together in a fluid, responsive way.