Affordable Complex Trauma Counselling: Specialist Support Structured Around What the Work Actually Requires

Two people holding hands, symbolizing the support of affordable complex trauma counselling.

Sometimes people ask why I don’t charge more. The answer is simple: my pricing is intentional. It reflects a commitment to depth and continuity. This is not short-term work — and I have structured my practice so that clients can stay long enough for meaningful trauma recovery, without the work being interrupted prematurely by financial pressure whenever possible.

What matters to me — what has always mattered — is breaking the cycle of violence. In families. In communities. In countries. As a trauma-focused practitioner with more than 15 years of experience supporting adults, I help adults healing from complex trauma — including childhood trauma, systemic oppression, and relational harm — wherever they are in that work.

Trauma moves through generations. It shapes how people relate to themselves, their children, their partners, their friends, and their communities. Every person who heals changes something in that cycle. That’s why I did my own healing — because I wanted to contribute to a healthier world.

I offer affordable complex trauma counselling at a rate designed to make specialized trauma support more accessible. I could charge more. I choose not to.

Why training and professional expertise in complex trauma matter

Working with complex trauma takes more than general counselling skills. It takes specific training in dissociation, attachment injury, nervous system regulation, and parts work — and it takes years of actually doing this work with people, not just learning the theory behind it. “Complex trauma counselling” isn’t even a regulated term. Anyone can use it.

I trained in parts work years before I ever heard the word IFS. In constellation work, in Gestalt, in my own therapy, learning to find the part of me that froze and the part that kept going. By the time I added EMDR and formal trauma training, I already knew what it felt like to be split into pieces and to slowly come back together.

Trauma is an umbrella term. What it actually takes to recover depends on what happened to you. Basic trauma training isn’t the same as training for complex trauma — they’re not interchangeable, and treating them as if they are is part of what leaves people unhelped.

Some clients tell me they did years of therapy before this, and for the first time, met someone who didn’t judge them. That’s what let them start healing. Some tell me they feel understood in a way they hadn’t experienced before — that I get trauma in a way previous counsellors didn’t. Some ask me everything — what healing actually looks like, how deep parts work goes, what to expect next — and I answer as honestly as I know how.

I’ve sat with trauma recovery. I understand trauma recovery not only through research and clinical training, but through the lived experience of healing. I know what it feels like from the inside, not just what a study says about it. I know it’s hardly ever straightforward. There will be ups and downs.

I also believe it’s worth it.

Why does this work take longer than a benefits plan assumes

A benefits plan usually covers six to eight sessions. That’s enough for some things — managing a crisis, learning coping skills. It’s not enough for relational wounding, which needs a stable relationship to heal — and the deeper patterns don’t show up in eight sessions. They show up over time, once there’s enough trust for them to surface at all.

Healing the nervous system isn’t a conversation. It’s a slow retraining — learning that your body can come back down after it goes up, again and again, until it actually believes it. Some of that you can do on your own. But coregulating with another nervous system, one that’s actually trained and steady, can help in a way solo work can’t reach. Complex trauma usually means a higher baseline of dysregulation to begin with.

Complex trauma often builds a strong “carries on” part — the one that wants to push through, keep moving, get it done. Left alone, that part can dysregulate you further rather than help. I often gently name which part is active and whether we’re moving too fast for it.

I once had a client who regularly dysregulated in session. I started asking why, and we found something specific: it was my questions. Questions are part of how counselling works, but they’re also an act of power — someone asking, someone answering. So I changed how I asked.

I’ve watched clients stop coming back — not because the work was done, but because the money ran out. That’s its own kind of abandonment. One more person who couldn’t stay.

I built my pricing so that it’s less likely to happen.

What income-based pricing actually is

My sessions for affordable complex trauma counselling run from C$82 to C$110. Most of the field charges somewhere between C$130 and C$250. I could charge that too. I don’t.

If you see price as an indicator of quality, I may not be the right person for you.

This is the pricing I want to offer people with complex trauma. We don’t all have the same means. Trauma recovery shouldn’t only be available to people who are wealthy enough or lucky enough to have a benefits plan that covers it.

I lived in Spain, where therapy out of pocket runs €40 (C$64) to €90 (C$145) a session, with no benefits system behind it at all. It made me wonder whether the benefits system here is actually part of what drives up costs — not just what makes them bearable.

I work with people who are planning for their recovery, not just testing the water for five sessions. That’s not a judgment — it’s a fit question. Healing complex trauma takes time, and it works best when both of us know that going in.

At this rate, even insurance coverage stretches further. I could charge more. But then I wouldn’t be honest about what recovery from complex trauma actually requires.

The total cost depends on how long your process takes, and that’s different for everyone. As a rough starting point, most clients see me every two weeks, so two sessions a month is a fair baseline to budget from. Some want weekly sessions at the start. That usually changes as things settle.

This work is self-pay. Most of the people I work with are paying out of pocket — by choice, or because there wasn’t another option. My approach spoke to them, and they wanted to work with me, insurance or not. Some started with insurance coverage and lost it partway through. They chose to keep going with me anyway.

I work mostly online, so where you live isn’t the reason you can’t start. I see clients across Canada and beyond, at the same rates, doing the same work.

If this sounds like the kind of support you’ve been looking for, book a free consultation. We can talk about what you’re experiencing and whether this approach fits.

Who affordable complex trauma counselling is for

What the people I work with have in common isn’t a label. It’s what they’re carrying: overwhelming emotions that show up out of nowhere, numbness and shutdown when it gets too much, a sense of inner fragmentation, a sense of being disconnected from their own core — from the part of them that knows who they are.

Read more: Signs of childhood trauma in adults: Why your inner world feels fragmented.

Some have never told anyone what actually happened to them. Some have been in therapy for years and still feel like nothing landed. Some are immigrants, queer, disabled, or carrying the weight of racism on top of what happened at home. Some have left a relationship that hurt them and don’t feel safe seeing someone close to where they live.

Most of them are curious before they ever reach out. Something in an article spoke to them. In my own healing, I learned to trust who felt right — not who had the best website or the longest list of letters after their name. I think most people already know that, even if no one’s told them it’s allowed.

The pricing isn’t why they come. It’s why they can stay.

When identity, oppression, and complex trauma intersect

Systemic trauma is real. I do not treat the accurate read of a genuinely hostile environment as a cognitive distortion to be corrected. This is a specialized approach to trauma recovery that recognizes the full context of people’s lives, and I have intentionally structured it so more people can access it.

I work with Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour who are healing from complex trauma, including the impacts of systemic racism, colonial violence, and discrimination. I recognize that these experiences are not separate from trauma — they shape the nervous system, relationships, sense of safety, and healing process.

I am a white settler in Canada, and this comes with significant privilege. I acknowledge how white supremacy, colonization, and other systems of oppression shape people’s experiences, including within mental health systems. I integrate anti-oppressive practices into my work in an embodied way — through how we understand trauma, power, relationships, and the ways people have learned to survive.

I do not have lived experience of racism or colonial violence, and I do not position myself as having that understanding. Some BIPOC clients feel that my approach — combining trauma specialization, clinical depth, and an explicit commitment to accountability — fits what they are carrying.

Read more: Inclusive Trauma Recovery.

I work with women (cis and trans) whose trauma is shaped by experiences such as childhood emotional neglect or abuse, intimate partner violence, sexual trauma, relational wounds, being dismissed or pathologized when seeking support, and the impacts of living within systems shaped by patriarchy and rigid gender expectations. This can include experiences of being silenced, controlled, devalued, unsafe, or pressured to prioritize others’ needs over their own. I also recognize how toxic masculinity can contribute to relational harm, emotional disconnection, and patterns of power and control that affect people of all genders.

Gender shapes how trauma happens, how it is responded to, and what healing requires. I bring an anti-oppressive lens to this work — not as a political statement, but as a clinical reality.

Immigration and displacement can create a unique form of complex trauma. I work with immigrants and refugees who are healing from experiences such as leaving behind family, community, language, culture, and a sense of belonging; navigating discrimination or exclusion; adapting to a new cultural environment; living with immigration uncertainty; and carrying grief for what was lost.

These experiences can affect identity, relationships, nervous system regulation, and a sense of safety in the world. Trauma recovery may involve not only healing past wounds but also rebuilding belonging, connection, and a sense of home within yourself.

As an immigrant myself, I understand some of the complexities of rebuilding a life in a new country — including the losses, identity shifts, and challenges of finding belonging in a different cultural context. I also recognize that every migration experience is unique, and I do not assume my experience is the same as my clients’.

Queer, trans, and non-binary people carry specific wounds — including the developmental wound of learning during childhood that your existence is wrong, or that you don’t exist at all.

This is my community too. I don’t come to this work from the outside. As a non-binary person, I know that you shouldn’t have to educate your mental health professional before you can heal. You won’t have to here.

Read more: LGBTQ+ trauma recovery.

How long will complex trauma recovery take?

I can’t give you a clear answer. That would be unethical. About half my clients — mostly people with relational trauma as an adult, or further along in their recovery already — see real change within six months to a year. For deeper childhood or complex trauma, it’s often one to three years — sometimes longer, depending on what you’ve carried.

That’s not because you’re too broken. It’s because of what actually happened to you, and what it takes to undo it.

I work with more than one method at a time — EMDR, parts work, somatic work — because complex trauma rarely responds to just one. If you want to understand why I work this way, this piece on IFS or EMDR for complex trauma goes into it in detail.

Some clients finish a piece of work and come back a year later for something new — a loss, a relationship ending, something that surfaced. They’re not starting over. They’re building on something already there. That’s hard to recreate with someone new.

Some clients ask me to commit to staying with them through the whole recovery. They’ve been abandoned by therapists before, and they want to know it won’t happen again. I commit to that, knowing that life can have unexpected twists and turns.

Some clients, even after they’ve finished and we’ve closed things out, want to know they can come back if something happens later. They can.

How do I know if I need this kind of support?

In my trainings, I often get an anxious question: what if I don’t have a diagnosis? My answer is always the same. A diagnosis just means you fit a specific set of criteria. Not having one doesn’t mean you don’t carry complex trauma. Your experience is valid either way.

Complex trauma isn’t yet an official diagnosis in North America. It is in some other countries. That difference doesn’t change what you’re carrying.

Read more: What is complex trauma?

Most people with complex trauma — especially trauma connected to childhood — live with the symptoms but can’t remember the events themselves. Not remembering doesn’t mean it didn’t happen.

I don’t diagnose. I work with what you bring into the room. If you want to work with a psychologist or psychiatrist alongside this, I collaborate with them too.

If you’re not sure your experience qualifies, that uncertainty is worth bringing into a first conversation. It usually is the first conversation.

How to begin

A lot of people start out not sure whether what happened to them “counts.” Figuring that out together is often the first step.

I offer a free consultation. We talk about what you’re carrying and whether it’s a good fit.

Book a free consultation online — let’s explore whether working together makes sense

My trauma recovery practice is primarily online, allowing me to support self-paying clients across Canada and internationally. Learn more about online trauma counselling.

Want to dig deeper?

Affordable complex trauma counselling is the container. The work itself lives here:

Parts work therapy for adults with childhood trauma: What parts actually are, why talk therapy often doesn’t reach them, and what turning toward them looks like in practice.

EMDR for childhood trauma : Why EMDR alone isn’t enough for childhood trauma, what the foundation actually requires, and what becomes possible when it’s done right.

CBT for adults with childhood trauma: Why changing thoughts alone isn’t enough to heal childhood trauma, what CBT misses about how trauma actually works, and what a more complete approach looks like.

Disclaimer: This content reflects my professional knowledge and experience and is intended to educate and support. It may not apply to every situation, and I don’t know your specific context. If you feel stuck, notice symptoms that limit your ability to participate in daily life, or experience worsening distress, I encourage you to reach out to a qualified mental health professional for individualized support.

Unsure where to go? Start with:

Healing trauma: What recovery actually requires: the phases, the approaches and why healing isn’t about coping forever.

Healing childhood trauma as an adult: What childhood trauma looks like in adulthood, why the effects don’t just go away, and what healing actually involves — from someone who has lived it.

About Natalie

Natalie Jovanic, a counsellor and coach supporting adults to heal childhood trauma, complex trauma and overcome adversities.

I’m Natalie Jovanic, a trauma counsellor and complex trauma coach with over 15 years of experience in complex, childhood, and relational trauma. I bring together clinical depth and the embodied experience of full recovery. I developed the Integrative Trauma Recovery Model™ to support more than symptom relief — helping people restore relational health, rebuild self-trust, and reconnect with vitality in their lives. I also host the podcast Trauma Demystified.

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About my approach

My writing reflects my training, lived experience, and how I practice. I share what I believe represents best practice in trauma recovery — and I always encourage you to notice what feels right for you.