Online Complex Trauma Counselling: Who I Work With and How We Can Work Together

Woman with laptop on her sofa in an online complex trauma counselling session.

Online complex trauma counselling works for many different reasons. Some clients couldn’t find the support they needed locally. Some feel safer at home than in a therapist’s office. Some live with disabilities that make in-person counselling difficult to access. What they share is that the approach resonates. I work primarily online, offering online complex trauma counselling for adults across Canada and internationally.

I also offer income-based pricing — because geography shouldn’t be the only barrier I help remove.

During my own healing journey, I worked with trusted practitioners in other countries. Not because no one closer was available — but because their approach felt like the right next step for where I was. Geography wasn’t the question. The right fit was. I continue doing this. It shapes how I think about distance in this work.

Who I work with

I work mainly with adults who want to heal complex trauma — or who are somewhere in the uncertainty before wanting. Not children, not adolescents.

These are the communities I work with most often. Each links to a more specific article if you want to go deeper before reaching out.

Adults with complex trauma

Complex trauma stems from sustained woundings in environments we couldn’t escape — ongoing childhood abuse, domestic violence, co-parenting with an abusive ex-partner, or being targeted by racism, xenophobia, ableism, homophobia, or transphobia. It doesn’t heal the same way single incident trauma does. It requires a more layered approach, a longer preparation phase, and a trauma-focused practitioner who understands the difference.

Some communities carry complex trauma with specific dimensions that mainstream trauma approaches rarely address. I recognize that many of my clients have identities that belong to more than one community — and that those layers compound rather than simply add. I have both personal and professional experience working with:

I work with Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour who are healing from complex trauma — including the specific and ongoing trauma of systemic racism, colonial violence, and discrimination. I integrate anti-oppressive practices into every aspect of the work. I do not treat the accurate read of a genuinely hostile environment as a cognitive distortion to be corrected.

I am a white settler in Canada – I am originally German-Croatian and lived in Spain prior to coming to Canada. I name this because it matters. I get that’s a risk to work with a white mental health professional and that I don’t have the lived experience. However, some BIPOC clients feel that the approach — the model, the anti-oppressive thread, the specific combination of clinical precision and personal honesty — fits what they are carrying. I am honoured when they trust me enough that I might be able to create a safer space. I hold it carefully.

Read more: Inclusive trauma recovery

For women (cis and trans) whose trauma is layered — childhood wounds, relational harm, stigma due to mental health issues, and the ongoing impact of living in systems that don’t always value or protect them. I bring an anti-oppressive stance to this work — not as a political statement but as a clinical reality. Gender shapes how trauma happens, how it’s responded to, and what healing requires.

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

Immigration trauma is a specific and often underacknowledged form of complex trauma — the losses, the dislocation, the experience of navigating a dominant culture that may be hostile or indifferent, the ongoing stress of immigration status, the grief of what was left behind. I work with immigrants and refugees who are healing from these specific experiences and the relational and systemic wounds that accompany them.

Adults with childhood trauma

Childhood trauma — also called developmental trauma — shapes the nervous system, the sense of self, the capacity for relationship, and the patterns that feel inescapable in adulthood. Some carry complex trauma alongside it. Others don’t. Many of my clients arrive having tried counselling before and felt it didn’t reach what it needed to reach. That gap is often the difference between approaches that work with thoughts and approaches that work with the nervous system, the body, and the parts that carry the earliest wounds.

Read more: Healing for adults with childhood trauma

Adults healing from relational trauma or abusive relationships

Healing from relational trauma or abusive relationships is not about fixing what was wrong with you. There was nothing wrong with you. The work is about rebuilding what the relationship eroded — the sense of self, the capacity to trust your own perceptions, the parts that were activated and are still running patterns shaped by the harm.

Not all relational trauma becomes complex — but it can, depending on severity, duration, and the meaning made of what happened. Whether your experience sits closer to a contained relational wound or has layered into something more complex, the approach adapts to what you are actually carrying.

Read more: Healing relational trauma

How I work

I work from a framework I developed — the Integrative Trauma Recovery Model™. My approach to online complex trauma counselling combines EMDR, IFS-informed parts work, somatic approaches, and anti-oppressive practices. Its flexibility allows me to adapt to each client’s experience of trauma — which is often layered and rarely fits as neatly into boxes as psychology suggests.

Online complex trauma counselling depends on what you are carrying and where you are in your healing. My approach adjusts to meet your needs. For all clients, the therapeutic relationship is the foundation — not a backdrop. Healing happens in relationship. 

Judith Herman’s phased model of trauma recovery guides the work — safety and stabilization, processing and mourning, reconnection — applied flexibly and adapted to what has happened to you specifically. You don’t need to tell your most traumatic story first. We start with what your nervous system is carrying now.

Read more: My approach to trauma counselling: the Integrative Trauma Recovery Model™

Why online complex trauma counselling works for recovery

The therapeutic relationship is the most important healing mechanism in trauma recovery — and relationship travels. I can observe changes in posture, breathing, facial expressions, and nervous system state through video. I can guide EMDR, parts work, and somatic approaches remotely. Many clients find that being in their own space — familiar, comfortable, sometimes with a pet nearby — actually supports the online trauma recovery work. The nervous system is already in an environment it knows.

Read more: IFS or EMDR for complex trauma: Why I use both and what else is needed

One honest limitation of online complex trauma counselling

Online complex trauma counselling is not suitable for everyone in every circumstance. If you are currently in a relationship or home environment where privacy cannot be guaranteed — or where the person causing harm might be present — please assess honestly whether online sessions can be conducted safely before we begin. This is something we can explore in the free consultation.

I do not offer text or chat-based therapy for trauma work. The non-verbal cues that trauma counselling depends on are not visible in text. I use a secure video platform that complies with privacy regulations in Canada, the United States, and Europe.

How to begin

I offer a free consultation for new clients — to explore your history, what you are carrying, and whether working together makes sense. If we decide to proceed, the first session focuses on your current symptoms, your goals, and what your nervous system needs now. Not on telling your most difficult story first.

Sessions are delivered via secure video. You need a device with a camera and microphone and a private space where you won’t be interrupted.

If you are curious about whether this approach might be right for you — wherever you are — I invite you to reach out.

Book a free consultation online

You might also find helpful

To explore online complex trauma counselling further, check out the following articles:

Sources

Fisher, J. (2023). Janina Fisher’s Trauma treatment certification training (CCTP): The latest proven techniques to resolve deeply held trauma [Online professional training]. PESI

Haines, S. (2022). Safety, belonging, and dignity: Using the generative power of somatics to heal individual and systemic trauma. [Online professional training]. Academy of Therapy Wisdom

Greenwald, R. (2020). EMDR basic training, approved by the EMDR International Association (EMDRIA). [Online professional training]. Trauma Institute & Child Trauma Institute

Lin, T., Heckman, T. G., & Anderson, T. (2022). The efficacy of synchronous teletherapy versus in-person therapy: A meta-analysis of randomized clinical trials. Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice, 29(2), 167–178. https://doi.org/10.1037/cps0000056

Barak, A., Hen, L., Boniel-Nissim, M., & Shapira, N. (2008). A Comprehensive Review and a Meta-Analysis of the Effectiveness of Internet-Based Psychotherapeutic Interventions. Journal of Technology in Human Services, 26(2–4), 109–160. https://doi.org/10.1080/15228830802094429

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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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.