Traumatic Stress Service

Specialist service for people experiencing post-traumatic stress

The Team

The Humber Traumatic Stress Service was set up in 1996 and offers specialist one-to-one assessment, formulation, understanding of difficulties and therpeutic intervention for people who have experienced psychological trauma. The service also provides consultation and training to professionals.

The team are a multi-disciplinary team based at Victoria House, Park Street, and includes professionals from:

Clinical Psychology
Occupational Therapy
Specialist Nursing.

What is psychological trauma?

Psychological trauma involves either a threat or a perceived threat to survival. Post-traumatic responses may develop after experiencing a situation of an exceptionally threatening or catastrophic nature.

Post-traumatic stress is one response to psychological trauma and depends on individual perceptions of events. Reactions can feel overwhelming to the individual and can include;

Re-experiencing:

- persistent re-experiencing of the trauma through distressing recollections
- recurrent dreams of the event
- flashbacks
- intense psychological, physiological distress or reactivity to cues

Avoidance:

- efforts to avoid thoughts, feelings, conversations, activities, places or people associated with the trauma
- inability to recall aspects of the trauma
- loss of interest in activities previously enjoyed
- feeling detached or estranged from others
- restricted range of emotions
- sense of foreshortened future

Increased arousal:

- difficulty in falling or staying asleep
- irritability or outbursts of anger
- difficulty concentrating
- hyper vigilance (i.e. being on your guard all the time)
- exaggerated startle response (i.e. being very jumpy)

Examples of traumatic incidents include:

being a victim of a violent crime (for example physical or sexual assault, bombings, riots)
surviving an accident or disaster
traumatic childbirth
being a veteran of the Armed Forces or emergency service personnel exposed to traumatic events
witnessing or being exposed to the trauma of others (vicarious traumatisation)

How to access this service

All referrals to the service must have a Hull GP and come through the Mental Health Response Service.

Ex-military personnel from the East Riding can also be referred directly through their GP or through any mental health service.

You cannot self-refer to this service.

Location/Directions

77 Beverley Road
Hull
HU3 1 RX