Who We Are & what we do
Gilly Chapell | Clinical Director, Trauma Specialist, EMDR Supervisor
Gilly Chapell is the Clinical Director of Trauma Informed Ltd and Co-Founder of Rated Therapies and a Senior Accredited Counsellor offering trauma-informed counselling and EMDR in Swindon and London. Her work is grounded in over a decade of clinical experience and a firm commitment to relational, integrative, and neurobiologically-informed practice. Sessions are offered face-to-face in Swindon and Wiltshire, with limited availability online.
Gilly holds a degree in Integrative Therapeutic Counselling and has worked extensively with trauma-related presentations. From her early grassroots work establishing counselling hubs in children’s centres, to years spent supporting clients across diverse settings, and now, in long-term private practice. Her therapeutic lens is shaped by depth, humility, and the belief that healing is not just possible, it is transformational.
While welcoming clients with a broad range of emotional concerns (with the exception of sexual trauma, for which she refers to more specialised practitioners), Gilly has a special interest in working with individuals navigating the impact of trauma, complex PTSD, panic attacks, borderline personality disorder traits, anxiety, depression, emotional overwhelm, and relational injury.
At the heart of her practice lies a deep compassion for those carrying the invisible weight of "not enoughness" - the quiet conviction that something fundamental within is broken. Whether it’s feeling not good enough, thin enough, strong enough, clever enough, or worthy enough, these beliefs quietly erode our capacity to dream and to move. Shame often becomes the enforcer whispering, “Who do you think you are?” silencing ambition, fuelling people-pleasing, and paralysing connection. Gilly sees these patterns for what they are: adaptations rooted in trauma, deserving of both tenderness and transformation.
Her clinical approach is strongly informed by her ongoing study under Janina Fisher, PhD, one of the world’s leading experts in trauma therapy. Gilly had the rare opportunity to train and work directly under Dr Fisher’s clinical supervision as part of a UK-based private residential trauma team. Today, she continues to integrate the Trauma-Informed Stabilisation Treatment (TIST) model alongside EMDR & AMDR into her client work, blending science with soul through understanding.
Gilly offers a space that is professionally boundaried, ethically held, and human to the core. Your concerns. however big or small will be met with deep listening, attunement, and respect. What matters to you, matters here. Always.
She makes the following commitments:
- To respond to your enquiry when she is able to give it full, focused attention.
- To work only within the scope of her training and experience.
- To meet you with professionalism, empathy, and unconditional positive regard.
- And, crucially, to honour and repair any relational ruptures that may arise, because the dynamics that unfold within therapy often mirror those experienced beyond it. These moments, if handled with care, can become gateways to healing.
Gilly’s work is not about fixing what is broken, but about helping you remember what was never lost.
Symptoms
When the Nervous System Speaks in Symptoms
Sometimes, the body whispers what the mind cannot name. Below are symptoms often misunderstood or misattributed, each a language of distress, each a signal from a system trying to regulate in the aftermath of stress, trauma, or emotional overload.
Depression
A pervasive heaviness. It’s as if the world has dimmed. Motivation thins, joy dulls, and everyday tasks feel mountainous. It’s not laziness. It’s depletion at a cellular level.
Irritability
A quickness to snap, simmer, or sigh. Often mistaken for anger, but rooted in inner tension, overstimulation, or unmet needs that have gone too long unheard.
Decreased Concentration
A fog that drifts across your thoughts. Attention splinters, memory slips, and the simplest task can feel like threading a needle underwater.
Numbing
Emotions seem distant, as if wrapped in cotton. You’re not uncaring. You’re self-protecting. Numbness is often the body’s way of dialling down what once felt unbearable.
Loss of Interest
Hobbies, relationships, even food or touch can feel distant or muted. It’s not apathy. Often, it’s the nervous system shielding you from the grief of losing something you once deeply cared about. When loss has cut too deeply, caring again can feel like an invitation to be hurt again. So the system chooses safety over joy.
Insomnia
A body exhausted but a mind wide awake. Sleep becomes a battleground where safety feels out of reach, even when the room is quiet.
Emotional Overwhelm
Feelings arrive like a flood. Too fast, too much, too soon. The nervous system scrambles to cope, often triggering shutdown, tears, or reactive behaviours.
Loss of a Sense of the Future
The ability to imagine what comes next disappears. Hope feels inaccessible. Time shrinks down to survival in the now.
Hopelessness
The sense that nothing will ever change, or that you are beyond help. This is not a truth. It is a symptom, and it can shift.
Shame
An internal collapse. The belief that you are fundamentally unworthy. Shame isolates and silences. It is the wound beneath many behaviours.
Hypervigilance
A constant scanning for danger, even in safe places. The body stays braced, the mind on high alert. It can become impossible to relax.
Mistrust
Even with kind people and loving relationships, something inside holds back. This isn’t suspicion. It is protection born of injury.
Anxiety
A churn of thoughts and sensations. The heart races, breath shortens, and the mind rehearses what-ifs. Anxiety often masks deeper fear or grief.
Panic Attacks
A sudden, overwhelming surge of terror that hijacks the body. Though it feels life-threatening, it is survivable. Panic is the nervous system at full volume.
Chronic Pain
Pain that lingers beyond injury. Sometimes physical, often emotionally amplified. The body remembers what the mind tries to forget.
Headaches
Tension turned internal. A buildup of unprocessed stress, often stored across the jaw, scalp, and neck. The body asking for rest it can’t yet find.
Self-Medicating
The body remembers relief. When something once soothed distress - a substance, food, or distraction - the brain linked it with safety. Under threat, it prioritises short-term relief and downplays long-term cost. Even without danger, this reflex can return in moments of inner discomfort.
Disordered Eating
Eating can become a way the body regulates distress. Over-eating dulls emotional pain through numbing, while under-eating can create a threat state where adrenaline surges and the thinking brain disconnects. In both cases, the drive isn't about food. It’s the nervous system trying to cope.
Feeling Unreal / Out of the Body
A surreal, floating sensation. You may feel detached, as if observing your life rather than living it. This is called dissociation. A survival mechanism.
Self-Destructive Behaviours
Acts that harm, sabotage, or isolate. Often misunderstood as recklessness. They are usually a cry for regulation, connection, or escape from unbearable feeling.
Loss of a Sense of ‘Who I Am’
An internal erosion of identity. Roles may remain, but the self feels blurred or missing. This is common in long-term trauma, where survival eclipses selfhood.
Critical Internal Voice (‘You Should...’)
A relentless narrator that shames, compares, and commands. It often echoes past authority figures or trauma, keeping you locked in cycles of self-doubt.
If any of these feel familiar, you are in the right place.
Shame
A story that we tell ourselves that I call Toxic Shame.
An experience of social terror, I am going to call that a shame flood.
A feeling that tells us what our integrity really is, I am going to call that remorse.
However sometimes we grow up in a space where we have a really hard thing we have to do as a child and generally it creates what I think of as a shame core. It’s a story that I’m not worthy, it’s a story of I’m not good enough and it’s a story of I’m too much, I’m a burden. It’s a story that there is something wrong with me. It is generally a story that is created and has to be created when we are in a family system or a larger environment where I have this really hard decision that is not made in a conscious way at all, but I can either face the fact that I am unprotected and that nobody is there and I can not depend on the people around me and be basically terrified all the time because I am a little child or I can imagine that somehow there is something wrong with me and if only I could figure out what that is, I can get safety. That story is brilliant because it puts us in more control. That story is brilliant because it says I can do something about this so it give us hope in a situation where there is absolutely no hope but the story really sucks because what I take in is there is something wrong with me and if I could only figure out what that is I can unlock the code and find safety and find protection and find the things I need, find nurture and find celebration of who I am. If only I could unlock this code and the code is build on there is something wrong with me and I need to fix it. It’s great because it is empowering, its great because it gives us hope, its hard because the story is terrible. I call that a shame core. It is one of those things that is feeding up to the neocortex all the time and it’s held in this little neuro network that just knows this thing is true and we walk on it like it is the floor under our feet. It was really important to tell ourselves that story because it saved the mind. The brains natural response to safety is integration, the brains natural response to fear is less integration, the brain would spilt into parts. If a little brain had to live in terror all the time it would totally fragment and split into lots of tiny pieces.
If this is you, we would love to help you break free of that story, because you matter.
Borderline Personality Labels
We often find people are given labels by the NHS, this is so that they can recommend the most appropriate medication or specialists to support you.
We however find that most of the symptoms that clients present with are routed in trauma and as such we look to treat or process the trauma therefore reducing the symptoms.
Borderline Personality is often characterised by the following:
Everyone betrays my trust, I can not trust anyone
If I trust someone today they will betray me later...
When I hope, I will become disappointed.
When I am angry my emotions are extreme and out of control.
When I get angry my emotions go from annoyed to furious.
Others are unreliable, let me down or reject me and therefore I need to protect myself.
When I hurt emotionally, I do whatever it takes to feel better
Life at times feels like an endless series of disappointments followed by pain.
I try to control and not to show my grieving loss and sadness, but eventually it comes out in a rush of emotions.
My feelings about myself are so poor that I will do whatever I need to do to compensate for this.
Whenever I try to feel better I will make things worse and I feel more pain eventually.
Whenever I need someone they are not there for me there is no one I can count on.
As you may be able to see, this collection of statements which often depict the experiences of people with this label tell a story of relational trauma.
Boundaries: the glue that holds safety together
Detailed Analysis for Clients on the Importance of Therapists Upholding Safe Boundaries and Prioritizing Their Own Well-being
The Foundation of Trust
Therapists are often entrusted with sensitive and deeply personal information. This relationship is built on a foundation of trust, which is crucial for effective therapeutic work. According to the BACP Ethical Framework, being trustworthy is a serious ethical commitment that involves making the client the primary focus of attention during sessions (Page 6, 13).
The Principle of Autonomy
Respect for the client's autonomy is another core principle. This means that therapists must honor the client's right to make decisions about their own lives, including their mental health treatment. However, this autonomy is not absolute. In exceptional circumstances, therapists may need to prioritize the safety of the client or others, even if it means overriding the client's explicit wishes or breaching their confidentiality (Page 13, 16).
The Importance of Self-Care for Therapists
Therapists are not immune to the stresses and emotional toll that can come from their work. The BACP Ethical Framework states that therapists should take responsibility for their own well-being as it is essential for sustaining good practice with clients (Page 27). This includes:
- Taking precautions to protect their own physical safety.
- Monitoring and maintaining their own psychological and physical health.
- Seeking professional support and services as needed.
- Keeping a healthy balance between work and other aspects of life.
Why This Matters for Clients
1. Resilience and Resourcefulness: A therapist who is not well cannot provide the level of care and attention that clients deserve. Therapists are encouraged to ensure they are "sufficiently resilient and resourceful" to meet professional standards (Page 27).
2. Ethical Dilemmas: Therapists are trained to navigate complex ethical dilemmas that may arise during therapy. Their ability to do this effectively is compromised if they are not in a good state of health (Page 27).
3. Quality of Service: Therapists are committed to providing an appropriate standard of service to their clients. This is only possible if they are also taking care of themselves (Page 6).
4. Safety and Well-being: Therapists share a responsibility for the safety and well-being of all clients and their protection from exploitation or unsafe practice (Page 13).
5. Accountability: Therapists are accountable not only to their clients but also to their profession. This accountability includes maintaining their own well-being to ensure they are providing the best care possible (Page 9).
By understanding the importance of these ethical considerations, clients can better appreciate why therapists need to maintain boundaries and prioritize their own well-being. It's not just for the therapists' benefit; it's crucial for the safety and effectiveness of the therapeutic relationship.
At Counselling Wiltshire, we prioritise the safety and well being of all our therapists because each therapist will be taking care of a number of vulnerable clients. If a therapist's wellbeing is compromised it doesn't just impact one client, it is likely to impact the whole case load and put everyone at risk and because our clients well being matters we are not prepared to compromise on this.
Areas we do not work with:
Our focus is solely on the symptoms of trauma:
The BACP Ethical Framework outlines several key principles that therapists must adhere to, including:
1. Being Trustworthy: Honouring the trust placed in the practitioner.
2. Autonomy: Respecting the client’s right to be self-governing.
3. Beneficence: Promoting the client’s well-being.
4. Non-maleficence: Avoiding harm to the client.
5. Justice: Fair and impartial treatment of all clients.
6. Self-respect: Fostering the practitioner’s self-knowledge, integrity, and care for self.
The Challenge with Narcissistic Traits
People with narcissistic traits often struggle with respecting boundaries, which poses a risk to the therapist's well-being and the therapeutic relationship. Here's why:
1. Trustworthiness at Risk: Narcissistic traits can involve manipulative behaviors that can erode the trust necessary for a therapeutic relationship.
2. Autonomy Compromised: Narcissistic individuals may try to control the therapeutic process, undermining the therapist's professional autonomy and the client's self-governance.
3. Beneficence and Non-maleficence: The inability to respect boundaries designed to keep us safe can lead to situations that neither benefit the client nor avoid harm.
4. Justice and Fair Treatment: The demanding nature, coupled with the over inflated sense of entitlement often associated with narcissistic traits can lead to an unfair allocation of the therapist's time and resources, affecting their ability to serve other clients effectively.
5. Self-Respect and Self-Care: Therapists must consider their own well-being to serve their clients effectively. Working with individuals who can't respect boundaries can lead to burnout and decreased quality of care for all clients.
Transparency and Training
Ethically, it's crucial to be transparent about the limitations of one's training and experience. Working with narcissistic traits requires specialized training due to the complex nature of the personality structure and the potential for harm to both the client and the therapist.
Conclusion
For the safety and well-being of both the client and the therapist, it's essential to maintain clear boundaries and to work within the scope of one's training and expertise. This is not just a matter of best practice but an ethical imperative.
We do not diagnose but we do notice symptoms and traits. By avoiding work with individuals who demonstrate narcissistic traits without the requisite training, therapists uphold the ethical principles that ensure the integrity of the therapeutic relationship and the well-being of all involved.
If you think you have these traits, or we identify behaviours which persistently undermine our processes or the boundaries that keep us safe we will advise you that we are not the right service for you.
In the same way, if it becomes evident that you are requesting or requiring more than one hour of contained work per week it is likely that this therapy is not going to be the right service for you. We do not offer between session support and at times when our therapists are on holiday you will be required to take care of yourself for longer than a week without contacting us.
Our other projects
Supervision
Gilly is delighted to have qualified in the level 6 supervision course.
All good therapists have a supervisor. Often we need more than one to cover the board base of case work. Ethical Bodies have recently changed their requirements so that practitioners need much more appropriate provisions to maintain their insurance.
Supervision needs to mirror not just the theory of the work but also the delivery methods and the specialism of the client base. Most clients following the covid situation are looking for trauma informed practitioners. With these requirements, practitioners are finding there is a shortage of appropriately trained online or trauma informed supervisors.
Senior Accredited Therapists
Following steps to implement the SCoPEd project, where membership bodies have begun stripping Senior Accredited Therapists of their status, we at Rated Therapies took decisive action. The SCoPEd project will categorise all therapists into three columns based on the length of their training. This means that a therapist with as much as 15 or 20 years of experience will be categorized in the same column as someone fresh out of a three-year training qualification. Such categorization removes the public's ability to distinguish between those who are highly experienced and those who are not.
In response to this, we reached out to all affected Senior Accredited Therapists, verified their previous certificates, and reissued them with a new certificate to recognise and restore their deserved status. This initiative honors their dedication, hard work, and commitment, ensuring their valuable credentials remain acknowledged and respected.
Additionally, we have created a dedicated directory page for Senior Accredited Therapists. If you are looking for an experienced therapist, this is the place to find them. Our directory ensures that the public can identify and access therapists with proven expertise and substantial experience in the field.
Letting Go of Holding On
Letting Go of Holding On
We are currently 140,000 words down documenting the true story of a client trapped in therapeutic hell.
In a world where the quest for mental wellness is increasingly significant, yet the pathways to it are often shrouded in vulnerability and trust, a profound story unfolds.
This narrative is not just about seeking help but about navigating the intricate dance between ethical guidance and the shadows of misuse that lurk behind the statistics of 1 in 20 individuals that have a predisposition to hold power and control over others... Lilly found one within the counselling profession.
The book is called Letting Go Of Holding On and documents how she escaped the predator Christian Swindon based therapist down the road.
EMDR / AMDR
Recruiting Placements
Letting Go of Holding On
EMDR stands for Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing and is a method of trauma therapy developed by Dr Francine Shapiro.
AMDR is the most up to date version which processes the full 360 degree experience that takes place in that nano second of trauma.
EMDR is a method of therapy which accelerates the processing of traumatic, frozen memories and resolves fixed behaviour patterns.
EMDR whilst being client led is a guided process which supports the precise observation and differentiated experiences of internal processes, reflective understanding and acceptance links and connections. Clients report feeling like the edge has been taken off triggering events.
EMDR requires a full assessment.
Recruiting Placements
Recruiting Placements
Recruiting Placements
We currently have a number of opportunites available, for room hire or placements:
To apply please contact us through the website and then email us the following:
CV
Course Documentation
Qualifications or Placement paperwork
We will also require:
ID
proof of address
Photo for website
Blurb for website
We are a neuroscience focused trauma informed therapy clinic and as such reading Janina Fishers workbook would be beneficial.
We offer supervision for all placements.
Rated Therapies
Recruiting Placements
Recruiting Placements
Rated Therapies is a distinguished directory focused on providing access to the highest calibre of therapeutic professionals. The platform has recently expanded to include nearly 100 senior accredited therapists who, despite losing their titles from their ethical bodies, remain highly skilled and experienced. This move ensures that only the cream of the crop in the therapy field is featured, offering clients unparalleled access to top-tier therapeutic support.
The directory stands out for its rigorous vetting process, ensuring that all listed therapists meet the highest standards of training, qualifications, and professional ethics. Additionally, Review Your Therapy has conducted a small research study on response patterns, inviting nearly 100 highly responsive and timely therapists to join their directory. This emphasis on responsiveness and quality care ensures that clients receive the best possible support tailored to their needs.
By prioritizing excellence and maintaining a robust selection process, Review Your Therapy aims to become the go-to resource for individuals seeking the best therapeutic services. The platform not only provides detailed information about each therapist’s credentials and specialties but also fosters a transparent and reliable environment for clients to find the right therapeutic match.