What LION Therapy does

LION Therapy offers care-experienced men and women two years of once-weekly, trauma-informed, psychodynamic psychotherapy.

Patients access this support at a fee they can afford.

Therapists are paid £50 per session so patients can rely on their expertise and commitment.

LION Therapy provides precisely the kind of support recommended by the Care Leavers’ Report Caring for Better Health (Department of Health, 2017) by attending closely to:

• Feelings of abandonment and isolation

• The need to address attachment issues

• The need for services which respond to individuals rather than fitting them into pre-existing, rigid service boxes.

It can be really hard to connect with people after trauma, and we can even lose the connection to ourselves—forgetting who we are and how to be. The important thing is to start to practise the art of connecting. This can be with anything—nature, animals, spirituality, anything with purpose; learning, meaningful activities or hobbies.

Beverley Chipp, Trauma Survivor.

The Treatment Model

LION patients have high Adverse Child Experience (ACE) scores and present with a history of ruptured relationships with their primary caregivers.  Complex PTSD is their most common diagnosis (if they have had the luxury of a referral to a psychiatrist in the first place) as a result of experiences in abusive/neglectful homes and then later in care.

In 2025, the diagnosis of Complex PTSD (C-PTSD) was added to the ICD (11) for the first time.  The British Medical Journal (BMJ, Jan 2025) recommends a tripartite therapeutic process to help patients with this diagnosis which LION adheres to:

Phase 1 – Stabilisation and Safety

Trauma breaks trust and this initial phase of treatment is about helping the patient discover you are a safe person to be with. Careful relationship building and time are key to this phase.

Phase 2 – Trauma Processing

High rates of attrition in existing treatment modalities are common due to prevailing difficulties in avoidance and the unpleasant somatic and psychological consequences of working through trauma (nightmares, flashbacks, attachment ruptures).

Phase 3 – Reintegration

Difficulty forming healthy relationships leads to chronic isolation and loneliness. Phase 3 treats the long-term nature of recovery by challenging the idea that trauma can be ‘fixed’.  Instead, we integrate the knowledge, skills and processing work completed in Phase 1 and 2. Social prescribing can be helpful here too.

• Each phase presents a set of unique challenges that require both an appropriate treatment period and experienced clinicians capable of safely guiding patients through the tripartite treatment process of C-PTSD. 

In Summary

LION therapists are 5+ years qualified and trauma-informed to ensure they can offer the best possible therapeutic experience.

LION therapists receive expert group supervision to ensure the therapeutic relationship is at the lowest possible risk of breaking down.  

Nothing is more precious than a client’s trust.

Trust is the glue of life. It is the easiest thing to lose and the hardest thing in the world to get back.