Therapy for Caregivers in Surrey
You’re Caring for Everyone Else, But Who’s Caring for You?
You get up early to check on someone else’s needs.
You go to bed with your mind spinning about what still hasn’t been done.
You hold space for pain, unpredictability, or regression, often without anyone holding space for you.
Whether you’re caring for a child, partner, parent, sibling, friend, or client, caregiving can be both a profound act of love and a relentless, invisible burden.
You might not call it burnout. You might just think you're tired. But if you feel anxious, numb, reactive, or like your body has been running on overdrive for too long, you're not imagining it.
At Tidal Trauma Centre in Surrey, we support caregivers who are doing too much for too long with too little support and are ready to come back to themselves.
What Caregiver Burnout Can Feel Like
Caregiver burnout isn’t always a dramatic crash. Often, it’s a slow erosion of your reserves, physical, emotional, and relational. You might notice:
Constant tension or restlessness, even when you’re sitting still
Emotional numbness or a lack of joy in things you used to love
Guilt for wanting space, or resentment for not having any
Trouble concentrating, sleeping, or making even small decisions
A sense of emotional flatness or dread when interacting with the person you’re supporting
Feeling invisible, like your needs don’t matter, even to yourself
Physical symptoms like fatigue, digestive issues, headaches, or chronic pain
Sometimes, it’s not that you can’t cope, it’s that you’ve learned to override your limits for so long that you no longer know what it feels like to rest.
Why Therapy Helps (Even If You Think You Should “Handle It”)
Many caregivers carry unspoken beliefs:
“They have it worse, I should be grateful.”
“Other people are managing more than I am.”
“It’s selfish to want time for myself.”
“I chose this. I don’t get to complain.”
You may also be the “strong one” in your family, the reliable sibling, the organized daughter, the partner who keeps everything running. Maybe no one has ever really asked, “How are you holding up?”
Therapy offers a space where you don’t have to be composed. You don’t have to minimize, justify, or manage anyone else’s emotions. You get to be supported, consistently, compassionately, and with care that is structured around you.
Therapy for Every Type of Caregiver
We support caregivers navigating a wide range of roles and identities, including:
Parents raising neurodivergent or chronically ill children
Adult children supporting aging or unwell parents
Partners caring for spouses with PTSD, trauma, or mental health issues
People supporting friends or chosen family through illness, addiction, or recovery
Professional caregivers, teachers, social workers, nurses, and therapists
People in multigenerational or interdependent households
Eldest daughters, women in collectivist families, and those raised to believe rest must be earned
We also recognize that caregiving can reactivate old trauma, attachment wounds, and family roles, especially when you’re caring for someone who hurt you or never really showed up for you.
Our Approach: Trauma-Informed Therapy for Caregivers
We offer more than talk therapy. Our team is trained in relational, somatic, and trauma-focused approaches that help shift both surface-level symptoms and deeper emotional patterns. These include:
EMDR Therapy (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) which helps reprocess difficult experiences, whether caregiving-related or rooted in earlier trauma that caregiving reactivates.
IFS (Internal Family Systems) which supports you in identifying and unblending from inner parts: the over-functioner, the ashamed one, the overwhelmed protector, the angry one who’s not “supposed” to exist. IFS helps you build inner safety, not just coping.
Somatic & Sensorimotor Therapy who works directly with your nervous system. Reconnect with your body, release chronic tension, and rediscover what it feels like to be regulated, not just surviving.
Themes That Often Arise in Therapy for Caregivers
We hold space for the full spectrum of caregiver experience, including:
Chronic anxiety, irritability, or numbness
Guilt about needing space or wanting out
Resentment that feels “taboo” to admit
Grief about how life has changed and who you’ve become
Longing for freedom, rest, and being seen for more than what you give
Old pain that re-surfaces in caregiving dynamics (especially with parents or partners)
You don’t have to untangle all of this alone. You don’t have to carry every role without support.
You’re Allowed to Be Supported
You don’t need to earn rest. You don’t have to prove you’re “struggling enough” to ask for help.
If you’ve been carrying others for a long time, therapy can offer you a place to be held with skill, warmth, and deep respect for everything you’ve been managing.
Contact us or fill out a New Client Form to be matched with one of our trauma-informed therapists.
If you’re ready, book a free consult or appointment today.
-
Burnout is what happens when you give more than your system can sustainably offer over and over without restoration. It can show up as physical exhaustion, numbness, resentment, guilt, or collapse. Often, caregivers don’t recognize it until their body forces them to.
-
Therapy helps you understand your patterns, restore regulation to your nervous system, and reconnect with what you need, not as an indulgence, but as a form of sustainability. We help you set boundaries, name your limits, and reclaim space for your own needs and identity.
-
Yes. Every caregiving role is valid, and every type of caregiver deserves support. Whether you’re managing a household, working in healthcare, or holding emotional space for others daily, we see the labour you’re doing.
-
That’s one of the most common feelings we explore in caregiver therapy. Guilt is often internalized from cultural, family, or relational dynamics. We help you explore it with compassion and shift it gently, not by dismissing it, but by understanding where it comes from.
-
No. Our trauma-informed modalities (especially EMDR and IFS) are designed to work with your nervous system without requiring you to relive painful experiences. We go slowly and collaboratively, your pace, your consent, always.
You Might Also Be Interested In:
Blogs
Services
Disclaimer: The content on this website is for informational purposes only and does not constitute medical, psychological, or mental health advice. It is not a substitute for professional care. Always consult a qualified healthcare provider for diagnosis and treatment.