What we mean by personal injury
We use "personal injury" to describe a workplace incident, a medical injury, a fall, an assault, a road traffic accident, or an injury caused by someone else’s negligence. Whatever form it took, the psychological impact tends to follow a similar pattern, even though the physical injuries themselves look very different.
What often happens after an injury
An injury rarely stays physical. Alongside the pain and the process of recovery, it’s common to notice anxiety about it happening again, difficulty sleeping, a shorter temper, low mood, or a lingering sense of injustice about what happened.
Some people find themselves avoiding the place it happened or the activity connected to it: returning to work after a workplace incident, being around people after an assault, or driving again after a road accident. Others find themselves constantly braced for something to go wrong, even somewhere safe.
These are common, well-recognised responses to injury, and they are treatable. They often persist less because of the event itself than because of what has built up around it since: the avoidance that made sense at first, the broken sleep, and the vigilance that never switched off.
What this can include
You’re unlikely to recognise all of these, and that’s normal. They aren’t a checklist to work through.
Flashbacks, nightmares, or intrusive memories of the incident; avoiding a place, activity, or situation connected to how it happened: a return to work, travel, a particular movement or task, or driving again; constant alertness, or feeling on edge in situations that used to feel safe; low mood, guilt, or anger connected to the injury; difficulty sleeping or concentrating; grief for the life or abilities the injury changed.
Why this isn’t just stress
What we’re describing has a name and a clinical picture: post-traumatic stress, adjustment difficulties, or specific fears connected to the circumstances of the injury. These are recognised, treatable presentations, not a sign of weakness or a failure to cope.
The first task is to work out exactly what’s keeping it going in your particular situation, because the right approach depends on the specifics. A fear tied to how a workplace incident happened, for example, needs a different approach from generalised hypervigilance following an assault, even when both arise from a similar kind of injury.
For post-traumatic stress after an injury, we use the treatments NICE recommends: trauma-focused cognitive behavioural therapy (TF-CBT) and eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing (EMDR). For anxiety, low mood and fears tied to how the injury happened, we use cognitive behavioural therapy, including planned, step-by-step work towards driving, travelling or returning to work.
How therapy can be funded
Many people come to us while a claim is under way. Therapy can be funded in three ways.
Through your claim. Your solicitor or case manager can refer you and arrange funding, including early in a claim under the Rehabilitation Code, which exists so that injured people can get treatment without waiting for the case to settle. Fees for claim-funded work are agreed with whoever is funding it before treatment starts. With your agreement, we report progress to the person who referred you, including the standard measures we use throughout treatment. Information for referrers.
Through private medical insurance. Our clinicians hold individual recognition with Bupa, AXA and WPA.
Yourself, at the fees shown on our fees page, with no package and no minimum commitment.
We understand that a claim runs alongside your recovery, not separately from it, and that it can add its own strain: waiting, uncertainty, and having to describe what happened more than once. Our focus is on your treatment, not your claim. Where therapy is connected to a legal claim, treatment records can sometimes be requested as part of that process. We will explain how this works, and what it means for what you tell us, before you start, so that you can make an informed choice rather than finding out later.
What you tell us stays private
What you share with your clinician is confidential. There are a small number of exceptions, and we would rather you knew them now than discovered them later: if we believe you or someone else, particularly a child, is at serious risk of harm, we may need to share information with your GP or another service. Your clinician will explain all of this properly before you start.
If this isn’t the right place
We work in three areas, not everything. If what you’re dealing with sits outside them, we’ll tell you at the first conversation and point you toward someone better suited.