Published author, blogs and podcasts
Book: Coping with Trauma
Coping With Trauma: Surviving and Thriving in the Face of Overwhelming Events
Part One
What Do We Mean by “Trauma”?
My Story
Types of Trauma
Impact of Trauma
Added Complexity
Trauma and the Brain
Trauma and the Body
Part Two
The Healing Journey
Helpful vs Unhelpful Coping
Resources for Healing
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy
Mindfulness
Grounding/Getting Present
Dealing with Thoughts
Valued Living and Thriving
Conclusions and Further Help
Podcast: Aversity Psychology
Adversity Psychologist Podcast
Yvonne’s journey into psychology through my own experiences of trauma.
Focusing on trauma as a field of clinical expertise.
How Yvonne’s lived experience informs her work as a psychologist.
Preconceptions about treating trauma.
Going from surviving to thriving.
The importance of self-compassion.
Podcast: Dr Marianne Trent
There's so much to unpack in the first half of this podcast episode, where Dr. Marianne Trent interviews Dr. Yvonne Waft, a clinical psychologist and retired Paralympian. Yvonne shares her remarkable journey of becoming a wheelchair user at 19 due to meningitis and septicemia, navigating the challenges of disability, and eventually finding solace and purpose through wheelchair basketball.
The podcast delves into Yvonne's experiences as a clinical psychologist, facing ableism in her training, and the complex interplay of being a parent while pursuing her career.
Podcast: Business of Psychology
Yvonne has a unique perspective on trauma, having lived through life changing trauma in her teens to becoming a Paralympic athlete and helping others through clinical psychology and sports coaching.
Podcast: Dr Paula Redmond
Health professionals are not immune to trauma. In fact, many are motivated to become healthcare professionals as a way of understanding and even healing their own wounds.
They are also vulnerable to experiencing trauma in their personal lives just as much as anyone else is, and especially likely to be exposed to trauma in their work.
Podcast: Inspiring Psychologists
In this episode of the Inspiring Psychologist podcast, host Wendy Kendall talks to guests Dr Monika Wieliczko and Dr. Yvonne Waft about trauma in the psychologist's chair - how psychologists navigate their own healing and trauma histories in building private practices. They discuss how private practice can activate past trauma but also provide opportunities for post-traumatic growth.
Main Discussion Points:
- Many psychologists enter the field due to their own trauma backgrounds and are not immune to further trauma themselves
- Private practice provides opportunities for personal healing alongside client work
- Practices should make space for therapists' own processing and growth
- Post-traumatic growth can occur in parallel with trauma processing
Podcast: Welldoing
Dr Yvonne Waft is a Clinical Psychologist and EMDR Consultant. Yvonne works mainly with people with complex trauma presentations and supports other professionals in their work with trauma through teaching, training and clinical supervision.
As a disabled woman, Yvonne also has a special interest in disability issues and regularly teaches on disability.
Survive and Thrive
This article first appeared in the January 2025 issue of Healthcare Counselling and Psychotherapy Journal published by the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy.
‘This article first appeared in the January 2025 issue of Healthcare Counselling and Psychotherapy Journal published by the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy.https://www.bacp.co.uk/bacp-journals/healthcare-counselling-and-psychotherapy-journal/ ©BACP 2023.’