Healing starts with being heard

You don’t have to face things alone:

Dr Laura Bolger

Hello, I’m Dr Laura Bolger, a Forensic Psychologist registered with the HCPC, based in South-East London. I offer trauma therapy for people living with the weight of what happened to them, or what they may have done. My approach combines professional expertise with warmth, empathy, and genuine connection — helping you feel safe, understood, and supported as you work through what’s been holding you back.

Whether you’re feeling stuck, anxious, or unsure where to begin, therapy can provide a space to explore your experiences at your own pace and find a clearer sense of self and direction.

If you’re ready to take the next step or simply want to learn more about how I work, I’d be glad to hear from you

Dr Laura Bolger, a woman with long brown hair smiling outdoors, wearing a red sweater, with a backyard, trees, and a cloudy sky in the background.

I’ve spent over a decade supporting people to understand themselves more deeply and heal from painful experiences.

My work has taken me from the Metropolitan Police Service to high secure prison settings and community mental health services, where I’ve helped people facing complex trauma, relationship difficulties and emotional struggles.

In my private practice, I offer a safe, compassionate and collaborative space to explore what’s been holding you back, strengthen your sense of self, and move towards lasting change. I use EMDR as a core part of my practice. My wider approach is informed by Schema Therapy, shaped by years of working with people whose trust and courage have deeply influenced my practice.

How to contact me

Trauma doesnt always look the way people expect it to.

Sometimes it's one event you can still picture in detail. Sometimes it's something that built up slowly, over years. Sometimes it's grief that doesn't behave the way grief is supposed to. And sometimes, it's not what happened to you that you're struggling with — it's what you did, or didn't do.

Whatever brought you here, I work from the understanding that these experiences leave a mark for good reason. Not because something is wrong with you, but because of what happened. Therapy can help you understand that mark, and begin to live differently alongside it.

Below are some of things you might be carrying when you come to see me. You may recognise yourself in one, several, or none exactly, and that's alright too

  • A single event that changed things; an assault, an accident, a violent crime, a moment you can still picture in detail. Maybe that moment can feel like it’s still happening. You've perhaps told the story so many times it's lost its edges, or maybe you have never told it at all.

    You're not broken, you're just stuck. What happened was too much for your brain to process at the time, so part of it got left unprocessed. It’s still raw, still close. EMDR therapy alone, is often enough to help this.

  • Trauma cam sometimes build up gradually, through childhood, a relationship, or years in an environment that wasn't safe. It's often harder to point to a single moment, because it was never just one moment. What's left is often a way of seeing yourself and other people that no longer serves you.

    Schema-informed work, alongside EMDR, can help you see yourself differently.

  • When someone dies suddenly, violently, or by suicide, grief doesn't always follow the shape people expect. There can be questions that don't have answers, guilt that doesn't always make sense but won't leave, a sense of grieving and investigating at the same time. This kind of loss can get stuck in a way ordinary grief doesn't.

  • Perhaps you are feeling shame, guilt or horror about your own actions or urges, or maybe you did something, failed to prevent something, were part of something, or think about things in ways that frighten you.

    You may have already spoken to the people who deal in consequences. This is different: a space to understand what's happening, manage it safely, and keep yourself and others protected, without judgement or minimisation.

  • Police officers, clinicians, social workers and other frontline professionals absorb a great deal in the course of doing their jobs. This work leaves a mark, even when you're trained to keep functioning through it.

Finding your way through, together.

Whatever's brought you here, therapy with me starts the same way: understanding what happened and what it's left behind.

For some of you, that means processing a single moment your mind hasn't finished with, using EMDR to help it settle into the past, where it belongs. For others, it means understanding patterns that formed over years, and starting to see yourself and the people around you differently. For some, it's about making sense of grief that doesn't behave the way it's supposed to. And for others, it's about facing something you did, or fear you might, honestly and without flinching.

Whatever the starting point, therapy is a space to understand the why. Not to excuse, but to make sense of and to build something steadier from there. Within a genuine, honest therapeutic relationship, you have the chance to experience yourself differently: to build trust, safety, and a more secure sense of who you are.

A therapist or psychologist sitting on a chair, wearing a cream-colored coat and black pants, writing in a spiral notebook with a pen, with a watch on their wrist.

A personalised approach to therapy

I don't believe one method fits everyone, which is why I draw on more than one. Depending on what's brought you here, that might mean EMDR on its own, schema-informed work alongside it, or a combination shaped around your particular history and goals. You're the expert on your own experience, my role is to bring the right tools to it.

I also offer a range of psychological services including bespoke psychological assessment, expert witness services and consultancy to individuals and organisations.

 

Learn More About The Services I Offer

  • "You helped me find reasons to live."

  • "You helped break down my walls and see the real me."

  • "You showed me I'm not as lost as I thought"

  • "You know all the bad I've done and you still care."

A therapy room with a dark gray sofa, a small wooden side table, a wooden coffee table, and a vase with dried plants on the floor.

I’m Here When You’re Ready.

My consulting room is based in South-East London, where I offer face-to-face therapy every Monday and Thursday. I also provide online sessions with greater flexibility, so you can choose the format that best fits your life and needs.

If you’d like to explore whether therapy with me feels like the right fit, I offer a free 15-minute consultation, a chance for us to talk about what’s been happening for you and how I might be able to help.

You can also learn more about my clinical experience and therapeutic approach to get a sense of how I work and the values that guide my practice

Book A Consultation