After trauma, a drink to fall asleep, a tablet to get through the day or drugs that keep the memories quiet can feel like the only things that work. Renewed Life Center in Lakeside, Cape Town, offers trauma counselling and PTSD treatment in a residential programme. We treat the trauma and the drinking or drug use together, with therapy every weekday. EMDR and TRE are among the methods we use for trauma.

Trauma reactions are not a sign of weakness: after an overwhelming experience, the nervous system can stay on alert long after the danger has passed.

Worried about someone close? You can talk to our team before they have agreed to come.

Trauma and PTSD Recovery in Cape Town

Talk to us in confidence

Who this programme is for

The programme includes work with adults whose trauma or PTSD comes with drinking, pills or drugs. You may recognise some of these, in yourself or in the person you are worried about:

  • Nightmares, flashbacks or unwanted memories.
  • Feeling on edge, easily startled or irritable.
  • Feeling numb or cut off from people you love.
  • Avoiding reminders of what happened.
  • Using alcohol, sleeping tablets or other drugs to cope or sleep.
  • Memories becoming harder to manage when you stop using.
  • Guilt, shame or harsh self-blame.
  • Difficulties following violence, an accident, loss or an unsafe childhood.

If you recognise yourself, or someone close to you, in this list, write to us. You do not need a diagnosis to start.

Why the trauma and the drinking are treated together

When someone has both PTSD and a drinking problem, the PTSD has usually come first: a review of the research on the two conditions found that PTSD typically starts before the alcohol use disorder. The drinking then feeds the trauma. The US National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) notes that alcohol is often used to cope with the symptoms of psychiatric disorders even though it ultimately makes them worse. NIAAA also notes that people with an alcohol use disorder and another psychiatric disorder tend to return to drinking more often.

Stop drinking while the trauma goes untreated, and the nightmares and the jumpiness are still there, now with nothing to dull them. Try trauma therapy while alcohol still numbs every evening, and each session competes with the next drink.

The US National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) is plain about conditions that occur together: “it is usually better to treat these health issues at the same time rather than separately.” That is how we work: the trauma and the drinking or drug use are treated in the same weeks, by one team, as part of our dual diagnosis treatment.

What trauma treatment at Renewed Life Center involves

Treatment does not try to make you forget what happened. The aim is for the memory to stop deciding how you sleep, drink and react. Ruby Weber, the psychologist who leads the psychological side of our dual diagnosis work, has more than 20 years in the addictions field and a particular interest in how trauma can feed addiction.

EMDR for memories that keep coming back
EMDR (eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing) is one of the methods we use for trauma. The method works on one memory at a time: you hold it in mind while following repeated eye movements in a set sequence, a structured way of processing a memory that has stayed raw. NICE, which sets clinical guidance in England, recommends EMDR for adults with PTSD, or clinically important PTSD symptoms, who come for help more than three months after a trauma that was not combat-related.
TRE for a body that stays on alert
Trauma often sits in the body as much as in the memory, as a racing heart or shoulders that never come down. TRE (tension and trauma release exercises) is a body-based practice offered as part of the weekday programme, alongside the psychological treatment. Kerry Dominie-Williams, our TRE practitioner, says her first question to anyone she works with is this: “do you feel safe to let me lead you and guide you in somatic practice?” Our guide to somatic therapy explains this body-based work in more detail.
A counsellor of your own, and groups every weekday
Your own counsellor works with you one-to-one every week, 45 minutes at a time, and group work runs every weekday. Schema therapy looks at patterns that often go back to childhood, and DBT teaches skills for feelings that become overwhelming. The week also includes a process group, art therapy and yoga. The clinical team discusses each client’s progress together in its case meetings.
The second month goes deeper
Most clients stay for a second month. The work then goes deeper into the trauma itself, relationships and who you are without the drink or the drug. An Internal Family Systems group is added.
Arrival and detox
A doctor examines you after you arrive. Our medical team decides after the assessment whether a medical detox comes first; if it does, it lasts from three days to two weeks.

Ask how this would work in your case

What staying here is like

Renewed Life Center is a house in Lakeside, a residential suburb of Cape Town, with the mountain ridge right behind it and the beach a short drive away. You share a room with one other person at most, men and women stay in separate rooms, and private rooms are available. Your phone and laptop stay with you, so the people at home are only a call away.

For the family

Trauma can make someone distant, irritable, shut down or unpredictable, and the people at home often take it personally. Much of it is the nervous system still protecting itself. A partner, parent or grown-up child can speak to our team before the person has agreed to come. During treatment, relationships are part of the work, in one-to-one sessions and in groups, and the counsellor keeps the family informed as far as the client agrees. Families join a support group by video every week, visits are possible from the first week, children included, and relatives can have sessions of their own. Our page on family therapy and support has more.

Going home

Ordinary life is the point: nights that are not arranged around a drink, a body that settles more easily, a family that stops tiptoeing around you. Trust usually comes back slowly, and most of that happens at home, without the team in the next room. The programme prepares you for that in stages.

Clients who stay on after their second month move into a stage with afternoons out on their own and evenings back at the house, while therapy carries on. Sober living on our property is the next step after treatment, and an outpatient programme is there if your counsellor recommends it. Every client leaves with a written relapse-prevention plan built for their own home. TRE is taught as a practice you can continue at home. As Kerry describes it, “people don’t need me anymore… It’s a lifelong tool.” We keep in touch with former clients, and they can always come back to us.

How to start

A first message can be short: what is going on, and whether it is about you or someone else. You do not have to describe what happened. John Roberts, our Senior Recovery Specialist and Operations Manager, handles first contact. He has 39 years in recovery, and we reply the same day. The first conversation is free and confidential and takes 20 to 40 minutes, by WhatsApp, video or phone. The fee depends on the programme and how long you stay; you hear it on that call and get it in writing the same day.

If you decide to come, a 45- to 90-minute assessment with our counselling team follows, and admission can be immediate and typically happens within three days of first contact.

Until then, if you drink or take sleeping tablets, benzodiazepines, mandrax, GHB, opioids or codeine every day, do not stop suddenly on your own. Mention what you take in that first message, so we can talk through a safe start with you.

Write to us about what is going on

Questions about trauma and PTSD treatment

Do you treat trauma without drinking or drug use?

Our programme treats trauma and PTSD together with drinking, pills, drugs or another addiction. If yours comes without any of these, message us and we will talk through whether the programme fits.

Do you offer EMDR therapy in Cape Town?

Yes. EMDR is one of the methods we use for trauma in the residential programme at our house in Lakeside, for clients whose trauma comes with drinking, pills or drugs.

Can I keep taking my medication?

Antidepressants and ADHD medication can continue, and the doctor reviews everything you take with you when you arrive.

Can I come from abroad?

Yes. We meet you at Cape Town airport and take you back when you leave. UK and US passport holders can visit South Africa as tourists for 90 days without a visa, but a stay for treatment can need a different visa: check before you book, and we help with the documents. If you are still drinking or using, discuss your condition and journey with the team before booking.

What if the person I am worried about refuses?

Start with what you have noticed and how worried you are, rather than with what happened to them, and offer one concrete step, such as a call you make together. You can speak to us yourself while they are still saying no. Our guide on how to talk to a loved one about rehab gives example wording.