Franziska Heerwagen-Seuling

Hello! My name is Franziska Heerwagen-Seuling. I am the mother of two wonderful children and a trained trauma educator, an integrative attachment-oriented 

trauma therapist (I.B.T.), a therapist specializing in trauma-sensitive support, and currently pursuing a master’s degree (M.Sc.) in child and adolescent psychology.

 

I’ve been living in beautiful Portugal for two years and have started my own practice here to support expats and German-speaking families, in particular, during challenging times. I work with my young patients in my own practice in the Algarve and with parents both in person and online. My sessions are conducted in either German or English.

 

In my work, I focus primarily on supporting newborns,

babies, and toddlers, as well as their caregivers, who have experienced traumatic birth experiences or early childhood trauma (such as early attachment trauma).

My work is not only grounded in professional expertise but also shaped by personal experience: traumatic experiences are part of my own family’s history. This personal connection to the subject has sharpened my awareness—of the subtle signals, of what children often cannot put into words, and of the importance of safety, connection, and stability in everyday life.

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I work with an integrative approach that incorporates both the cognitive and physical levels. Because when trauma is stored in the body, the body is also the pathway through which healing can take place.

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My work brings together trauma-sensitive, neurobiological, trauma-informed educational, and therapeutic knowledge—supplemented by somatic methods, mindfulness, and bodywork. For parents and children alike. Always within the context of a relationship, always at the pace of the person sitting in front of me. Always on equal footing.

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My methods:

• Approaches from play therapy

• EMDR for infants and toddlers 

• Body-centered approach (sensory, sound, rhythm)

• Narrative sandplay

• Approaches from "Gestalt therapy" (painting, working with clay, creative work with various materials) 

• craniosacral osteopathy

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With parents, I work (if desired) using both psychoeducational and body-centered approaches in individual sessions.

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