Skip to main content
Contact

Next Steps

 Feel free to reach out if you have any questions, or would like to set up a free 20 minute video consult. Please provide your full name, email, phone number, and preferred days and times to meet. You can also schedule directly through the simple practice portal.

Email Schedule Appointment

EMDR

What is EMDR?

Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing or EMDR is an extensively researched form of psychotherapy that enables people to heal from symptoms and emotional distress that are a result from disturbing past life experience (aka trauma). It is an integrative approach that involves elements of CBT, mindfulness and somatic based therapy. It has also shown to be effective with the treatment of PTSD, racial stress, anxiety, phobias, addiction and many other issues. 

Another way to put it is disturbing memories get “locked up” in the brain causing symptoms like anxiety, nightmares, flashbacks, addiction or relational issues.

How does it work?

EMDR uses bi-lateral stimulation (BLS) to help “unlock” traumatic material and help the brain heal itself. BLS can include eye movements, alternate tapping on your thighs or arms, or alternating audio in your headphones. It is YOUR brain doing the  healing and YOU are in control throughout the whole process; I am largely just holding a safe space while your brain and body processes trauma.

We don’t dive into trauma right away. In fact, we don’t even have to talk about it.

Although EMDR itself can be an incredibly efficient process, we can take our time getting there. It’s vital that we get to know each other, establish a sense of safety, and deciding where to start. We will also practice somatic focused and mindfulness exercises to help you gain confidence in the process.

And yes- we don’t need to extensively talk about your trauma to process it. In fact, keeping it in an intellectual place may be preventing it from healing in your body. Unlike other forms of trauma therapy that required an extensive story telling of the events, EMDR prefers that you stay in an internal/ body focused process while simply noticing the experience. You only need to verbalize the amount of detail that feels right for you and let the tapping do the rest.

Sounds weird. I have more questions… 

Feel free to schedule a  phone consultation with me to see if EMDR could be a helpful modality for you. You can also visit EMDRIA if you’re curious about learning more. I’m also happy to field any further questions you have in our free consult together.