EMDR Therapy
A specialized, evidence-based approach to healing the roots of trauma and reclaiming your peace.
What is EMDR Therapy?
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy is a structured, evidence-based therapy that helps your brain process painful or overwhelming experiences.
When something painful or overwhelming happens – your brain doesn’t always store the memory properly. Instead, it can get “stuck” along with the emotions, body sensations, and negative beliefs that came with it.
Even years later, you may still feel the impact as if it’s happening now. The past is in the present.
EMDR therapy uses bilateral stimulation (such as eye movements or tapping) to help your brain reprocess these memories at the memory and nervous system level, transforming these memories in a healthier, more adaptive way. You don’t forget what happened – but the emotional charge and the old beliefs lose their power. The past is in the past.
What EMDR Therapy Helps
EMDR therapy was initially the treatment of choice for veterans suffering from PTSD and now is widely recognized as an effective approach for addiction, anxiety, depression, and childhood trauma.
Clients often seek EMDR therapy for:
- Single event traumas (sexual or physical assault, car accidents, natural disasters, medical emergencies)
- Childhood phsycial, sexual, and verbal abuse
- Childhood neglect
- Childhood emotional neglect
- Having a history with emotionally unavailable or unpredictable caregivers
- Attachment wounding and relational trauma
- Shame, self-doubt, persistent negative beliefs
- Perfectionism
- People-pleasing
- Complicated grief
- Anxiety and phobias
What to Expect
EMDR therapy sessions are structured, supportive, and paced to match your nervous system.
1. Comprehensive History Taking:
We begin by understanding your story
2. Identify the experiences that feel “stuck”
Together, we map out the memories, beliefs, and sensations your nervous system still reacts to. These become the targets for EMDR therapy.
3. Prepare for Reprocessing:
We make sure you have skills you need so you feel prepared and ready for deeper work
4. Reprocessing with Bilateral Stimulation:
We use eye movements or tapping to help your brain process what it couldn’t at the time of the event. You remain present and in control while your nervous system does the healing work.
5. Noticing Internal Shifts:
As old experiences lose their intensity, people often feel lighter, clearer, and more grounded. Triggers soften, self‑criticism quiets, and daily life feels more manageable.
6. Integrating the Changes:
We strengthen new beliefs and patterns so the shifts you experience in EMDR align with your goals.
How EMDR Therapy Works
EMDR therapy is based on the idea that your brain has a natural ability to heal from psychological distress, much like your body heals from physical wounds. This idea is known as the Adaptive Information Processing (AIP) model.
According to the AIP model, most mental health symptoms—like anxiety, depression, or trauma responses—stem from past experiences that weren’t fully processed at the time they happened. When something overwhelming happens, the brain may store the memory in a way that keeps the distress “frozen in time,” along with the original emotions, thoughts, and body sensations. These unprocessed memories can get triggered in the present, leading to intense reactions that may seem out of proportion or hard to explain. The past is in the present.
EMDR therapy helps your brain reprocess those stuck memories so they can be stored in a more adaptive, healthy way.
Once reprocessed, the memories no longer feel overwhelming or triggering, and you can move forward without being held back by the past. The past is in the past.
In short: The AIP model says your brain knows how to heal—and EMDR therapy helps it do just that.
If you’d like to learn more about EMDR, I’ve included two short videos below that offer an overview of how it works.
What is Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing Therapy?
Introduction to EMDR Therapy