EMDR

Struggles from trauma make it difficult to move forward.

You have tried many healing modalities, or maybe you’ve been too scared to open your emotional backpack. Still, you know one thing: there has to be more to life than this. It feels like you are running in survival mode. Although you have some excellent days and good moments, you have not been able to have consistency in your mind, body, and spirit.

You know you should be moving your body in ways that support you and eating foods that fuel you. A quiet practice or meditation practice has helped before, but it feels like you’re in a loop of self-sabotage.

Cognitively, you love yourself and know that you are worthy and deserve the best. But deep down, you don’t feel it in your bones. Imposter syndrome haunts you. Your life’s regrets haunt you. You don’t feel lovable, loved, or understood in your most intimate relationships.

Let’s get real! Sometimes, you even feel jealous when you see other women, on social media or in real life, who seem to have it all together. You ask yourself, “Why am I still struggling despite my best efforts to change?”

EMDR can help you reprocess trauma.

Trauma causes changes in the brain. Our brains often store trauma when we don’t have an empathetic witness to help us through it. So, for many, healing all alone is hard. The great news is there are ways to change our brains. Healing within a therapeutic relationship with a trained trauma professional can make all of the difference.

EMDR (Eye movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) is a modality developed to help desensitize traumatic events stuck in trauma time in the brain, allowing clients to reprocess those thoughts and think differently about themselves. It helps break down neural pathways in the brain that are not serving you and build up neural pathways that will serve you.

If someone has had a joyous, supportive childhood and has experienced a single incident trauma, then EMDR can be utilized to clear this trauma quite quickly.

EMDR is often more effective than talk therapy alone because it also addresses the body, thoughts, and emotions.

My approach depends on the circumstances.

Suppose a person has an extensive history of childhood trauma, along with traumas that have occurred after that. In that case, I use EMDR to create adaptive memory networks before going into the deeper traumas.

When I work with clients with complex trauma, if it fits them, I utilize a framework of structural dissociation, which will often feel similar to IFS parts work or inner child work.

For example, a standard EMDR protocol is to practice a safe, calm state so that when a client has a hard time in their everyday life, they can use this coping strategy to ground themselves and find calm amid the chaos of everyday life.

However, when I’m working with someone with complex trauma, we will develop safe, calm states for all of the parts/inner child/inner teenage that may need different comfort from the adult. Parts work, however, is not for everyone, but it often can facilitate our EMDR work together.

Let’s see if EMDR is for you.

As we get to know each other, we will assess if EMDR is appropriate for you.

Some clients find benefits in doing only adaptive, positive internal resourcing. Others benefit from doing EMD, an abbreviated version, where we aren’t clearing everything from the past, but you can still feel significant benefits. Many clients feel the benefit of the combination of talk therapy and EMDR.

The sessions are always yours, and along with my clinical expertise, we will collaborate to make a treatment approach that is unique and customized to exactly where you are.

Call (305) 850-8804 today for a 20-minute consultation to discuss how EMDR can help you reach a whole, happy, and healthy enough life.