Trauma Therapy & EMDR

When an experience keeps affecting you

Memories and reminders

Something you see, hear, or feel may bring back a memory or leave you feeling suddenly on edge. You might have trouble sleeping, avoid certain places or conversations, or find yourself staying alert when you’d like to relax.

What you believe about yourself

You may keep thinking about what you should have done differently or wonder whether you can trust your judgment. Even when someone tells you it wasn’t your fault, part of you may still feel responsible. We can take time to understand what makes that belief so difficult to let go of.

Feeling close to other people

You might want support and still pull away when someone asks how you’re doing. Disagreement may feel threatening, or depending on another person may feel uncomfortable. Sometimes the effect of an experience becomes most noticeable in relationships that matter to you.

Working through what happened

We’ll begin with what’s affecting you now and get to know the experiences connected to it. There may be one event you want to work through, or a series of experiences that shaped how you relate to yourself and others. You can share what you’re ready to share while we work out where to begin.

Part of our work may involve making room for grief or anger, looking more closely at self-blame, or understanding why you expect to be hurt even in situations that seem different from the past. I’ll listen to how you understand your experience and help you explore the parts that still feel unresolved.

What EMDR can involve

EMDR stands for Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing. It’s a therapy used to help people process distressing memories and the thoughts, emotions, and physical sensations connected to them. I’m certified in EMDR, and we can discuss whether it fits what you’d like to work on.

We begin with preparation: getting to know your history, explaining the process, and finding ways to help you stay present when difficult feelings come up. During processing, you bring a memory to mind while following guided eye movements or another alternating rhythm, such as tapping. We work in short sets and pause to notice what comes up. The alternating taps sometimes used in EMDR are different from EFT tapping.

You usually don’t need to describe every detail aloud, although the work does involve bringing difficult experiences to mind. We’ll pay attention to how you’re doing and adjust the pace together. The aim is for the memory to become less distressing and have less influence on how you feel and respond now.

Paying attention to your body, too

As we work, we may notice tension, a change in your breathing, or moments when you feel distant. Somatic work gives us a way to include those experiences. We might pause, notice your surroundings or the support of the chair beneath you, and explore the feelings that came up before continuing. Your physical response is part of what we want to understand.