EMDR is an evidence-based treatment for emotional trauma and other conditions. When we experience situations that are overwhelming, our brain sometimes has difficulty processing that experience all the way through to a natural conclusion. The experience sits in an incompletely-stored bundle on our neural pathways, along with all the thoughts, beliefs, feelings, sensations and images that were part of that experience. Parts of us get stuck in “trauma time.” EMDR helps the brain access that bundle that has gotten stuck and reprocess it, so that you can complete the experience now in the ways that you needed to then, but couldn’t. Research shows that our brain has the ability to change and create new neural pathways. EMDR harnesses the brain’s natural ability to change and form new neural connections, which allows you to develop more life-giving beliefs about yourself and the world around you. More information about EMDR is available at www.emdria.org.

EMDR Intensives can be helpful for a wide range of issues. I specialize in helping Adult Children of Alcoholics, and I have also seen tremendous results for people with other types of trauma, including childhood trauma, attachment trauma, workplace trauma, traumatic birth experiences and accidents, as well as for performance anxiety, fear of public speaking, creative blocks, and phobias.

Think of an EMDR Intensive as an accelerator for your progress. We don’t skip any steps in the process, we just do the steps a little faster and more efficiently. Part of our assessment meeting is to discuss your history and what the right next steps for your healing might be. We start where you are, and – as I frequently say to my clients – we don’t push our way through therapy. We can only go as fast as the slowest part of you.

Yes! We’ve all – therapists and clients alike – had the experience of feeling stuck or knowing there’s a block that we keep hitting over and over, no matter how hard we both work. It can be discouraging for both the client and the therapist. Sometimes an additional intervention using a different approach can help shake things loose. Through Adjunct EMDR Intensives, I collaborate with your primary therapist to help resolve the stuck point so that your work with them can move forward. Adjunct EMDR does not replace or interrupt the primary therapy. I think of it like the relationship between your primary care doctor who might sometimes refer you to a specialist.