My Training in EMDR

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EMDR is highly effective in treating trauma and dismantling entrenched negative belief systems. It is quite potent, and as such, requires skill and experience on the part of the clinician to be both safe and effective.

 

I have been practicing therapy for 18 years, and am currently certified as an EMDR therapist through EMDRIA. I have learned from the best: Dr. Laurel Parnell, Deany Laliotis, and Linda Curran. I have taken extensive trainings on using EMDR with adults abused as children, Attachment-Focused EMDR, and EMDR integrating interpersonal neurobiology and somatic influences. I am currently in high level supervision to make sure that I keep on the cutting edge in the field. You deserve this.

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What You Should Know About EMDR

 

EMDR, Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing, is a late-stage trauma resolution method. Developed in the late 1980's, EMDR currently has more scientific research as a treatment for trauma than any other non-pharmaceutical intervention. Based on empirical evidence, as well as thousands of client and clinician testimonials, EMDR has proven an effective and rapid method of reprocessing traumatic material so it can be put in the past where it belongs.

 

EMDR appears to facilitate a rapid free association of  information between memory networks, which leads to enhanced integration and a more adaptive perspective of traumatic material.  It obviates the need for some of the more difficult abreactive work (ie. re-living the trauma) often associated with treatment of various conditions, including anxieties, phobias, panic, PTSD symptoms (such as intrusive thoughts, nightmares, and flashbacks), dissociative disorders, mood disorders and other traumatic experiences big and small. 

 

Theoretically, EMDR is about integration--bilateral hemisphereic (right/left brain integration); triune (brain stem, limbic system and cerebral cortex integration); and at least some type of mind/body integration.  Practically, it's about convincing the mind and body that the traumatic event is indeed over.  EMDR helps put the past in the past, where it belongs, instead of staying stuck in it. No longer do you have to feel like it's happening over and over in the present, with the same thoughts, emotions and body sensations that accompanied the event in the past.

 

An underlying principle of EMDR is that basic health resides within everyone. What EMDR does is remove blockages cause by negative images,beliefs and body sensations, allowing one's own natural state of well-being and emotional balance to come through. I've seen it happen over and over...It is a true privilege to be able to offer this to people. I hope this has helped you to understand it a little more. Below are more details of what to expect during a session.

 

 

The Four Stages of EMDR

 

1) Establishment of Safety: This means safety within our relationship, and safety within each individual EMDR session. I will begin each session by helping you to deeply relax and then to connect with your own internal resources. You will be guided in multi-sensory imagery exercises that are designed to activate images, emotions, body sensations and memories of safety, protection, nurture, and comfort. Once they are activated, the actual trauma processing can begin.  Once learned, these techniques can be used at home whenever you need them.

 

2) Activating the Trauma Network:   Next, I will help you to develop and refine a "target" related to the trauma to work with, such as a memory with the images, emotions, body sensations, and negative beliefs associated with it. We'll work with a series of questions that will help activate the entire memory network.

 

3) Adding Bi-Lateral Stimulation:  Once your memory network is activated, we will add alternating bi-lateral stimulation via any or all of the following, and the processing will begin:

              a) a gentle buzzing in your hands with a "Theratapper"

              b) playing alternating auditory tones via headphones or earbuds

              c) showing lights that move left and right

At this time, you simply allow whatever comes up to do so without censoring.  Your brain knows what to do!  Images, sensations, thoughts, emotions can flash through quickly, and you can always slow down the process if you choose to do so.

 

4) Re-establishment of Safety:  Regardless of whether the material was completely processed or not, your session can end on time.  You will be stable, embodied, oriented and calm before you leave. I have many, many techniques at my disposal to help with this. Most people leave feeling much happier, lighter and ready to move on with their lives without the heaviness of the past weighing them down.