EMDR Therapy for Women Exploring Trauma and Relational Patterns

Imagine embodying the freedom to give and receive love in a more intimate and meaningful way.

A world where you have a better understanding of how your relationship with the past influences your perceptions of the present.

A place where your body feels less like a battleground and more like a serene lake.

A meeting ground where shame is encapsulated by light, and you’re able to access more confidence and self-compassion; while simultaneously experiencing less persistent emotional turbulence and self-doubt.

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When the Weight Starts to Feel Lighter

Working with Memory, Sensation, & Attention:

Eye Movement Desensitization & Reprocessing Therapy (EMDR) is a form of adaptive information processing which uses bilateral stimulation (BLS), such as tapping, eye movements, or auditory tones, to reprocess traumatic material.

This allows integration of adverse experiences which may have informed distorted belief systems about ourselves and the world around us. This type of therapy can also reduce the emotional intensity of distressing memory content. Unlike traditional talk therapy, this technique allows for non-verbal processing, if desired.

The brain can run on overdrive when experiencing an adverse event, which leads to the memory being stored improperly in our brain. This can lead to persistent intrusion of somatic and emotional content related to the event, which frequently leads to intense physiological and emotional responses within the nervous system.

The mind and body are intimately connected.

So, when a person experiences a trauma trigger related to the memory, it’s as though the body and the brain believe the event is happening all over again in the present moment.

Traditional talk therapy can be very useful in the mentalization of various events in our lives. However, there is a risk of re-traumatization for some individuals. This is why EMDR can be a helpful tool, so that trauma can be reprocessed in a more targeted and sensitive manner.

There is a plethora of scientific literature illustrating how EMDR can be helpful in addressing a variety of concerns:

  • Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) & Complex trauma (C-PTSD)

  • Anxiety

  • Childhood Emotional Neglect (CEN)

  • Disturbing memories

  • Relationship Problems

  • People-Pleasing & Codependency

  • Phobias

  • Performance Anxiety

  • Dissociative Disorders

  • Addictions

  • Sexual or Physical Abuse

  • Body Dysmorphic Disorders

  • Personality Disorders

  • Complicated Grief

  • Depression

Interested in learning more about EMDR?

EMDR Therapy: Frequently Asked Questions

  • Yes! EMDR is highly effective in addressing the root causes of anxiety by exploring unresolved trauma and transforming belief systems about the self.

    Women often find that their anxiety decreases significantly as a result of EMDR therapy:

    • Reduced frequency and intensity of panic attacks

    • Spending less time overthinking and worrying

    • Improvements in self-worth, confidence, and general life outlook

    • Experiencing more peace than tension

    • More present and mindful within their body and day-to-day life

    • Improvements in PTSD symptoms

    • Better sleep

    • Greater ability to manage stress and regulate emotions

  • Patterns of people-pleasing often stem from childhood experiences where emotional needs were not consistently met, shamed, or ignored.

    This can cause a child to begin to believe that their own emotions and needs are “bad” or “too much”. These belief systems can inform deep fears of rejection, abandonment, conflict, and disapproval.

    EMDR helps people reprocess past memories and develop more accurate beliefs about yourself and the world around you.

    This often leads to improvements in self-worth, anxiety/depression symptoms, boundaries, and the procurement of more authentic and fulfilling relationships.

    If you struggle to say “no” and fear disappointing others, EMDR therapy can help you achieve emotional balance and a more fulfilling lifestyle.

    Interested in learning more about the impacts of people-pleasing and burnout on your emotional health and relationships?

  • Childhood Emotional Neglect (CEN) often contributes to a host of different experiences, including but not limited to:

    • Emotional numbness or overwhelm

    • Identity confusion

    • Difficulty identifying and expressing your feelings

    • Feeling chronically unsafe with emotional or physical vulnerability

    • Struggles with self-worth and confidence

    • Persistent self-criticism

    • Difficulties trusting your own judgment, especially when a loved one is expressing frustration or disapproval towards you

    EMDR can help women with CEN work through distorted belief systems reinforced by attachment wounds experienced with primary caregivers in your childhood.

    EMDR also helps women develop more self-compassion, deeper emotional awareness, improved emotion regulation/expression, and more fulfilling relationships.

    Therapy can help you to step into a place of empowerment and radical authenticity by shining a light on what is actually true about yourself and your life story.

    This can be a very enlightening and freeing experience to have, and sets up the road for a more fulfilling life that is aligned with who you actually are and can become.

    Interested in better understanding how childhood emotional neglect impacts one’s self-worth, emotions, and connections with others?

  • Interested in exploring how EMDR can help you transform people-pleasing patterns, anxiety, or the wounds of childhood emotional neglect?

    Here’s how to get started with me:

    1.) Schedule a Free Consultation

    Start by filling out the contact form on my website with the requested information. I’ll reach out to schedule a phone consultation with you.

    This is a brief call that allows us to explore what’s bringing you in to determine if we’re a good fit.

    2.) Choose Your Ongoing Session Time

    If we decide to move forward, I’ll provide available time slots that meet on a weekly cadence. You’ll choose a slot that you are able to commit to for the duration of therapy.

    Counseling works best when it’s consistent, so your selected time will be reserved exclusively for you.

    3.) Complete Intake Forms

    You’ll then receive secure online paperwork via email. This onboarding packet includes my practice policies and several questionnaires. This helps us begin our work with clarity and intention.

    *Teletherapy clients will receive a secure link via text messaging or email to join their initial session the morning of the appointment

    4.) Begin Therapy

    We’ll get to know one another better and begin exploring your background in more detail, to better define your goals and expectations for therapy in this season of your life. I’ll integrate approaches like: EMDR, IFS (parts-work), and other various modalities, as clinically appropriate.

  • This is highly dependent upon your own specific goals for treatment, as well as what you’re hoping to get out of therapy during a given season of your life.

    Typically, more than one EMDR reprocessing session is required to begin to see a longer-lasting benefit. This is because there may be more traumatic material that needs to be “cleared” from both the mind and the body.

    However, this isn’t to say you can’t still experience powerful changes within a single EMDR session.

    More often than not, individuals can expect to experience deep insights through a singular session; which can then be integrated to promote inner transformation.

  • Every EMDR session is unique and it’s oftentimes difficult to predict how a given individual may respond to treatment.

    It’s possible that you’ll experience discomfort and intense emotional content. Distressing, unresolved memories may also resurface through the use of EMDR. Some clients experience reactions during treatment such as:

    • a high degree of emotional disturbance

    • physical sensations (eg. warmth, coldness, prickling, or a sense of “pressure”)

    • disorientation

    • fear

    • nausea

    Subsequent to the treatment session, the processing of traumatic material may continue and dreams, memories, flashbacks (physical & emotional), or other feelings and sensations may surface.

    All of that said, the brain and body are very forgiving with this modality. Treatment can be dialed back and tailored to meet your nervous system where it’s at.

    We aim to ease our way into the “deeper end of things” — slowly but surely. This gradually allows you to build up your somatic tolerance over time to be able to reprocess deeper encoded traumatic material.

Follow the Thread to Change!

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