EMDR

You have a truly incredible brain. It has a natural drive toward healing, the same way your body has a natural drive to heal a wound. EMDR leverages and lights up these processes when information and memories have become stuck in our brain and body. This therapy changes how we carry and relate to what's become stuck within us.

When something difficult happens, the brain does its best to make sense of it, time-stamp it, and file it away in the past. However, when an experience is particularly overwhelming, repeated, or happens early in life, the brain focuses on survival and adapting to what's going on around us and within us. This is a very clever and necessary pivot, but it does mean the healing process gets interrupted. As a result, we continue to experience trauma-related thoughts, feelings, sensations, beliefs and/or memories. It's why we might know we are safe but don't actually feel safe. It's also why some patterns and cycles repeat themselves.

EMDR is known for its use of Bilateral Stimulation (BLS). This is where you alternate left to right with eye movements, tapping, buzzers or sound, with plenty of options to suit your needs and the moment. BLS can be used to wake up and strengthen the good things and possibilities you already have within you, as well as to process and file away the information and memories that got stuck.

EMDR is recommended as a trauma therapy by the World Health Organization however, it can be just as effective for other experiences that have impacted us: anxiety, low mood, grief, phobias, addiction, and more.

We’ll begin with exploring what brought you to therapy, your circumstances and needs, what makes you you, what you hope to work on together, and what you hope to be different as a result. We can start with the basics and headlines - there's no expectation for you to share everything or every detail all at once.

Before any processing happens, we'll spend some time ensuring you've got what you need to connect with the flexibility and steadiness of your nervous system. You'll have a toolkit of information, skills and strategies you can draw on in sessions and between them. This is an important part of EMDR as it sets you up well for processing the stuck information and memories you're carrying.

EMDR is quite a flexible therapy, so we'll navigate where to start and the pace of processing together. During BLS, you remain aware and in control throughout: one foot in the present and one foot in the stuck material. You stay in the driver's seat and I’ll be right there with you to make sure it stays that way.

Unlike traditional talk therapy, EMDR doesn't require you to describe your experience at length or in great detail. Accessing the memory and feeling in your mind and body is more important than narrating it. This is also very different to experiencing it in its usual intrusive form, because you are using your choice and control. You're choosing to turn your attention towards what's stuck and kickstart your brain and body's organising and healing processes.

EMDR can happen within the space of a standard session (50 to 60 minutes); however, sessions of 90 minutes or more can allow for deeper, uninterrupted processing. Longer sessions are available on request and subject to availability.

For more information about EMDR, you can head to the [EMDR Association of Australia's website]. And if you'd like to talk about whether EMDR is right for you, get in touch via email or the enquiry form on our 'Contact' page.

• EMDR basic training (Parts 1 and 2)

• Advanced EMDR training in the areas of complex trauma, dissociation, parts work, personality disorder traits and defences, and domestic violence

• Training in EMDR intensives

• Ongoing EMDR consultation and professional development

• Associate Member of the EMDR Association of Australia (EMDRAA)