EMDR Therapy in Summit County

EMDR Therapy to Change Your Relationship to the Past

If you’ve done therapy for a while, you may be very used to reflecting on your week, recounting the patterns that have emerged since childhood, or dutifully practicing skills to restructure thinking or challenge anxiety. All of these practices have a place, but sometimes we need to dive in and target the events that shape our present experiences. EMDR offers us a way to get to the root of our concerns.

EMDR, or Eye-Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing, is a multi-step therapeutic approach designed to help you recover from the effects of PTSD, anxiety, panic attacks, depression symptoms and so much more. It utilizes the natural healing abilities of the brain, with an extra nudge of support.

Life emerges from a fire zone on Buffalo Mountain in Silverthorne, Colorado

EMDR is not unlike this scene here. Though we can see the scars of a trauma, as we move through it, we can find new life rising from the ashes.

Don’t just talk about what’s wrong, flush it out with EMDR

In EMDR, we use “bilateral stimulation” to facilitate processing. The founder of EMDR realized that bilateral input or movement (experiences that happen on both sides of the body) seem to correlate with eye movements, thus the origin of the name. These movements are similar to what occurs when dreaming, which may be an important natural process for daily memory reconsolidation. It is these movements that seem to support a “deep-cleaning” of the brain so that we experience more distance from what has bothered us in the past.

I like to think of EMDR like helping a lost book find it’s way to the right place in a library. A lost book might get stuck in the wrong section, waiting to find it’s way home. We need a librarian to come in a sweep over large sections to target the book and relocate it appropriately. Essentially, traumatic memories behave in a similar way. They float around trying to grab our attention, but without the right transport, they stay stuck in the wrong section. EMDR is a way to deep clean and keep the impact of old memories and emotions at bay.

Come See Me to Heal

  • PTSD / CPTSD

  • Anxiety

  • Panic

  • Depression

  • Self-Esteem

  • Perfectionism

  • Self-Worth

  • Loss / Complex Grief

  • Attachment Trauma

  • Relational Trauma

  • Abuse / Neglect

  • Birth Trauma

  • Low - Motivation

  • Relationships

  • Life Transitions

  • And More…

EMDR Basics

  • EMDR stands for Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing. It’s an evidence-based treatment protocol used to integrate traumatic memories that trigger symptoms in the present.

    EMDR does not erase memories, but rather it changes how one feels about what has happened in the past. Individuals often report a feeling of acceptance of an event and sense an increase in perceived distance from the event.

    This modality is effective for many different types of trauma including developmental and attachment trauma. It is also known to work on anxiety, chronic pain, and substance use disorders.

  • EMDR is a multiphasic process that requires resource building, assessment, reprocessing, and “installation” to shift belief systems and traumatic memories.

    We identify targets related to present symptoms, determine beliefs related to past events, and use bilateral stimulation to integrate memory networks.

    Bilateral stimulation is a form of sensory input in the form of eye movements, vibrational movements, or auditory stimuli that move back and forth between the two hemispheres of the body.

    Researchers highlight the importance of keeping the self connected to the present while playing through scripts from the past in order to shift traumatic experiences.

  • History Taking: As with any therapeutic modality, we’ll start by exploring your current challenges and identifying your hopes for change. In this phase, we’ll build the therapeutic container so you feel safe to navigate difficult content.

    Preparation: As a part of preparation for EMDR, we’ll build your resources through a combination of grounding, containing, mindfulness practices, and visualizations. These resources will help build your window of tolerance and increase readiness for reprocessing.

    Assessment and Reprocessing: With increased readiness, we’ll focus on the key experiences we’ve mapped out. I’ll guide you through bilateral stimulation to reprocess the memories and help you find relief.

  • EMDR has many applications and will look different for each individual. It’s effective for both concrete big T traumas (car accidents, disasters, life-threatening events) as well as little t traumas (attachment trauma, faulty belief systems, emotional neglect). We’ll work together to determine if this the best approach for the work we’ll do together. Many times I’ll employ a variety of approaches to support your unique lived experiences.

If you’d like to learn more about EMDR (including EMDR Intensives) and are curious about how it can support you in your healing journey, I invite you to contact me. I’m happy to offer you a safe, collaborative space to explore this approach. For more about EMDR intensives, click here.

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