What is EMDR?
EMDR stands for Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing. But let me explain what that actually means.
We all have memories. Most of them live quietly in the background, part of the story of our lives, but not running the show. But sometimes, something happens that doesn't get filed away like a regular memory. Instead it stays raw. Close to the surface. And when something brings it up: a smell, a sound, a situation, a person. The response isn't just a memory. It's an explosion. Or a shutdown. Or a complete disconnect from yourself.
That's what trauma does. It gets stuck.
EMDR is a process that takes that stuck experience and helps your brain reprocess it so it gets filed into the same pot as your regular memories, instead of living on a hair trigger. The event doesn't disappear. But it stops having such an explosive hold on you.
You might not even think of what happened to you as "trauma." You just know that something feels stuck. That's enough to start.
EMDR Intensives
What is an EMDR Intensive?
An EMDR intensive is different from regular weekly therapy in one important way: it's focused, structured, and short-term.
Instead of slowly approaching something over months of weekly sessions, an intensive gives us the time and space to really go there. We work over a concentrated period of time, the structure and length of which we design together based on what you're bringing and what you need. It has a beginning, a middle, and an end.
It's not for everyone. But for the right person, with the right thing to work on, it can create movement that might otherwise take a very long time.
EMDR Intensives for Children and Teens
Children experience trauma too and they often don't have the words for it. They just know something feels big, or scary, or like something they can't get near.
I offer EMDR intensives for children with parent involvement built in. Depending on the child and what we're working on, sessions may incorporate play and expressive arts — because sometimes kids process best when their hands are busy and the work doesn't feel like work.
Parents are partners in this process, not bystanders. We'll work together to make sure your child feels safe, supported, and understood every step of the way.