Together, we will take a look at your life experiences and where they fit into why you are seeking EMDR. This can include support systems, childhood, coping skills, and a “headline” for the trauma you are wanting to work on. This usually takes a few sessions to complete.

During preparation, I will explain to you how the process of EMDR works and what to expect during it.

We will practice specific coping skills to use at any point in time if needed during reprocessing or at the end of the session.

I always ensure we have enough time at the end of the session to do these coping mechanisms if necessary.

An assessment will be completed together to ensure there is no severe dissociation prior to beginning EMDR.

Once the assessment is completed, we will then assess the trauma you are wanting relief from.

I will note the negative belief you have about yourself because of the trauma, what emotions you are experiencing, a positive or neutral belief that you would rather believe about yourself in spite of the trauma, and a rating of how disturbing the trauma feels in your body.

In this phase, we will begin what is called “bilateral stimulation.”

During bilateral stimulation, you will either follow a light that moves back and forth with your eyes, listen to beeps that will move left or right in headphones that I can provide, or use tapping.

We will do this in sets, where I will check in with you after each set until the disturbance has reduced.

Once we have completed the bilateral stimulation, we will then begin the installation process of using the positive or neutral belief that we assessed in phase three and pair it with the traumatic memory.

We will strengthen this belief using bilateral stimulation until it is at its highest strength.

In this phase, you will engage in a body scan, noticing if there is any disturbance anywhere in your body from your head to your toes when thinking about the traumatic memory.

If there is no disturbance, then our bilateral stimulation has come to an end. If there is some remaining disturbance, we will assess it and begin the bilateral stimulation again.

At the end of each session, we will make sure that you are feeling good enough to leave the office.

This is important and is why I ensure there is enough time left at the end of the session to ensure you have returned to a calm state.

Even if the memory has not been completed through the bilateral stimulation, we will utilize this closure with one of the coping skills we have practiced until we can open it back up in the following session.

At the beginning of each session during EMDR, I will evaluate how you feel, if anything came up for you in between sessions, and if you are ready to move on to the next memory you are looking to reprocess.

From there, we will repeat phases 3-8 until all of the target memories you are wanting to reprocess are completed.