EMDR THERAPY
in FLOWOOD
Understand your past, find closure, and move forward.
When painful memories are not fully processed, thinking or talking about them can take you back in time. The movie of what happened starts replaying in your mind with all the associated sounds, images, and smells. Anger, fear, sadness–whatever the feeling was in the moment—you can almost immediately connect with it.
EMDR can help you process the things you’ve been through so you can heal instead of feeling stuck in the past.
Maybe you’re here having worked with other counselors before. Some of those experiences were great, and you developed valuable skills and insight into yourself. But you’ve hit a plateau, and you aren’t seeing the change you know you need.
You’re ready to try something different, something more than just talking about your problems and repeating the same things over and over.
EMDR CAN BE A powerful tool TO HEAL FROM:
Physical, sexual, or emotional abuse
Natural disasters
Accidents
Witnessing or experiencing violence
Grief and loss
Serious medical events or unexpected diagnoses (yours or a family member’s)
Breakups, divorce, separation, and affairs
Events that overwhelmed your ability to cope
HOW I CAN HELP
EMDR is a structured form of therapy that helps you reprocess upsetting memories and store them in a different part of your brain so you don’t feel overwhelmed when you think about them. It shifts thoughts and feelings to a more neutral state where you can focus on the facts of what happened instead of feeling taken over by old thoughts and feelings.
Think about it this way: an unprocessed memory is similar to an unsaved document left open on a computer screen. It stays active in the background, taking up mental bandwidth and energy. When we experience trauma or overwhelming events—such as an accident, divorce, or significant loss—our natural coping mechanisms can become overloaded. Our brains store these disturbing memories differently than ordinary, day-to-day events. They essentially become "stuck" and remain unprocessed.
EMDR therapy activates the brain’s natural healing process to "save" and "file" these memories. Once the memory is fully processed, it no longer takes up day-to-day mental bandwidth; you can still recall the event if needed, but the emotions and distress connected to the memory are much lower.
Some people are looking for a “magic bullet.” While it’s true that EMDR can shift thoughts and feelings that seem deeply engrained, it doesn’t mean that we get to skip over the messy, complicated parts of therapy. The EMDR process includes experiencing and walking through disturbing memories again.
BUT THIS TIME YOU DON’T HAVE TO DO IT alone.
I’ll be with you through the whole process. And on the other side of it, you can finally let go of the weight of some of the experiences you’ve been carrying.
WHAT EMDR does…
Processes trauma in a different way than talking
Replaces negative beliefs with positive beliefs
Reduces the emotional charge of upsetting memories so they feel more manageable
Shifts memories that feel stuck
Uses bilateral stimulation – tapping or eye movements
Calms fight or flight responses
Uses your brain’s natural healing abilities
WHAT EMDR is not…
A magic bullet or quick fix
A way to skip over the emotions and messy parts of doing trauma therapy
Something we can finish in 2-3 sessions
A way to erase or make you forget upsetting memories
A passive experience
EMDR therapy can help you:
Deal with past trauma or upsetting memories that still affect you
Get to the next level of growth and change
Work through old dynamics and toxic patterns so you can stop repeating them
Reduce triggers, flashbacks, and overwhelming emotions
Sort out the inconsistencies between what you feel and what you know to be true
Shift the memories so they take up less space in your head
Think about the memories without getting pulled into the movie of what happened
RECLAIM joy AND purpose IN YOUR LIFE.
EMDR can help you get there.
FAQs
COMMON QUESTIONS
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I’ve learned over the years that it’s best for you to only work with me for individual counseling. There are a lot of great theories of counseling out there, and unfortunately, some of them work at cross purposes to EMDR. It’s possible we would try to guide you in different directions or duplicate work. So even though both counselors might be knowledgeable and effective, it becomes a case of “too many cooks in the kitchen.” I can, however, work with you on some specific goals for a period of time, and then when we’ve met our goals, you can return to your former counselor for continued support and maintenance therapy.
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I prioritize doing a thorough assessment and preparation phase before beginning EMDR processing because I want to make sure you have a positive, healing experience. Taking this time to prepare will make EMDR sessions more precise and impactful.
Starting EMDR processing in the first or second session would be similar to having surgery before imaging or bloodwork is completed. We’ll use the initial stages of therapy to ensure the process is focused and effective rather than wandering around aimlessly.
The videos you might have seen on social media or YouTube typically portray the reprocessing phase—where a therapist uses hand movements or tapping. This is actually Stage 4 of EMDR. That means even when we’re focused on assessment (Stage 1) and preparation (Stage 2), we’re still doing EMDR.
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The short answer is it depends. If you have had a pretty good life, and you were happy and content until one specific thing happened (let’s say for example, a bad breakup), then we can estimate that therapy would last approximately 4-6 months to help you resolve and process the upsetting memories. However, the more trauma you’ve experienced in your life, the more complicated EMDR gets, and it’s more difficult to predict a timeline.
There are a number of things that can determine the length of EMDR treatment. These include:
How old were you when the traumatic event happened? A child, a teen, or an adult?
How many times did the traumatic event happen? Was it once or many times over a period of years?
Is the traumatic event similar to or connected to other things from your past?
How stable is your current life?
Do you already have some coping or grounding skills to help you manage your emotions?
Do you have supportive people in your life?
All of these things impact how quickly or slowly we work through the EMDR processes. To be clear – we don’t have to answer or even talk about these questions in the beginning. It’s my job to know how to assess these things in the background while we’re talking and getting to know each other.
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It depends on a combination of factors such as your specific issues and goals. EMDR can help with many different problems and symptoms. We’ll work together to decide if EMDR is the right fit and choose the right time for starting EMDR.
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EMDR may not be the best treatment for you if you:
Struggle to stay present in the moment
Experience difficulty connecting to your emotions or body sensations
Live in an unsafe or unstable situation
Are in the middle of an ongoing or current crisis
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I completed basic EMDR training in 2018, and I’m now a fully certified EMDRIA therapist. I’ve used EMDR to help many clients. I continue to complete advanced EMDR training courses annually and have experience working with complex cases.
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“EMDR trained” means that a therapist completed a basic training on how to use EMDR techniques and received a certificate of completion. That’s only the first step of full certification and most therapists stop once they’ve completed basic training. EMDRIA has the most rigorous certification process, and I’m one of only a few fully certified EMDRIA therapists in the Jackson Metro area.
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The website for the EMDR International Association has some great videos and information about EMDR including how it works and what to expect. Here are two videos if you want to know more: