EMDR Program
This program aims to serve individuals in healing their symptoms through the 8 phase protocol of EMDR. Joining the program means you will be matched with an EMDR-trained clinician and experience a comprehensive trauma treatment team that is designed to fit your specific needs. We are honored to work alongside you and activate your brain and body’s natural healing power. This program is suited to fit clients ages 6+.
EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing) is a powerful, research-supported treatment that is endorsed by EMDRIA & the Veteran's Administration for the compassionate and effective treatment of trauma and related disturbances. EMDR uses what we know about neuroscience and the brain to help us identify, locate, and address the "root(s)" of our current discomforts, thus effectively and efficiently alleviating symptoms of emotional, psychological, physical and/or attachment trauma. EMDR is a structured therapy that encourages the patient to focus briefly on the trauma memory while simultaneously experiencing bilateral stimulation (typically eye movements), which is associated with a reduction in the vividness and emotion associated with the trauma memories.
*If you are currently experiencing active suicidal or homicidal ideation, EMDR would not be a good fit for you as it is a very intense process. We would encourage you to look into the DBT program at Three Oaks.
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Mackenzie Van Remortel (she/her), MA, LMFT
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Sarah Sterling (she/her), MSW, LCSW
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Brianna Kuo (she/her), MSW, LCSWA
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Cat Wilson (she/her), CRC, LCMHCA
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Elyssa Lee (she/her), MSW, LCSW
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Emily Myers (she/her), MSW, LCSW
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Gina Kabat (she/her), MSW, LCSW
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Jami Regan (she/her), LCMHCA
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Phil Stillman (they/them), PhD, MSW, LCSWA
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Kelly Tucci (she/her), MEd, LCMHCA
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Robyn Greenwood (she/her), MSW, LCSW, LCMHC-QS
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Victoria Oropello (she/her), LCMHC, LCAS
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Azleena Azhar (she/her), MSW, LCSWA
FAQs
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Our brains have a natural way to recover from traumatic memories and events. This process involves communication between the amygdala (the alarm signal for stressful events), the hippocampus (which assists with learning, including memories about safety and danger), and the prefrontal cortex (which analyzes and controls behavior and emotion). While many times traumatic experiences can be managed and resolved spontaneously, they may not be processed without help.
Stress responses are part of our natural fight, flight, or freeze instincts. When distress from a disturbing event remains, the upsetting images, thoughts, and emotions may create an overwhelming feeling of being back in that moment, or of being “frozen in time.” EMDR therapy helps the brain process these memories through bilateral stimulation allowing the memory to become unstuck and normal healing to resume. The experience is still remembered, but the lasting symptoms from the original event are resolved.
Analogy: If you break a bone, your bone will heal naturally as our body and brain are wired for healing. If you did not get help from the doctor your body will heal but will have to adjust. You may have to take aspirins, walk on the other leg more. Same thing happens in the brain when your body stores the memory: you may develop lingering feelings of anxiety or depression, or find you are sometimes flooded with the memory. When we revisit the memory with bilateral stimulation it allows your brain to heal the memory and store it properly while reducing the lasting effects.
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We believe that EMDR is a modality that can serve all across ages, symptoms and medical and emotional diagnosis. We believe that most symptoms that you are currently experiencing were once used as a response to survive the traumatic event you were in. EMDR can also be done with children. This program is suited for clients 6 and up. The process for children is more play therapy based and they use different forms of bilateral that is suited for them. Children experience the same benefits as adults do.
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The modality of EMDR is not a quick fix! We emphasize that EMDR is an individualized process, each client needs different things within the treatment of EMDR. The length will also vary depending upon how many memories we are working through, level of awareness in your body, and co-existing diagnosis or symptoms. The 8 phases of EMDR can take a client anywhere from a few months to a few years. Because of this process weekly sessions are highly recommended. It is common for EMDR to take you into childhood memories. You can read more about the 8 phases here.
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The EMDR modality uses the AIP (Adaptive Information and Processing) model which states that your brain uses past experiences to help you make sense of the present and predict the future.To find the root of the symptoms in your present day, we track the root of where it was created. This takes a lot of clients in their childhood memories. Each EMDR therapist will handle this differently as there are certain situations where the therapist will adapt the protocol do to time or financial constraints, or what the client is wanting to work on.
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This is a very common thing and you can absolutely still do EMDR! We work with what memories you do have, connect them to your body (feelings, sensations) and your body will help us find the rest. The sensations, feelings, and negative beliefs l trigger other memories in what we call a “neural network.” Imagine a tube in your brain, once you go into the tube through one memory (sensation, feeling, belief) you can find other memories that have felt similarly.
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Things you can do with your current therapist or by yourselfing is start to build your emotional vocabulary and connection to your body! When you feel feelings you have the feeling, a thought about the feeling and a physical sensation. Building your connection back to your body is key for EMDR therapy and any trauma work. Questions you can ask: where do I feel this in my body and what is the physical sensation (chest tightness, shallow breathing etc.) Your breathing is a great tool to see that your body is feeling something. If you can’t find an EMDR therapist to work with, seeing a therapist who is trained in ACT, Constructed Awareness, Internal Family System theories, Somatic Experiencing, or any somatic therapy would help prepare you for EMDR. Additionally, the DBT program at Three Oaks is a great resource to start developing skills for deeper work and will sometimes be required by your EMDR therapist in the program if they think it would be beneficial.
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Yes, if your insurance plan covers therapy sessions, we can provide EMDR as a psychotherapy intervention. See more about Three Oaks insurance coverage here. Sometimes in the EMDR process it is helpful to do a longer session complete processing of an experience instead of having to pause in the middle. Insurance companies only reimburse one hour of therapy a day; if you and your therapist decide a longer session is useful or warranted, we will bill the insurance rate for the first hour and charge the self-pay rate for the second hour. You can check Three Oaks self-pay rates here. If a sliding scale is needed please contact your EMDR therapist.
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The best thing you can do after an EMDR session is move your body and do an activity you can fully finish that is left brain (logical). This will help close any emotion cycles that are left in the body. Examples can be stretching, walking of any kind, finishing a task on your to-do list. It is common after an EMDR session to experience fatigue and emotionally numbness the following day. EMDR sessions can feel like 6 talk therapy sessions in one hour.
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You always have permission to continue therapy with your current therapist, we know that relationship is sacred. For EMDR, it is recommended to meet with your EMDR therapist weekly to move the process along and so you are not stuck in any memories. This can mean that you are doing two sessions of therapy a week, which can lead to therapy burn out. There are multiple options: you can move down to bi-weekly or one a month with your current therapist, you can transition to your EMDR therapist and then transition back to your current therapist, and some clients will be asked to see an EMDR therapist and a skills based therapist to help with emotional regulation skills depending on amount of memories working on.
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Yes-EMDR has protocols to handle recent single incident traumas and can help reduce the impact overall.
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Yes, EMDR is as effective virtually as it is in person.
*If you are currently experiencing active suicidal or homicidal ideation, EMDR would not be a good fit for you as it is a very intense process. We would encourage you to look into the DBT program at Three Oaks.
Glossary
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Bilateral Stimulation (BLS): Stimulation (e.g eye movements, auditory, or tappers) to activate both left and right brain hemispheres of the brain. This stimulation helps unstuck the brain to release emotions.
Dissociation: Dissociation is a mental process where a person disconnects from their thoughts, feelings, memories or sense of identity. It is a very normal and common way that our brain protects us from pain.
Desensitization: Stage 4 of EMDR, where the bilateral stimulation is used to bring the emotion, sensations, thoughts, and negative core belief down from distressing to neutral.
Developmental Trauma:
Early childhood trauma generally refers to the traumatic experiences that occur to children aged 0-6. Because infants’ and young children’s reactions may be different from older children’s, and because they may not be able to verbalize their reactions to threatening or dangerous events, many people assume that young age protects children from the impact of traumatic experiences.
EMDR: Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing
EMDR- unrestricted processing: EMDR processing where clients will start with touchstone memory and allow their brain to freely associate to other memories that feel similar. It is common in these processes that your brain will remember memories that are not on the treatment plan, that is normal.
EMDR- restricted processing: EMDR restricted process is where the therapist and client decide to clear out one memory without allowing associations to other memories or events to be processed. This is a helpful tool for people who have recently experienced a recent traumatic event.
Negative Core Belief: A strongly held core belief schema developed during EMDR treatment mapping that resonates with client’s presenting complaint or their “life script” (ex: I’m not good enough, I am unlovable, i’m unsafe).
Nervous System: The human nervous system coordinates its actions and sensory information by transmitting signals to and from different parts of its body. The nervous system detects environmental changes that impact the body, then works in tandem with the endocrine system to respond to such events. In the body this is how we track memories through the sensations that come up in your nervous system.
Positive Core Belief: A held positive belief schema developed during EMDR’s treatment mapping and resonates with the client’s desired belief to their presenting complaint (ex: I’m safe, I am worthy, I am loved regardless).
Touchstone Memory: The earliest identified memory that resonates with a client’s presenting complaint (emotions, sensations, or negative core belief). Usually we find these memories in the 0-6 age range depending on what treatment plan is being formed.
Trauma (wound): Something that happened that you were not emotionally, physically or spiritually prepared for; something that is too much too soon, too much for too long, or too little for too long. Traumas can be events that put our system into fight-or-flight (near death experiences, abuse, etc) as well as a lack of a protective experience (neglect, missing safety).
Note: two people can experience a traumatic event, but that doesn’t automatically mean they will both have a trauma response. Individual/genetic differences as well as our mental health, social supports, etc may influence if the event stays activated in our nervous system as a threat or if we heal from it naturally and move on. So it doesn’t matter how big or how small it is, you may have traumatic stress if it was “too much” for your nervous system at the time. And you also may have experienced intense events that don’t have trauma symptoms attached, and therefore don’t need treatment.
Complex Trauma: Imagine a small snow ball that rolls down a hill and gains more snow and continues to get bigger and bigger. This is what complex trauma can look like. It can be a lot of the same trauma happening over and over again, or a web of different traumas throughout our lives. Traumatic events that are ongoing through an extended period of time can have lasting effects on our nervous systems and how we respond with the world. Treating complex trauma requires some different treatment considerations and strategies than a single-incident trauma, including longer treatment times. We may have to take time to learn or develop regulation skills that we were prevented from developing earlier in our lives.
Resource/Resourcing: Resourcing refers to identifying and instilling coping skills or memories associated with your positive belief to help offer your system some support while processing memories.
Reprocessing: Another word for stage 4 (Desentization) of the EMDR protocol where we start to work on the trauma memories with bilateral stimulation.
Subject Units of Distress Scare (SUD): A 0-10 scale used to measure levels of disturbance within a memory that is found in their body. 0 is a neutral or no disturbance, and 10 is the highest level of disturbance imaginable. Used to scale memories that will be used to desensitize.
Single Incident Trauma: When we have a single or specific traumatic event in our life, whether recent or past. Treatment for a single incident means reprocessing the event from start to finish so that it’s no longer stored as a trauma memory.
Validity of Cognition (VOC): The measurement used for positive beliefs scaling from 1-7, 1 feels totally false and 7 feels completely true.
Window of Tolerance (Polyvagal Theory) : Watch this link :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1ovJu2GNVo