EMDR works by helping you hold awareness of a distressing experience while also staying connected to the present moment. This is sometimes called dual attention—you are able to notice the memory while also noticing that you are here, now, with your therapist, rather than back in the experience itself.

In EMDR, we identify different aspects of the experience, including the image or memory, negative beliefs about yourself, emotions, and physical sensations in your body. For example, a memory may be connected to a belief such as “I am powerless,” “I am not safe,” or “I am not enough.” We also identify a more adaptive belief you would like to be able to hold about yourself.

As you focus on these aspects of the experience, I guide you through bilateral stimulation, such as alternating eye movements, sounds, or tapping. This creates dual attention between the memory and what is happening in the present moment. Research suggests that bilateral eye movements can reduce the vividness and emotional intensity of distressing memories, although the precise mechanisms through which EMDR works are still being studied.

EMDR follows a structured eight-phase process that provides a roadmap for safely and gradually processing difficult experiences. The amount of time spent in each phase varies from person to person, and the process is adapted to your needs, history, and capacity.

Phase 1: History & Treatment Planning
We begin by getting to know your history, what brings you to therapy, and what you would like to work on. Together, we identify the experiences, current triggers, and patterns that may be contributing to your symptoms and develop a treatment plan.

Phase 2: Preparation
Before processing traumatic memories, we make sure you have the tools and resources you need to feel grounded and supported. I explain how EMDR works, answer your questions, and help you develop ways to regulate and return to a sense of safety when needed.

Phase 3: Assessment
We identify a specific memory or experience to work with and explore the different aspects connected to it, including an image, negative belief about yourself, desired positive belief, emotions, and body sensations. This helps us understand how the experience is affecting you in the present.

Phase 4: Desensitization
This is the phase most people associate with EMDR. While briefly connecting with the memory, you use bilateral stimulation such as guided eye movements, alternating sounds, or tapping. You notice whatever comes up without needing to force or analyze the process. New images, thoughts, emotions, memories, or body sensations may naturally emerge as the memory is processed.

Phase 5: Installation
Once the distress associated with the memory has decreased, we strengthen a more adaptive belief about yourself. For example, a belief such as “I am powerless” may begin to shift toward “I have choices now.” The goal is for this new belief to feel true, not simply something you understand intellectually.

Phase 6: Body Scan
You bring the memory and positive belief to mind while noticing what is happening in your body. If there is any remaining tension, discomfort, or disturbance, we continue processing until you experience a greater sense of resolution.

Phase 7: Closure
Every session ends with closure. Whether or not we have completed processing a particular memory, I help you return your attention to the present and leave the session feeling grounded and regulated. We also talk about what you may notice between sessions.

Phase 8: Reevaluation
At the beginning of subsequent sessions, we check in about what has changed since the previous session. We revisit the memories and symptoms we've been working with, assess your progress, and decide together what to focus on next.

The eight phases give EMDR its structure, while the pace and depth of the work remain collaborative and individualized to you.

EMDR follows a structured eight-phase process that provides a roadmap for safely and gradually processing difficult experiences. The amount of time spent in each phase varies from person to person, and the process is adapted to your needs, history, and capacity.

Phase 1: History & Treatment Planning
We begin by getting to know your history, what brings you to therapy, and what you would like to work on. Together, we identify the experiences, current triggers, and patterns that may be contributing to your symptoms and develop a treatment plan.

Phase 2: Preparation
Before processing traumatic memories, we make sure you have the tools and resources you need to feel grounded and supported. I explain how EMDR works, answer your questions, and help you develop ways to regulate and return to a sense of safety when needed.

Phase 3: Assessment
We identify a specific memory or experience to work with and explore the different aspects connected to it, including an image, negative belief about yourself, desired positive belief, emotions, and body sensations. This helps us understand how the experience is affecting you in the present.

Phase 4: Desensitization
This is the phase most people associate with EMDR. While briefly connecting with the memory, you use bilateral stimulation such as guided eye movements, alternating sounds, or tapping. You notice whatever comes up without needing to force or analyze the process. New images, thoughts, emotions, memories, or body sensations may naturally emerge as the memory is processed.

Phase 5: Installation
Once the distress associated with the memory has decreased, we strengthen a more adaptive belief about yourself. For example, a belief such as “I am powerless” may begin to shift toward “I have choices now.” The goal is for this new belief to feel true, not simply something you understand intellectually.

Phase 6: Body Scan
You bring the memory and positive belief to mind while noticing what is happening in your body. If there is any remaining tension, discomfort, or disturbance, we continue processing until you experience a greater sense of resolution.

Phase 7: Closure
Every session ends with closure. Whether or not we have completed processing a particular memory, I help you return your attention to the present and leave the session feeling grounded and regulated. We also talk about what you may notice between sessions.

Phase 8: Reevaluation
At the beginning of subsequent sessions, we check in about what has changed since the previous session. We revisit the memories and symptoms we've been working with, assess your progress, and decide together what to focus on next.

The eight phases give EMDR its structure, while the pace and depth of the work remain collaborative and individualized to you.

No. You do not need to tell me every detail of a traumatic experience for EMDR to be effective. We can work with what you know, what you remember, and what you notice in your emotions, body, beliefs, or reactions in the present.

You also don't need to have a clear or complete memory of your childhood. With developmental trauma, memories may be fragmented, unclear, or primarily experienced through body sensations, emotions, beliefs, or patterns in relationships.

My approach is trauma-informed and collaborative, which means you remain in control of the process. You never have to share something before you're ready, and you can pause, slow down, or stop at any point. We will work together to create enough safety and stability before approaching difficult material.

We won't try to force memories to come back or assume that something happened simply because you don't remember it. We work with what you know and what is available to you now, at a pace that feels safe and manageable.

Everyone responds to EMDR differently. You may feel a sense of relief, calm, clarity, or even tiredness after a session. You may also feel very tired, especially after processing emotionally intense material.

Between sessions, your brain may continue processing the work. You might notice more vivid or intense dreams, memories or emotions surfacing, new insights, or a shift in perspective about yourself or past experiences. You may notice connections that weren't clear before or begin to see an experience in a new way.

Over time, people sometimes describe longer-term changes such as feeling less reactive to triggers, less hypervigilant, more connected to themselves and their bodies, and better able to respond rather than automatically react. Some people notice that memories that once felt overwhelming become more distant and easier to hold. Others describe having more clarity around their needs and boundaries or feeling less controlled by patterns that developed in response to past experiences. These experiences vary from person to person and are not guaranteed outcomes of EMDR.

You may also feel more emotionally sensitive for a period of time, particularly after processing difficult material. This doesn't necessarily mean something is wrong—it can be part of the processing experience.

We will end each session with time to return to the present and make sure you feel grounded and supported before you leave. I will also help you understand what to expect between sessions and how to care for yourself as you continue processing.

EMDR processing can take time to unfold, and a 75-minute session gives us more space to work without feeling rushed. Rather than having to stop just as meaningful processing is beginning, we have time to settle into the session, prepare your nervous system, engage in focused processing, and allow space for integration and closure.

A longer session can be particularly helpful when working with childhood or developmental trauma, where there may be multiple connected memories, emotions, body sensations, or beliefs to explore.

The additional time also allows us to slow down when needed. EMDR isn't about pushing through difficult material as quickly as possible. We can pause, regulate, check in with your body, and make sure you are feeling grounded before ending the session.

A 75-minute session doesn't necessarily mean that we will spend the entire time doing bilateral stimulation. Depending on what you need that day, our time may include preparation, EMDR processing, somatic work, IFS or parts work, and integration.

The goal is to have enough time for meaningful work while keeping the process collaborative, paced, and trauma-informed.