EMDR is a psychotherapy that enables people to heal from the symptoms and emotional distress that are the result of disturbing life experiences.

EMDR therapy shows that the mind can in fact heal from psychological trauma much as the body recovers from physical trauma.  When you cut your hand, your body works to close the wound.  If a foreign object or repeated injury irritates the wound, it festers and causes pain.  Once the block is removed, healing resumes.  EMDR therapy demonstrates that a similar sequence of events occurs with mental processes.  The brain’s information processing system naturally moves toward mental health.  If the system is blocked or imbalanced by the impact of a disturbing event, the emotional wound festers and can cause intense suffering.  Once the block is removed, healing resumes. 

Using the detailed protocols and procedures learned in EMDR therapy training sessions, clinicians help clients activate their natural healing processes.

IFS-Informed EMDR overlays the Internal Family Systems (IFS) model onto the standard EMDR protocol allowing for a more permission-focused approach to trauma healing. EMDR remains the foundational structure upon which the healing occurs, and the IFS model is the creative, permissive, and curiosity-driven process to prepare clients for trauma processing. IFS-Informed EMDR helps the client develop insight and understanding regarding their thoughts, feelings, and behavior, restoring trust in the client’s inner system, assisting them in developing a stronger sense of identity, healing wounds, releasing negative beliefs, and reorganizing their internal system.

The central idea of attachment theory is that humans are born with a biological drive to develop a deep emotional bond with their caregiver – a bond that extends beyond having basic physical needs met.

The security of our early relationships can go on to influence our psychological wellbeing and relationships later in life. Children who do not have close, secure emotional bonds are more likely to go on to experience difficulties in the future.These difficulties may include:

• Regulating our emotions

• Solving problems

• Relationships

• Coping skills

I draw on attachment theory to understand a client's maladaptive coping strategies and any underlying needs, and teach more adaptive strategies while working to heal attachment wounds.

Developed by world-renowned researcher and, Unyte’s Chief Scientific Advisor, Dr. Stephen Porges, Polyvagal Theory focuses on what is happening in the body and the nervous system, and explains how our sense of safety, danger or life-threat can impact our behavior. Understanding Polyvagal Theory gives us a scientific framework that can be applied through physiological, or “bottom-up” therapies, to help change and improve how we feel, think and connect with others.

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The Safe and Sound Protocol (SSP) is an evidence-based listening therapy designed to reduce sound sensitivities and improve auditory processing, behavioral state regulation, and social engagement behaviors through filtered music.
As a practical application of Polyvagal Theory, the SSP acts as a non-invasive, acoustic vagal nerve stimulator, helping to re-tune the nervous system to better support connection, collaboration and resilience.
The SSP involves listening to specially filtered music
through headphones alongside a provider, in-person or remotely. Suitable for children and adults, the SSP has demonstrated benefits for individuals with trauma, anxiety, sensory processing differences and more.

Somatic psychotherapy is a body-centered approach to healing, concerned with the relationship between the mind and body in relation to past experiences.

To help people heal from trauma, somatic psychotherapy incorporates the narrative aspect of therapy with observing body movements. By becoming more aware of the body and its response to past trauma, individuals learn to sense and disrupt habitual patterns, release emotions, and move on.

The connection between the mind and body is essential to the therapeutic process in this approach.

Somatic therapy is based on the idea that trauma disrupts the functioning of the nervous system. As such, past traumas are believed to be stored and re-experienced physically in the body. This might be evident in a person’s posture, movements, and body language. Or, in the experience of physical symptoms like digestive issues or pain.

Somatic psychotherapy aims to release these trauma memories that are physically stored in the body, and therefore help release stored emotions. Various physical techniques such as breathing or relaxation exercises are used to this end.

HeartMath® is a science-based approach that uses breathing techniques and biofeedback technology to help people improve their emotional well-being and reduce stress. It's based on the idea that the heart is intelligent and that tuning into its wisdom can help people improve their health, relationships, and overall quality of life.

I use HeartMath® techniques as another tool to assist clients in learning to regulate their nervous system, improve emotional regulation, and reinforce positive feelings. 

Interested in learning more? Check out their website HERE!