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I use EMDR as a central part of trauma treatment, thoughtfully integrated with other trauma informed approaches, to help you loosen the hold the past still has on your present.
I support people throughout Washington in healing from overwhelming emotions, self worth, and relational patterns.
Many people carry a clear understanding of their past experiences, yet notice their nervous system still responds in the present with unwanted thoughts, shutdown, and distressing emotions that show up in their relationships and bodies. This can feel exasperating, especially after years of insightful therapy.
EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) is a safe, evidence-based approach to trauma treatment that supports deeper integration. Instead of focusing solely on the trauma narrative, EMDR emphasizes focus on body sensations to ground you in the present as you process and release disturbing memories.
For those carrying long standing sadness, anger, or fear that never fully resolved, even after years of insight from self work.
Clients often describe feeling stuck or trapped in emotional pain that seems unchanged despite insight, effort, and years of therapy. There can be a sense of moving forward intellectually while something inside remains frozen, repeating the same reactions and internal suffering.
EMDR therapy helps address this stuckness by engaging the brain through rapid eye movements that mimic the brain’s natural mechanism for processing and integrating information. Sessions are paced to support progress toward relief where long held pain can finally shift.
Explore whether EMDR support feels right for you, without rushing the process.
As your healing unfolds and deepens, you may notice:
EMDR therapy is organized into eight clear phases so the process feels contained and understandable from the beginning. Each phase has a specific purpose, guiding the work at a steady pace that prioritizes safety, choice, and nervous system regulation as healing unfolds gradually over time.
Phase 1 : History Taking and Treatment Planning
Understanding your story and identifying targets for processing.
Phase 2: Preparation
Building resources and safety before trauma work begins.
Phase 3: Assessment
Identifying specific memories and measuring current distress.
Phase 4: Desensitization
Processing traumatic memories through bilateral stimulation.
Phase 5: Installation
Strengthening positive beliefs about yourself.
Phase 6: Body Scan
Ensuring trauma is released from your physical body.
Phase 7: Closure
Returning to a calm state at the end of each session.
Phase 8: Reevaluation
Checking progress and identifying next steps.
This structured approach allows your brain to naturally process traumatic memories that have been stuck, creating lasting change rather than temporary relief.
EMDR therapy can support a wide range of emotional and relational concerns by helping the brain process painful experiences that have remained stuck beneath awareness.
When Coping Turns Compulsive
Substance use and other addictions feel out of control
Substance use and compulsive behaviors often develop early in life as ways to cope with emotional pain and external stressors that felt unsafe and inescapable. Over time, these patterns become deeply habitual, creating euphoric relief in the moment while also feeling impossible to change.
When the brain and nervous system develop a neurochemical dependency on substances or behaviors for regulation, everyday life can trigger cravings. EMDR therapy helps address the underlying experiences that taught the body to seek relief this way, allowing those patterns to loosen.
As root experiences are processed, there is often less urgency to numb or escape.
How EMDR Can Help:
Emotions That Overwhelm
Anxiety and panic seem to come out of nowhere
The body tightens, thoughts race, or waves of dread wash over you, even when nothing obvious seems wrong. These reactions often formed early in life as ways to stay safe.
Over time, a nervous system shaped by trauma can stay stuck on high alert, responding to everyday stress as if danger is ever-present. EMDR therapy helps address the underlying experiences that taught the body to react this way, allowing those responses to soften. It can be particularly effective for anxiety that hasn’t responded to traditional talk therapy alone.
How EMDR Helps:
Stuck in The Past
My past won’t let me live in the present
Living with complex trauma or PTSD feels like being trapped in survival mode long after the danger has passed. Your body reacts before there is time to think, holding fear through tension, flashes of memories, unsettling recurring dreams, and a sense of repeatedly reliving painful experiences. Your body remembers what your mind tries to forget.
EMDR is designed specifically to help the brain and nervous system process traumatic experiences that were never fully integrated. It doesn’t require you to relive or explain every detail. Instead, EMDR uses bilateral stimulation to help memories reorganize, so they begin to feel like something that happened before, not something still happening now.
How EMDR Can Help:
Feeling Empty or Disconnected
I am awake but walking through a fog
Depression and dissociation can feel like moving through life with the volume turned down or the body partially absent. There may be numbness, heaviness, or a sense of watching life from a distance rather than fully participating in it.
These states often developed as ways to survive overwhelm when emotions felt too much for too long. EMDR therapy helps gently address the underlying experiences that led the nervous system to shut down or disconnect.
As processing occurs, many people notice increased emotional presence, greater vitality, and a renewed sense of connection to themselves and their surroundings.
How EMDR Can Help:
Chronic Shame and Self-Criticism
My best never feels good enough
Living with chronic self doubt often means carrying an internal sense that something is wrong with me, even when I know it came from childhood abuse and neglect. Shame, harsh self judgment, or a belief of not being enough can live in the body as tension, collapse, or a constant effort to prove worth.
When these beliefs formed early, the nervous system learned to relate to the world through protection or self criticism. EMDR therapy helps address the experiences that shaped these internal narratives, allowing the body to loosen its grip on shame based responses.
As this work unfolds, many people experience a softer relationship with themselves, less internal attack, and a growing sense of worth that feels more stable and embodied rather than feigned.
How EMDR Can Help:
Push-Pull Relationships
My past keeps replaying in relationships
When you’ve experienced pain in your earliest relationships, safety in connection can feel complicated. You may long for closeness while also bracing for rejection, find yourself trusting too quickly and getting hurt, or keeping distance even when part of you wants connection.
These patterns often formed in childhood, shaped by the relationships that first taught your nervous system what to expect from others. Attachment wounds, betrayal, and relational trauma influence how closeness feels, long after those experiences are over.
Through EMDR, we identify and process the relational experiences that taught your mind and body to protect itself in these ways. This work releases fear of abandonment and rejection, and builds more capacity to stay connected while honoring your boundaries.
How EMDR Can Help:
Unable to Let Go
Time passes but my pain remains
Grief and loss don’t always fade with time. You may feel stuck in painful memories, replaying what happened, or carrying a sense that something remains unfinished. Whether the loss involved a person, a relationship, or hopes and dreams, the pain can stay close and present.
Sometimes the nervous system could not fully grieve because the experience felt too overwhelming to process at the time. EMDR therapy helps address complicated grief and unfinished emotional business, allowing these experiences to be integrated rather than forgotten or pushed away.
With EMDR, many people feel less controlled by the pain of the past. This work supports honoring what was lost while creating more room for connection, meaning, and moments of relief in the present.
How EMDR Can Help:
EMDR is more effective with other trauma-informed modalities so the process feels grounded, relational, and responsive to what is happening in your nervous system at the given moment. With this comprehensive approach, healing remains flexible and paced, adjusting to your capacity, readiness, and goals.
Internal Family Systems (IFS): Discovering Every Part of You
IFS helps you connect with the parts of you that learned to carry pain, fear, and protection, while EMDR helps release the memories those parts are holding. Together, they support healing that feels compassionate, integrative, and less stuck inside.
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT): Self-acceptance and Letting Go
ACT helps you build more acceptance of your difficult thoughts and emotions, while EMDR works with the experiences that created their intensity. This combination supports greater flexibility, allowing you to move toward what matters without being controlled by old pain.
Trauma-Focused CBT: Reshaping Your Beliefs
TF-CBT offers structure and understanding around how trauma shapes painful beliefs and responses, while EMDR helps process the experiences beneath those patterns. Together, they support clarity and regulation while deeper nervous system healing takes place.
Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy (KAP): Healing Deeper Layers of Pain
When appropriate, KAP can open access to memories that feel hard to reach, while EMDR and parts work help integrate what emerges. This pairing focuses on preparation and meaning making, so experiences translate into profound change rather than insight alone.
Trauma-focused therapy can feel daunting. With EMDR, sessions are designed to support healing without reliving the pain. Here’s what to expect:
We start by arriving and orienting to the present
The session begins by checking in with how you’re feeling today and what your nervous system is holding. We ground in the present moment so your body knows you are here now and safe.
We notice current triggers
We begin with something recent that stirred up distress – a moment, reaction, or emotional shift from your current life. These present day triggers give us information about what the nervous system is still carrying from the past.
We track the images, thoughts, emotions, and sensations
Next, we gently notice what shows up inside. This includes images, beliefs, emotions, and body sensations connected to the trigger. You don’t need to explain a lot of details, just notice what’s present.
We allow the past to link itself naturally
As we work with the present trigger, the nervous system often connects it to earlier experiences where similar feelings or sensations first formed. We don’t force memory recall. We follow what your system brings forward on its own.
We begin short sets of bilateral stimulation
Using eye movements and audio tones, we work in brief sets. After each set, you simply notice what shifts, whether it’s a thought, sensation, image, emotion, or a sense of settling in your body.
We stay with the process as it unfolds
EMDR moves you fluidly between present and past. We follow associations as they arise, checking in often and adjusting pace so the work stays within a manageable, regulated range.
We notice changes in intensity and meaning
As the emotional charge shifts, reactions may soften, body sensations may release, or new perspectives may emerge that feel more grounded in the present.
We reinforce present day safety and choice
As the nervous system regulates, we support integration by orienting back to the present and noticing what feels different now. This helps your system register that the danger has passed.
We close with grounding and containment
Every session ends with intentional grounding so you leave feeling steady and resourced, even if more processing is needed. Nothing is left open or overwhelming.
We revisit what shifted next time
In the next session, we check what held, what changed, and what your system is ready for next. This keeps EMDR responsive, collaborative, and paced around your capacity.
Living With Trauma I Couldn’t Reach
Even after years of self work, there were still things I couldn’t fully make sense of. Lingering memories felt fragmented and confusing, while others were hard to access at all. I was exasperated why I continued to ruminate on experiences I had already explored extensively.
EMDR helped guide me through the unfinished emotional business my body was still carrying. The fogginess from the past began to integrate in a way that felt embodied, so I could finally make sense and meaning of my pain.
As a clinician, I bring that respect for the process into sessions. I use EMDR thoughtfully and collaboratively, honoring readiness and capacity, because I know firsthand how powerful this work can be when it’s approached with care.
No. EMDR does not require you to retell your trauma in vivid detail or walk through every painful moment. Many people avoid trauma therapy because they fear being forced to relive the past, but EMDR works differently.
What EMDR does not require:
You only need to share enough information for us to identify what you’re working with, and that can stay very general, such as:
That is enough for EMDR to begin.
During processing, you’re not asked to tell the story. Instead, you may briefly notice and name what’s happening internally, such as:
This moment-to-moment feedback guides the work without requiring detailed storytelling.
EMDR works by helping the brain process experiences internally. Bilateral stimulation supports the nervous system in reorganizing memories so they feel like something that happened in the past, rather than something still happening now. This process works even when memories are vague, fragmented, or mostly felt in the body.
You remain in control throughout EMDR:
Because EMDR doesn’t rely on retelling traumatic details, many people find it feels safer than other trauma approaches. You don’t have to expose the most painful parts of your past for healing to occur. Your brain already knows what it needs to process, and EMDR works with that internal system.
That’s very common, especially with childhood, relational, or complex trauma. EMDR does not require clear or complete memories to be effective.
You can still do EMDR even if:
EMDR works with whatever your nervous system presents, not just explicit memory.
Instead of clear memories, we can work with:
Your brain does not need a full story to process trauma. EMDR supports integration at the nervous system level, even when memories are unclear or mostly felt rather than remembered.
For many people, this is what makes EMDR especially helpful for early trauma, attachment wounds, emotional neglect, medical trauma, and dissociation, experiences where memory is often incomplete by nature.
People often wonder whether they will feel something dramatic during EMDR, or if they’re “doing it right.” The experience can look different for each person, and change over time.
Some people notice more obvious shifts, such as:
Others notice subtler changes, including:
Both kinds of changes are meaningful.
EMDR works through a process called adaptive information processing (AIP), which means your brain is doing the work of reorganizing experiences whether or not you consciously feel a shift in the moment. Even when nothing seems dramatic, negative thoughts, beliefs, and experiences are often being moved into forms that feel more digestible, settled, or less charged.
What sessions usually feel like:
You don’t need to force insight or search for meaning. EMDR allows your nervous system to process in its own way and timing, and change can continue unfolding both inside and outside of sessions.
It’s normal to feel apprehensive about trauma therapy. EMDR can bring emotions to the surface because it works directly with how unprocessed experiences are stored in the brain and nervous system. Emotional intensity may rise briefly, then soften as processing unfolds.
What emotional intensity in EMDR usually means:
Intensity does not mean you are breaking down or losing control.
How EMDR is designed to prevent overwhelm:
If emotions begin to feel too strong, we can:
You don’t have to manage intense emotions on your own.
If dissociation shows up, such as:
We immediately ground and reorient. Dissociation is met with care, not pressure.
The bottom line
EMDR is built to work with emotional intensity in a safe, supported way. If strong feelings arise, you are guided through them, not left alone with them. What feels intense is often the beginning of meaningful change.
It’s very common to want a clear answer to this. When trauma symptoms, anxiety, shame, or painful patterns have been present for a long time, it makes sense to want relief as soon as possible.
Important things to know upfront:
There are eight evidence-based phases, and each one matters:
Early phases often focus on grounding, safety, and building internal resources. This prevents overwhelm and supports smoother processing later on.
Every person is different, but common patterns include:
Single-incident trauma:
Complex or relational trauma:
Childhood trauma or dissociation:
Needing more time doesn’t mean EMDR isn’t working. It reflects how trauma impacts the nervous system.
Progress often begins before major reprocessing work.
You may notice:
These are signs your nervous system is preparing for deeper healing.
EMDR may progress more quickly when:
When the nervous system feels safe, it can process more efficiently.
Slower pacing is often needed when there is:
In EMDR, safety always comes before speed.
Progress is often subtle at first:
Healing is not linear. Small shifts often add up before becoming clearly noticeable.
EMDR is a powerful approach, but it works best when there is enough safety and stability in place. When those foundations are missing, the focus shifts to support and regulation before trauma processing begins.
EMDR may be ineffective or unsafe when:
These factors don’t mean EMDR won’t ever be appropriate. They usually indicate that stabilization, safety, and nervous system support need to come first, so trauma processing can happen later in a way that feels contained and sustainable.
No. While EMDR is best known for treating trauma and PTSD, it is also used to support many emotional, psychological, and relational concerns rooted in distressing life experiences. You do not need a PTSD diagnosis for EMDR to be helpful.
Because of this, EMDR can help with patterns that feel stuck, repetitive, or overwhelming, even when there isn’t a single traumatic event.
EMDR helps the brain reorganize experiences that remain emotionally charged or unresolved.
This can include experiences such as:
These experiences can shape beliefs, emotions, and reactions long after they occur.
Many of these struggles involve emotional reactivity, dysregulation, or patterns that feel hard to shift:
EMDR works by helping the brain reprocess distressing memories, whether they come from major traumatic events or from everyday experiences that felt overwhelming, shaming, or unsafe at the time.
When memories remain unprocessed, they can drive emotional reactions, self doubt, or behavioral patterns long after the experience has passed. EMDR helps those memories become more adaptive and less emotionally charged.
Although EMDR has its strongest research base in PTSD treatment, its underlying principles apply to any concern where unresolved memories interfere with current functioning. If distressing experiences from the past continue to shape how you feel or respond today, EMDR may be a supportive approach to explore.
It’s common to have questions about cost. Many people seeking EMDR are already managing trauma symptoms, anxiety, or relationship stress, and financial clarity matters so therapy feels sustainable, not stressful.
EMDR fees vary based on training, specialization, session length, and location. Because EMDR is an advanced trauma treatment, rates are often higher than general talk therapy.
Common ranges include:
Rates are often higher in metro areas like Seattle, Bellevue, and Tacoma, and lower in more rural regions.
EMDR requires advanced training and ongoing consultation.
Fees reflect:
You’re paying for clinical skill and emotional safety, not just session time.
Total cost depends on how many sessions you need.
Typical timelines include:
Time spent in preparation is a normal and important part of safe EMDR work.
EMDR focuses on resolution rather than coping.
People often notice:
These shifts can reduce the need for years of ongoing therapy.
People often:
A responsible EMDR therapist will help you find a sustainable pace.
Cost matters, but safety, training, and attunement matter more. EMDR is an investment in long-term healing. Finding a therapist in Washington who feels skilled, grounded, and well-paced is often what makes the work truly worth it.
Visit our complete FAQs page for more questions about emdr therapy in Seattle.
