Somatic EMDR Therapy

Somatic EMDR is mind and body based therapy to support those who have experienced trauma. This can be a helpful approach for you if you feel you are not healing from standard talk therapy alone, you hold tension and stress in your body from traumatic experiences, or you are looking for healing on a deep body based level.

Somatic psychology is the focused study of how the brain, mind, body, and actions interact and how this relationship directly impacts physical and mental health.

In simple terms, it focuses on listening to and noticing sensation in your body (like tightness in your chest or shallow breathing) to process and release emotional pain.

Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) therapy is an 8 phase trauma treatment model to process traumatic life experiences, related symptoms, and painful coping strategies. Bilateral stimulation, either tapping or the use of pulsators, support dual awareness of the current moment while simultaneously addressing memories related to traumatic experiences.

In session, we begin with building internal resourcing. This can include breath work, visualizations, and identifying supportive coping skills. When doing EMDR, you would hold the pulsators in each hand or engage in bilateral tapping, while being verbally guided to revisit a past memory or experience.

I follow your pace and needs, pausing or stopping processing at any time.

The somatic portion can look like noticing a physical sensation or impulse to move in a certain manor. These can then be added into the healing process.