What is EMDR?
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is a psychotherapy approach that helps people process difficult, traumatic, or distressing experiences that may continue to affect their thoughts, emotions, relationships, or sense of safety.
EMDR works with the brain’s natural capacity to process and integrate experiences. Through guided bilateral stimulation—such as side-to-side eye movements, alternating taps, or sounds—we support the brain and nervous system in moving toward a more adaptive resolution of distressing experiences.
Rather than simply talking about difficult experiences, EMDR facilitates the mind and body’s innate capacity for healing and restoration, helping memories become less emotionally overwhelming and allowing new perspectives and feelings of safety to emerge.
EMDR is not hypnosis. You remain awake, aware, and in control throughout the process. You do not have to disclose every detail of an experience, and you and your therapist work together at a pace that feels safe and manageable.
EMDR can be helpful for trauma and PTSD, anxiety, grief, phobias, and other experiences that continue to cause emotional distress.
The goal is not to erase memories, but to help you remember them without feeling controlled by them.
For Kids and Teens:
What is EMDR?
Sometimes our brains have a hard time putting away things that were scary, upsetting, or really stressful. Even when something is over, our brain and body can still act like it is happening.
EMDR is a way of helping your brain finish working through those experiences. Your therapist will help you think about something that is bothering you while you do gentle activities like following a light or your therapist’s fingers with your eyes, tapping your hands, or listening to sounds that alternate from side to side.
You stay awake, aware, and in control the whole time—EMDR is not hypnosis. You don't have to tell every detail of what happened.
It's a little like helping your brain sort through a messy box of feelings and memories so things can feel more organized and less overwhelming.
Your brain already has a natural ability to heal and make sense of experiences. EMDR helps support that process