If you have negative core beliefs about yourself such as always feeling unsafe, unlovable, or ashamed of who you are, you probably learned these beliefs somewhere, whether you consciously remember it or not. Our brains adapt to events in our past as best as they can but these adaptations may no longer be serving you in your present-day circumstances. This is where EMDR comes in. You can’t leave somewhere you’ve never been to, meaning you can’t let go of these painful beliefs from the past without allowing and holding space for the lessons we learned from these emotions and somatic sensations first.

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is a evidenced-based therapeutic approach that taps into the brain's natural capacity to heal and process trauma, emotional distress, and various psychological issues. EMDR is a gold-standard treatment for PTSD and can also treat chronic anxiety, perfectionism, depression, low self-esteem, codependency, family of origin trauma and more. For empirical evidence, see here.

Developed by Dr. Francine Shapiro in 1987, EMDR involves identifying and targeting specific memories that correlate with negative core beliefs and emotional blockages and reprocessing the memories using Bilateral Stimulation while maintaining dual awareness of the past memories and the present emotions and bodily sensations.

I have practiced as an EMDR Level 2 certified provider through EMDRIA since 2019.