EMDR has been on my mind. I am working towards EMDRIA certification, so I am working with a colleague further along in their expertise, practice, and training in EMDR. This step of my training requires twenty hours of consultation. I consult about case conceptualization and review audio recordings of the work I do with people who generously consent to their work being part of this process. For this consent, I am grateful. For the courage, willingness, and trust that develops in the context of the therapy room, I am grateful. 

I find when I describe EMDR, and when people share what they have understood through their own googling and research, the sciency language does not capture the awe we often experience together as we work and make it to the other side of the hard. People express strong feelings of relief from suffering, increased self-confidence and esteem of self, and improved quality of overall wellbeing. People share powerful experiences of reclaiming hope and joy and clarity. 

I am twice trained in basic EMDR,  referred to as the standard protocol. Twice because the first training was not recognized by EMDRIA, the International EMDR Association. My first training was through Professional Education Systems Institute (PESI) and was with Linda Curran, LPC. She was the first to introduce me to the work of Dr. Stephen Porges and his Polyvagal Theory, which has continued to inform my understanding of the relationship between the somatic and psychological symptoms that EMDR heals.

EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) is a psychotherapy approach developed by Dr. Francine Shapiro to help people heal from trauma or adversities such as issues of abuse, bullying, domestic violence, grief/loss, attachment wounds, abandonment, medical trauma, PTSD, and many other complicated life issues. 

EMDR therapy is validated as an evidence-based approach and included in SAMHSA (the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration) and the National Registry of Evidence-based Programs and Practices. In addition, EMDR therapy has been validated by over 20 randomized controlled clinical trials (see www.emdrhap.org/emdr_info/researchandresources.php).

EMDR therapy integrates elements of many traditional psychological orientations and is based on the adaptive information processing model (AIP). The AIP model hypothesizes that there is an inherent information processing system in the brain that gets blocked when traumatic or adverse events occur, causing these events to get locked in the brain with the original picture, sounds, thoughts, feelings and body sensations. It is as if the events are also locked in time, the event has no beginning, middle, or end. Whenever a reminder of the traumatic or adverse event comes up, those pictures, thoughts, feelings, and sensations can continue to be triggered. 

Dr. Shapiro believes that many emotional problems are manifestations of these unprocessed trauma memories that are stored in the brain. EMDR therapy works on helping the brain and body reprocess these traumatic memories, and as a result alleviating the emotional and psychological problems.

I am thankful for the opportunity to collaborate with and witness people achieve goals and outcomes that are meaningful to them.