When we enter into the phase of sleep known as REM, we dream and our eyes naturally move back and forth in a repetitive motion. We have come to learn that this phase of sleep is crucial in helping us to process emotional material and integrate new experiences that may remain largely out of our awareness.

However, in areas of experience where trauma permeates and our emotional resources are overwhelmed, our natural processing function is thwarted and we become psychologically stuck.

With EMDR, we utilize central components of REM sleep (repetitive back-and-forth bilateral stimulation and free association), paired with carefully targeted memories which have historically activated a trauma response. We do so in the context of a structured therapeutic relationship that is grounded in the present, allowing you to reprocess traumatic incidents in a manner that can give you a renewed feeling of agency and, ultimately, a deep sense that the trauma is behind you. 

EMDR can be especially advantageous as a relatively short-term adjunctive service for individuals who are engaged in talk therapy with another practitioner. We have found that undergoing EMDR treatment can make parts of the self that were formerly inaccessible newly available for elaboration, integration, and meaning-making.