go beyond traditional talk therapy.
EMDR therapy in Pennsylvania and Vermont
You’ve tried everything you can think of to feel better, but nothing’s works.
Maybe you’ve been to therapy before, but it feels like it just skims the surface. Everything you try doesn’t feel like it sticks and your day to day symptoms continue to impact your quality of life. Maybe you feel like these symptoms will last forever. You are trying your best but you’re still feeling…
Frustrated by how your body reacts to certain triggers
Disconnected from yourself and others
Overwhelmed by anxiety
EMDR therapy can help you process and integrate past painful experiences.
EMDR is an evidence-based method where you can see and feel symptom relief.
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EMDR stands for Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing Therapy, an evidence based 8 phase treatment. EMDR can help people heal from past experiences that continue to cause distress.
EMDR is a powerful therapy that helps people heal from overwhelming or painful experiences. You don’t have to talk in detail about what happened—instead, we’ll use a structured process that helps your brain and body finally make sense of things that feel stuck. It’s kind of like your mind finally gets to digest old memories so they don’t keep showing up in the present. Many people find that EMDR helps them feel calmer, more in control, and less weighed down by the past.
Learn more about EMDR here:
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EMDR is more than just the bilateral stimulation or the trauma reprocessing phase— it's a thoughtful and structured 8 phase approach to healing that we move through together, step by step. Here's what it usually looks like:
1. Getting to Know You
First, we focus on building trust and helping you feel safe and supported. We talk about what’s bringing you to therapy, your history, and your goals. There’s no rush—we go at your pace.2. Learning Coping Skills
Before we dive into the reprocessing work, we’ll spend time making sure you have tools to feel grounded and safe, both in and out of session. These might include breathing techniques, calming visualizations, or ways to stay present when things feel intense.3. Mapping the Roots
When you're ready, we gently identify the experiences or beliefs that still feel painful or stuck. These are often connected to that “not good enough” feeling or patterns that keep showing up.4. Reprocessing the Memory
This is the part EMDR is most known for. While you focus on a memory or belief, I’ll guide you through a process using eye movements or tapping to help your brain work through it. You don’t need to go into every detail—just notice what comes up. Your brain does the healing work, and I’m right there with you the whole time.5. Making New Connections
As the memory becomes less upsetting, we strengthen new, more helpful beliefs—like “I’m safe now” or “I am enough.” This helps the healing really settle in.6. Checking In and Moving Forward
We’ll continue to check in, re-evaluate, and make sure things are feeling better. EMDR isn’t about rushing or forcing—it’s about helping your system find relief and balance in a way that lasts.Learn more about what to expect from EMDR here:
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EMDR is used to help the nervous system process past distressing experiences. While EMDR was originally designed to help treat PTSD and trauma, it can also be effective in treating anxiety, depressive and other mental health conditions.
The framework behind EMDR is the Adaptive Information Processing model (AIP). AIP posits that your body is naturally designed to heal on it’s own. However, when we experience painful or scary situations that overwhelm the nervous system, those experiences get stuck in our brains and bodies. We experience that “stuck-ness” as various psychological symptoms such as anxiety, depression etc. EMDR helps clients reprocess or “unstick” these experiences allowing clients to build new adaptive information and move forward.
At the end of the day, I want you to know:
Whatever it is that you’re experiencing, you can feel relief and you can heal.
Is EMDR right for you?
EMDR is a good fit for you if you…
Have experienced a single or multiple distressing experiences that stick with you.
Are struggling with the impacts of the past on your present
Notice patterns in your relationships that you struggle to change and understand.
Feel stuck, even though you feel like you have tried everything
What we’ll work on
With EMDR, you can…
Improve your resilience and self-esteem
Learn to tap into your bodies natural ability to heal
No longer feel hopeless
Gain new coping skills to navigate challenging situations
An Integrative Approach
Counseling VT integrates additional therapy modalities with EMDR therapy, including parts work, attachment theory, and Polyvagal theory for a more comprehensive approach.
Parts Work
Parts Work is a therapeutic approach that recognizes we all have different inner “parts,” each with their own feelings, needs, and perspectives. These parts often form in response to difficult experiences and do their best to protect us, even if their strategies don’t always feel helpful. By getting to know and understand these parts with curiosity and compassion, they can begin to soften, work together, and allow your true Self—the grounded, wise part of you—to lead the way.
Attachment Theory
Attachment theory came out of neuroscience and posits that all humans are innately wired for connection. Our earliest experiences with our caregivers impact the patterns we go on to develop in our adult relationships, as well as the coping strategies we use. Our reflection and understanding of our earliest caregiving experiences can help us begin to make sense of present day dynamics and start connecting to and expressing our needs.
Polyvagal Theory
Polyvagal theory describes how the autonomic nervous system works to scan for threat, and identify cues of safety. It states that we have three different nervous system states ventral vagal, sympathetic, and dorsal vagal, responsible for communicating information between the brain and the body about how to survive. The common survival responses patterned into our nervous system include “fight, flight, freeze, and fawn.” This theory allows us to map our own nervous system responses and begin making better sense of them. Learn more here: https://www.rhythmofregulation.com/polyvagal-theory