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TRAUMA

+ emdr therapy

You've done an incredible job surviving.

NOW IT’S TIME TO start living.

You may be dealing with the effects of trauma if…

You’re on edge and tend to emotionally overreact to what others might consider small stressors. Whether you’re irritable and lashing out or numb and shut down, you just want to feel “normal” again.

Hypervigilance – the constant scanning for safety/danger signals – keeps you anxious and disconnected. You experience flashbacks and try to avoid triggering people or situations. Being critical and mistrustful of yourself and others reinforces your need to withdraw and keep your distance. 

Relationships feel unstable. People walk on eggshells around you. A part of you wants closeness, and another fears it. You struggle to feel pleasure.

Guilt, shame, and worthlessness weigh heavy on you, and you struggle with self-compassion.

You’re exhausted from fighting an invisible battle. 

Reclaim your peace and sense of control.

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What happened to you doesn't define you.

The word trauma means “wound.” While I don’t subscribe to the idea that awful things happen for a reason, I find hope and comfort in the fact that wounds heal. You can’t go back and change what happened to you, but you can heal from it in a way that allows you to look back on it with emotional distance instead of staying stuck being plagued by the long-term impacts.

You deserve to be whole again. You have the capacity. You don’t have to do this alone.  

IMAGINE BEING ABLE TO:

  • feel more in control, less reactive, and better able to regulate your emotions, even under stress
  • develop a greater sense of trust in yourself and others
  • better understand your thoughts, feelings, and behaviors so you can make positive changes
  • believe in your ability to handle future challenges and bounce back from difficult situations
  • find a greater sense of purpose and meaning in your life based on your values and priorities
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LICENSED RESIDENT IN COUNSELING (VA #​0704015609)

Hi, I’m Kaylie

M.Ed., NCC (she/her)
Board-Certified Licensed Resident in Counseling

I believe therapy should be a place where all of you is welcome – no exceptions – and that the therapeutic relationship itself can be powerful ground for healing.

GET TO KNOW ME

emdr therapy

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing

EMDR THERAPY IS:

  • an evidence-based treatment modality recommended by organizations including the World Health Organization (WHO), the U.S. Department of Veterans (USVA), and the Department of Defense (USDOD)
  • used to decrease the emotional charge ("desensitize") of traumatic experiences and link to positive memory networks ("reprocess") so that distressing memories feel more resolved through processing and insight
  • is a structured approach involving 8 phases, including thorough history-taking, treatment planning, and preparation
  • utilizes dual awareness, meaning focusing on the memory of the past, while also experiencing awareness of the present, and activating both hemispheres of the brain similar to what happens during REM sleep
  • able to be delivered both in-person and remotely, if appropriate
  • transformative
LEARN MORE ABOUT EMDR

Helping you get past the past

& empowering you to live MINDFULLY in the present

EMDR therapy may be right for you if: 

  • You’ve been in talk therapy for a long time, but still feel stuck
  • You’ve experienced a horrific event that’s negatively affecting your day-to-day life 
  • You don’t want to talk about your distressing experience in great detail
  • Your sense of being loved, safe, and belonging was threatened (i.e., relational or attachment trauma; examples may include foster care/adoption, divorce, emotionally unavailable or unreliable caregivers, neglect, or abuse)
  • You can’t remember experiencing a distinct trauma, but you struggle with chronic anxiety, depression, or low self-esteem
  • When you react, you suddenly feel like a different version of yourself, often a younger one
  • You live with the burden of “trauma untruths” – beliefs like you’re broken, unforgiveable, worthless, or unsafe – which keeps you from moving toward the life you want
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trauma and EMDR therapy

Frequently Asked Questions

Trauma is, unfortunately, ubiquitous. How it’s experienced and defined is subjective because it’s what happens on the inside – in our inner world – to our brains and bodies. 

While trauma can result from having witnessed or experienced a harrowing event (e.g., war, natural disaster, assault), it can also include more covert experiences like being bullied, emotional neglect, or feeling embarrassed or shamed. It isn’t only a matter of what happened to you, but how you managed and what happened after. Was someone there to help you cope, process, and feel safe? What were the effects? Often, there is a sense of helplessness. Sometimes it’s a matter of what didn’t happen. 

Trauma  happens when something is so upsetting our nervous system gets overwhelmed and we are pushed beyond our internal resources. Trauma imprints and reorganizes the brain to prioritize safety – whether that’s physical, emotional/relational, and/or psychological.

In short, no. EMDR therapy allows you to desensitize and reprocess traumatic experience(s) without having to share in any explicit detail. This gives you the power to choose how much or how little to share without any change in how much healing happens. 

Though similar in some ways, the short answer is no. In EMDR therapy, there is not not attempt to shift your consciousness into a trance-like state. There is also no singular, directive goal. Instead, we follow your brain to support its natural healing process. 

Short answer: It depends. 

Because we’re intentionally activating places of hurt to desensitize and reprocess the original experiences, it can bring up uncomfortable thoughts and feels. Some people may default to problematic, albeit tried and true, coping strategies  to deal. 

Clients need to be appropriately ready to reprocess. This includes having the ability to tolerate a certain level of discomfort and the ability to self-soothe. I want to be sure that you’re able to manage not just typical stress, but also the additional stress that can occur when we delve into places of hurt. It would be irresponsible to lead you there before you’re ready and able. 

The preparation phase before desensitizing and reprocessing is often the most lengthy for this reason. Some folks may only need a few weeks, while others may need years. While I want you to feel better, I also want your treatment to be safe and effective. 

EMDR therapy has been shown to effectively treat Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and trauma-related symptoms. It is also used to treat issues including generalized and social anxiety, depression, low self-esteem, performance stress, chronic pain, addiction, eating disorders, phobias, and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). 

If you’ve ever thought, “Logically, I know X, but why do I still feel Y?” Reasoning and feeling operate from two different parts of the brain. We have to connect them to have better insight and understanding. EMDR helps achieve this.  

EMDR is considered a bottom-up treatment approach, meaning we focus on helping you regulate and adjust your responses by tapping into your body’s nervous system.

This is different than traditional talk therapy’s top-down approach which focuses on your thoughts.  Talk therapy doesn’t often reach deep enough to access your survival brain where the trauma impacts reign. 

Remember, trauma isn’t just a memory. It involves negative effects on the whole system – brain, body, mind, and sense of self. 

Click the button below to schedule a free, 15-minute consultation call with me. I look forward to speaking with you.

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Healing may not be easy.

but it’s a life-changing, worthy journey home to yourself.

i'm ready

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