go beyond traditional talk therapy.

EMDR and Brainspotting therapy in Littleton, CO

You’ve tried everything you can think of to feel better, but nothing’s sticking.

Maybe you’ve been to therapy before, but you felt like all you did was talk about stuff and things never really changed. Maybe you rehashed all the lurid details of your life and while it provided some temporary relief to get it off your chest, you didn’t see the lasting change you were hoping for. You’ve read books, listened to podcasts, vented to friends, and tried increasing your self care…

But you’re still feeling…

Frustrated by your thoughts, feelings or behaviors & you can’t seem to stop the cycle

Disconnected from your life and like you are just going through the motions in survival mode

Overwhelmed by your situation, your baggage, your struggles…your life and all that’s in it

EMDR or Brainspotting therapy can help you go deeper to get lasting impact.

EMDR is a structured, evidence-based psychotherapy designed to help people heal from trauma and distressing life experiences. Brainspotting was derived from EMDR and has a similar focus and outcome, but is often less structured, client driven and often more body focused.

  • They both can help with similar things! It is often a personal preference that leads which choice we explore together. Here are some common topics I have used them to address:

    • Infertility struggles

    • Birth Trauma

    • Perinatal Mental Health

    • Adoption Trauma

    • Motherhood Baggage from your own mother

    • Mom Rage

    • Constant Worries about your kids

    • Secondary Trauma from something your child went through

    • Religious Trauma

    • Relational Trauma

    • Post-Divorce Recovery

    • Negative Beliefs about yourself

    • Prolonged Grief

    • Social Anxiety

    • Acute Traumas

    • Intrusive Thoughts

    • General Depression or Anxiety

    • Guilt or Shame

    • And more!

  • EMDR involves recalling traumatic memories, or unwanted thoughts or feelings while simultaneously engaging in bilateral stimulation, often through guided eye movements, sounds, or taps. This process is believed to help the brain reprocess and integrate these memories, reducing their emotional charge and negative impact. EMDR helps to get you out of your super rational thinking brain, where you may have already done a lot of work, and gets you into your deeper limbic system part of your brain where the healing needs to happen.

  • Brainspotting works in similar ways to EMDR by tapping into the brain's subcortical systems, accessing trauma at a deeper, more primitive level, and facilitating the body's natural healing processes. It is often used to treat trauma, anxiety, depression, and physical pain. It may involve bilateral stimulation through sound as well. During Brainspotting, the therapist helps the client to identify "brainspots" places in your visual field which connect to the distressing thoughts, memories or feelings and utilize them to facilitate deeper healing.

  • When coming for either type of therapy, we will still start with some traditional talk therapy to gather important information such as your history and what you have already tried and what your current beliefs and feelings about the situation are. Then we start into the EMDR or Brainspotting work. Both have much less talking involved than traditional therapy. The therapist and the client mindfully attend to what is going on in their thoughts, feelings and body experiences. Often this can be intense emotionally, and the processing usually continues for up to 48 hours after a session. If you are processing deep trauma, you may want to make sure you have time afterwards and don't have to rush into an important work meeting, or an emotionally demanding family situation.

  • Often, when negative thoughts, feelings and experiences get rooted deeply in our hearts and minds, it can be hard to dig them out with just conversation. Both EMDR and Brainspotting help you to get out of your smart thinking part of your brain, and into the reactive, emotional, and deeper parts of your brain. When the work is done there, it is like unhooking the traumas, painful memories and feelings from their power source and taking them out of the driver seat.

At the end of the day, I want you to know:

Whatever it is that you’re experiencing, if you are ready for deeper healing, EMDR or Brainspotting may help go deeper and heal powerfully.

Is EMDR or Brainspotting right for you?

EMDR or Brainspotting may be a good fit for you if you…

  • Have experienced a difficult life event that you just can’t get past.

  • Are struggling with the impacts of your past on your present life.

  • Notice patterns in your relationships that you can’t fix on your own.

  • Feel stuck, even though you have tried so many different things, maybe even therapy, to get unstuck.

What we’ll work on

With EMDR and Brainspotting, you can…

Improve your ability to deal with the past, the present and feel equipped for the future.

Learn how to better regulate yourself when you face distress.

No longer feel controlled by your thoughts, feelings and emotions that might blindside you

Gain new coping skills to face the many challenges in your busy life.

Your story is welcome here.

Your story is welcome here.

Questions?

FAQs

  • EMDR and Brainspotting do not typically cause any physical pain. However, whenever someone is processing intensely emotional content, they may experience heightened emotions. These experiences in the context of EMDR and Brainspotting are quite different from "flashbacks" and are not like "Reliving" the trauma. Most clients report noticing feeling less emotionally reactive to the event in only a few sessions, though it may take longer to heal fully.

  • Well....it depends on a lot of factors. With both EMDR and Brainspotting, the sooner the treatment is sought after a traumatic event, the faster the healing is. For chronic trauma, relational trauma, childhood trauma, and other really well ingrained patterns, treatment can take much longer. Utilizing the intensive format dramatically shortens the process due to how much work can be done in one session.

  • Yes! Both modalities can be utilized in a variety of settings. I have also utilized Brainspotting in Nature Based Settings.