EMDR Therapy
EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) is an evidence-based psychotherapy that helps clients process trauma, difficult experiences, and long-standing emotional distress. EMDR supports the brain’s natural ability to heal, reducing emotional intensity, shifting negative beliefs, and improving emotional regulation—often without the need to repeatedly recount painful details.
We offer in-person and telehealth EMDR therapy, with session formats tailored to individual needs.
All therapists at Healing Roots Counseling are EMDR trained through EMDRIA-approved trainings and hold advanced training in EMDR therapy. Our team brings depth, care, and ongoing consultation to this work.
- We have clinicians in various stages of EMDR development including folks actively working toward EMDRIA Certification, folks who are currently EMDRIA Certified and one clinician who is an EMDRIA Consultant-in-Training, offering leadership and advanced clinical guidance within the practice.
We are committed to ethical, attuned, and developmentally informed EMDR care. Sessions are offered in-person and via secure telehealth, depending on client preference and clinical fit.
Our clinicians are trained in and offer specialized EMDR protocols, including:
- Recent Event Trauma Protocol (R-TEP)
Designed to support the nervous system following a recent or ongoing traumatic or distressing event, helping reduce the likelihood of long-term trauma responses. - Group Traumatic Episode Protocol (G-TEP)
A structured EMDR-based protocol that can be used in group or individual formats to support processing after shared or cumulative stressors.
What is EMDR?
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is an evidence-based therapy designed to help people heal from trauma or other difficult or overwhelming life experiences. When disturbing events are unresolved distress remains. Many clients choose EMDR therapy because it can reduce emotional distress, shift unhelpful beliefs and improve how they relate to themselves, others and the world. For many clients, symptoms of trauma and distress will diminish or disappear throughout EMDR therapy. The experience is still remembered, but the trauma response is reduced and often resolved. Clients of EMDR therapy often report the memory feels more distant and less vivid and the intense emotional response to recalling the memory has subsided.
How does EMDR Work?
EMDR works with the brain’s natural ability to heal, supporting integration of past experiences so they feel more resolved and less disruptive in daily life. Clients often report increased emotional regulation, decreased reactivity, and greater clarity and flexibility over time.
What Does EMDR Therapy Look Like in Therapy?
EMDR can be integrated into 60-minute weekly sessions, allowing for steady, thoughtful processing alongside resourcing, stabilization, and ongoing life support. This format works well for clients who want EMDR woven into longer-term therapy.
Some client may benefit from EMDR Intensives—extended sessions that allow for deeper focus on specific targets in a shorter period of time.
Intensives may be helpful when:
If you have a preference you can discuss it with your therapist and they will collaborate with you to determine whether standard sessions, intensives, or a combination approach is the best fit.
Some client may benefit from EMDR Intensives—extended sessions that allow for deeper focus on specific targets in a shorter period of time.
Intensives may be helpful when:
- You want to work through a specific trauma or life event
- Time or scheduling makes weekly therapy difficult
- You’re seeking momentum or relief more quickly
If you have a preference you can discuss it with your therapist and they will collaborate with you to determine whether standard sessions, intensives, or a combination approach is the best fit.
Is EMDR Right for Me?
EMDR can be a fit for most clients. EMDR does not require detailed retelling of traumatic events and can be adapted to meet each person’s needs, history, and readiness. Many clients appreciate that EMDR is both gentle and powerful, honoring the body’s wisdom while creating meaningful change.
What are EMDR intensives?
EMDR Intensive are longer, focused therapy sessions, typically ranging from 90 minutes to 3 hours and up to 6 hours of focused therapy per day, over several days or weeks. Intensives are designed to speed up healing by reducing the time between sessions and the duration of overall care. EMDR intensives offer the opportunity to deepening the healing processing by allowing extended time to work through traumatic memories while providing flexibility for clients who are seeking more rapid relief.
What Can EMDR Help With?
- PTSD, Complex trauma and developmental trauma
- Anxiety, panic, and chronic worry
- Depression rooted in attachment wounds and low self-worth
- Perinatal mental health concerns, including pregnancy, postpartum, infertility, pregnancy loss, and birth trauma
- Reproductive and medical trauma
- Law Enforcement Officers (LEO) and first responders experiencing cumulative stress or critical incidents