EMDR Trauma Therapy
What is EMDR and how can it help me?
EMDR stands for Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing. It’s a powerful therapy that helps your brain "digest" overwhelming memories or experiences that got stuck. When we intense experiences—especially early in life or over time—our nervous system can hold onto it in a raw, unprocessed form. You might not even remember everything clearly, but the body still reacts. That’s often what drives intense emotional swings, shame attacks, relationship struggles, or the feeling of not quite belonging.
Instead of just talking about it, EMDR works directly with your brain’s natural ability to heal. It helps you reprocess painful events so they lose their emotional grip and don’t keep hijacking your mood or relationships. Here is a more detailed overview: https://www.emdria.org/about-emdr-therapy/?utm_source=chatgpt.com
Why do an EMDR intensive?
For people with complex histories, one-hour sessions often aren’t enough time to get to the core of what’s really going on—especially if you’re used to pushing things down or powering through. The intensive gives us the chance to build momentum and stay in the work long enough for your system to actually shift. For singular issue traumas, the work is focused on unpacking the event and they ways your system is still reacting to adjacent experiences. For complex trauma, the work looks at big T and little T painful events, going layer by layer in chronological order, moving through different “clusters” of memories or emotional themes.
It’s not about fixing everything in a weekend—but it is about getting traction. Many people report feeling clearer, lighter, and more stable afterward. It doesn’t make hard things disappear, but it helps take the sting out of them so they don’t keep running the show from the background. Some transforamations I have seen after just 2.5 days have been staggering.
Why might this help people struggling in relationships in particular?
Many people carry deep patterns of isolation, overcompensating, and emotional pain that get triggered—especially in close relationships. Once triggered, people can vacillate between different mood states, and find it difficult to find their center and work through challenging relational dynamics; but these feelings aren’t just moods—they’re often your nervous system trying to survive old pain, and unfortunately, no matter how hard you work, the resulting behavior often seems to lead to more pain by reinforcing the old wounds. You don’t have to keep white-knuckling your way through these difficult relational experiences. EMDR can help you feel more grounded, more connected, and more you, without having to perform or shut down.
What if I don't remember much? Or don't regularly think about my past?
EMDR doesn’t require you to be super self-aware or even to talk a ton—it works even if you don’t remember or think much about your past experiences. Your brain is wired to identify patterns and difficulties; your body and brain keep the score, EMDR helps get to the root of your challenges in a way that is immensely more productive and successful than talk therapy alone.
How does the intensive work logistically?
The wait to do EMDR intensives is shorter than my waitlist for weekly therapy. Intensives typically run Friday through Monday and include 16–18 hours of total work across 3 days (though we can spread it out over several 2-day sessions or just try one and see how it goes). I do shorter intensives (4-6 hours) virtually or weekend intensives in person, typically in Western Massachusetts, which many clients treat as a kind of retreat—quiet, beautiful, and a real shift from daily life. I have also traveled to clients. I am happy to work with clients to find a plan that is effective and also works with their limitations.
I charge hourly for the sessions themselves ($315 though I will consider sliding scale in special circumstances), but I don’t bill for prep, follow-up notes, or the groundwork I do behind the scenes. This is meant to feel spacious and supportive, not transactional or rushed.
If you’d like to get a sense of what this kind of work feels like before committing to an intensive, I am happy to do a free, 30 minute consult to see if it is a good fit for you. I sometimes introduce people to the Flash Technique during a consult. It’s EMDR-adjacent and designed to calm the nervous system and create distance from emotional pain—without exploring or erasing memories. Many people are surprised by how fast it can shift internal overwhelm and give them a sense of what’s possible. I also offer the Flash Technique with clients, even if they're not interested in pursuing an intensive.