Over the years, I have witnessed the healing affects through EMDR as miraculous and powerful in changing lives. This has given rise to developing EMDR intensives and to work with children using EMDR. Please see below for more information!
EMDR Intensives FAQ: Do I need to prepare for the intensive? Prior to the first intensive we can plan to meet to reflect on your goals, history, strengthen your abilities to feel strong emotions and to work through any questions on how to do EMDR. When you feel ready, we will plan to meet for your first intensive. Between preparation and the intensive, continue to practice the exercises you learn in our first meetings, and this will strengthen your abilities to work with strong emotions. With consistent practice, just like a muscle, the exercises will help you influence your emotional states, and this will strengthen overtime.
What can I expect during the intensive? During the intensive we are going to reprocessing as much as we can with the time we have together. Breaks happen as needed. While some clients experience the time as passing quickly, other clients need to pause and stretch more often. You are always in control of when we start and stop, so your needs are what sets the pace for our time together. You can bring some water/drink and a snack.
EMDR is designed to begin a process that allows your body and mind to make the needed connections for healing. Much like your body knows how to heal from a sliver, once removed you don’t need to explain to you body what to do next. You are designed naturally to move towards healing. Emotional pain is similar. As we work through the stuck spots together healing naturally takes place in the form of insights, grief and understanding. As I guide you through the steps of the work, we are always collaborating on your experiences.
Will we find childhood memories I don’t know about? Yes. Trauma is the feeling of your body reliving and remembering the past as if it is happening right now. It may be helpful to understand that when an emotional reaction feels overwhelming and your brain is telling you something the opposite, then we can think of the current experience is about 10% in response to what’s happening while 90% is rooted in the past events. So, when we work with very early memories and attachment wounds, we work at the core and root of present-day problems. I have training and skills that will help you discover the roots of the past and work through how that affects you today.
How often should I do an EMDR Intensive? When I first created EMDR intensives in my practice, I wanted to offer a session that brought together purposefulness in a client’s time with maximizing healing. In a single intensive, your body and brain set a pace for the work. This is also true for the time between sessions. A client’s pace is the most important way for us to know how we can work with the momentum of your system. We will collaborate when we meet and adjust as necessary.
________________________________________________________________ EMDR and Children My professional background involves working in the school system since 1998 as a teacher in several roles, from nursery school to grade 12 as an ESL teacher, a district elementary counsellor, counsellor for boarding school and behaviour support, both in Canada and overseas. Bringing together my experiences with EMDR and work with children, I have witnessed wonderful changes in well-being and childhood development.
EMDR can be used to help children with experiences such as complications with surgeries, fear of swimming/water, physical pain, phobias, sexual abuse, witnessing abuse, C-PTSD, anxiety, depression, feeling unlovable or not good enough, are a few examples. Frequently where a parent or caregiver can join in the work, I encourage the opportunities to participate in the healing process. From time to time, parents, or caregivers own EMDR process is needed to support the change and progress their child makes in therapy.