We are uninvited settlers occupying the stolen, territories of the xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), S’ólh Téméxw (Stó:lō), Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh), Qayqayt, and kʷikʷəƛ̓əm (Kwikwetlem) peoples. Our relationship with these lands dictates our commitment to understanding the ongoing impacts of colonization and decolonizing our practices in and out of the counselling room.
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EMDR stands for eye movement desensitization and reprocessing. Despite the weird acronym and unconventional way it's conducted, it’s a well-researched therapy that draws on the neurobiology of the brain.
Your first EMDR session involves mapping your experiences and its associated beliefs that you want to process in subsequent sessions. Your therapist may also support you in building grounding skills and/or do a mini EMDR processing test to build your personalized bilateral stimulation cadence. This mini EMDR processing test also helps to ensure that the impacts of EMDR feel sustainable for you before diving into more rooted experiences and memories.
A typical subsequent EMDR session begins with a brief check-in to assess your current state, check to see how previous EMDR sessions have landed, and identify the target memory or issue to work on. Your therapist will guide you through the bilateral stimulation process, which may involve eye movements, tapping, and/or auditory cues. You'll focus on the target memory while engaging in the bilateral stimulation, allowing your brain to process and reframe the experience. Throughout the session, your therapist will provide support and help you navigate any emotions or insights that arise. The session concludes with a prompt to notice changes that may come up between sessions to be explored and connected with in your next EMDR session.
Because EMDR has a specific protocol, we recommend you book an 80-minute session with your therapist so that we have enough time to work through the complete sequence we’re processing in each session.
As with all therapies, there are potential impacts to be aware of. General considerations specific to EMDR include a temporary increase in emotional distress or physical sensations during processing, experiencing more vivid dreams between sessions as the brain continues to process, experiencing an emergence of previously suppressed memories, and feeling more emotionally vulnerable between sessions. Your therapist will help guide you through these potential impacts and support you in developing resources to mitigate them as you’re moving forward with sessions.
EMDR can be a standalone practice or engaged in conjunction with other counselling services. Depending on what you’re looking to process, your therapist may recommending continuing with a series of EMDR sessions before returning to other therapeutic processes. Because EMDR is a very specific form of therapy with a robust protocol, it is only recommended to work with a therapist with specific EMDR training. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to book a free consult with one of our EMDR-trained therapists!
EMDR is always done in the context of an overall therapy plan. The EMDR time portion itself is different for everyone. Starting off with at least 3 sessions of EMDR will give you some idea of its effectiveness for you. From there it is dependent upon your individual needs and situation.
EMDR is most effective with free association, just let whatever happens, happen! You may experience feelings, thoughts, body sensations. You may experience nothing. Whatever you experience, you will be asked to notice it as if you were passing by it on a train rather than being within the experience. If at any time you feel overwhelmed, you only need to raise your hand to stop the process. You will be asked to share what comes up in the break between sets. There are no right or wrong answers. This information will only guide future sets.
Your feelings surrounding a given event will be rated by you (from 1-10) both prior to and after EMDR session. The aim of every EMDR session is noticeable shifts in your interpretation of events by the time you leave each session.
EMDR sessions can be done in either 50- or 80-minute intervals. Because we want enough time and spaciousness to fully work through both the negative associations with the event AND to build different perspectives into your experience, we recommend doing 80-minute EMDR sessions for the best experience.
EMDR therapy involves eight phases, including history-taking, preparation, assessment, desensitization, installation, body scan, closure, and re-evaluation. In the desensitization and installation phases, you’ll be guided to focus on pre-mapped memories while engaging in bilateral stimulation, typically through eye movements, taps, and/or sounds.
If you’re experiencing shifts in your perspective in session, or noticing less triggers in your daily life, that speaks to the effects of EMDR. If, however, you’re feeling overwhelmed in the process or noticing your distress levels rise between sessions, let your therapist know so they can adjust their work with you. EMDR, like any other therapy, is not the only right way to heal. There is absolutely nothing wrong with you if you don’t experience positive change, or if you want to revisit at a different time when things in your life are less intense!
This is totally normal! Let your therapist know and they can adjust the speed in a way that feels comfortable for you. Your therapist might also suggest that you use sounds, tapping or walking during the process instead.
Essentially, EMDR taps into your brain's natural wiring by engaging in specific cadences of bilateral stimulation that mimics REM sleep processes and physical motion. Both of these processes help you address the subconscious neuropathways that are keeping your internal alarm active beyond what you find necessary. As you’re guided through the protocol, it works to help you build the neural networks that will actually work for you.
Most clients find EMDR to be beneficial because it gets to the root of an issue, offering insights on deeper subconscious dynamics at play. It also doesn't require the traumatic retelling of events and its effects are often seen within a shorter amount of time when compared to traditional talk therapy.
