Preparation
First, safety and pacing.
You do not start by diving into the hardest thing. EMDR begins with understanding what you need, building coping skills, and deciding whether this approach fits right now.
EMDR stands for Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing. It is a structured therapy used to help people work through distressing memories, trauma responses, and experiences that still feel active in the nervous system.
When something overwhelming happens, the memory of it can stay connected to the original fear, shame, body sensations, or beliefs that were present at the time. Even years later, everyday cues can make the body react as if the old event is happening again.
EMDR uses brief focus on a distressing memory while also using bilateral stimulation, such as eye movements, sounds, or tapping. The goal is to help the brain and nervous system process what happened so the memory can become less vivid, less emotionally charged, and more clearly in the past.
You still remember what happened. The aim is for the memory to stop running the room.
EMDR is collaborative. Before going into trauma material, you and Helen would talk through readiness, pacing, and what helps you stay grounded.
You do not start by diving into the hardest thing. EMDR begins with understanding what you need, building coping skills, and deciding whether this approach fits right now.
You may briefly focus on a memory, image, belief, emotion, or body sensation while also tracking a back-and-forth cue. The present stays part of the work.
People often seek EMDR because they want the old memory to feel less consuming. Results vary, and the work is adjusted to your pace and your goals.
EMDR is often used for trauma and PTSD symptoms. It may also be part of care when anxiety, shame, panic, body alarms, or relationship patterns are tied to past experiences.
Flashbacks, intrusive memories, avoidance, hypervigilance, nightmares, or feeling pulled back into the old moment.
Feeling stuck in fight, flight, freeze, collapse, or a body response that makes sense historically but feels hard to control now.
Current fear or panic that seems connected to earlier pain, loss, betrayal, humiliation, or unsafe experiences.
Old moments that shaped beliefs like "it was my fault," "I am not safe," or "I should have handled it differently."
At The Healing Haven SLC, EMDR is not treated like a performance or a protocol to push through. Helen's work is trauma-focused, somatic, and relational. That means the body gets a say, consent matters, and the pace is part of the treatment.