EMDR Therapy in Bozeman, Montana & Online in Colorado
When the past still feels present.
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) helps your nervous system release what’s been held too long. Whether you’re struggling with trauma, anxiety, relationship triggers, or chronic self-doubt, EMDR therapy works directly with the brain to reduce emotional charge and restore balance.
What Is EMDR?
EMDR is an evidence-based trauma therapy that helps the brain reprocess distressing memories and experiences so they no longer feel overwhelming. Through guided eye movements or bilateral stimulation, your system completes what it couldn’t at the time—allowing emotional and physiological relief without having to relive the trauma.
How Does it work?
EMDR is an 8-phase process, during which you are totally awake and aware. Together through 8 phases, we will utilize Bilateral Stimulation (BLS), through tapping, eye movement, or sound to desensitize old memories, images, feelings, thoughts around events that have happened in your life that continue to make you feel stuck. The phases establish a safe and measured environment conducive to moving through your past experiences. Our minds have the power to overcome, EMDR helps the brain know it’s safe while doing so.
EMDR PHases
Phase 1: The first phase is a history-taking session(s).
Phase 2: During the second phase of treatment, the therapist ensures that the client has several different ways of handling emotional distress. This is done by developing resources (tools) for the client to be able to use inside and outside of the session for emotional regulation. A goal of EMDR therapy is to produce rapid and effective change while the client maintains equilibrium during and between sessions.
Phases 3-6: In phases three to six, a target event or memory is identified and reprocessing is initiated with the help of BLS (Bilateral Stimulation) and other unique EMDR techniques.
Phase 7: Every session of reprocessing ends with the seventh phase, closure, in which the client is assisted to return to a state of calm in the present moment whether the reprocessing is complete or not.
Phase 8: This phase consists of examining the progress made thus far and reflecting on the work that's been done through unique reevaluation. Future targets are focused on for continued treatment.
Who is it for?
As kiddos, our brains are like sponges, we pick up what we see and hear in the world around us. We are exposed to a variety of experiences and modeling by our caregivers, that develop and inform our core beliefs about ourselves and the world around us. Sometimes these experiences are stored unconsciously influencing our intimate, familial, and interpersonal relationships as well as beliefs around money, career, sex, gender, religion, rules, emotional expression and so much more. With the amount of information that is stored unconsciously, it can lead us to repetitive and destructive patterns.
EMDR therapy can be effective for:
Post-traumatic stress (PTSD)
Anxiety and panic
Attachment wounds and relational triggers
Grief and loss
Self-worth and shame
Performance anxiety or creative blocks
““I “dove deep” into my personal growth journey many years ago and have worked with countless mediums - from workshops to therapy, to spiritual sessions, and more. It wasn’t until EMDR with Katie that I truly felt a shift. I spent the time to dig into all of my triggers, and have come out on the other side feeling like my true self. Nothing is holding me back anymore. I am free of family drama, work is prosperous, I’m immensely creative, life is flowing with ease, and everything is way more fun. I would highly, highly recommend working with Katie. She is kind, professional, and incredibly supportive”.
-Anonymous, Boulder, CO
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This is the biggest question that people ask me when they first call, and to which every therapist, including myself wishes they had a crystal ball to be able to give you an answer. With any good EMDR therapist, they will tell you they don’t know how long—at least not yet. What I can tell you is EMDR therapy truly is a remarkable and thorough therapy, that has the potential to be faster acting then other therapies offered.
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A large myth about EMDR is that EMDR starts on day 1 of our first session. In a lot of ways, yes the process of EMDR starts the moment the client walks in the door, but the BLS (Bilateral Stimulation) doesn’t happen in the first session. It would actually be a disservice to a client to start reprocessing memories during the first session as it is so integral to build rapport, learn resources and psychoeducation around EMDR to be set up for success. I always will need to ensure those things are in place before proceeding to the processing, and so the time may vary for each client and typically doesn’t start until at lease a few weeks into the therapy, and in some cases not for a few months.
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Yes! absolutely. In fact, I was actually trained in online EMDR by Maiberger Institute here in Boulder. I have multiple clients whom I conduct online EMDR sessions with and have found the same success they would being online as if they were in-person.
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EMDR is great for PTSD, and is an evidence-based treatment for PTSD, but that is not the only mental health issue that it helps. EMDR therapy can be used very effectively with depression, anxiety, grief, phobias, dependence, relationships, eating issues, body image, and more.
Although there are many myths about EMDR, it is a powerful form of therapy that can create deep and lasting resolution from difficult and traumatic experiences. Each client treated with EMDR therapy is unique and comes to the therapy with different circumstances and early attachment and developmental experiences. As a result, the experience of the EMDR therapy will be unique to each person, even though the results of the treatment, a shifting of trauma triggers and maladaptive behaviors over to more adaptive ways of feeling, behaving and experiencing, are common among clients.
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The reality is that EMDR can be a difficult process as you will be guided by your therapist in discussing painful memories. However, safeguards are also built into the EMDR process to ensure that the process does not become overwhelming and the patient can stop the process at any time. Your therapist will teach you multiple relaxation and visualization techniques you can assess any time during reprocessing. These techniques can also be used outside of session if you are feeling distressed.
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EMDR can help resolve any past distressing event. Anything from a public speaking phobia, bad breakup, grief to job stress. EMDR helps with a wide-spectrum of issues. Feelings of depression, fear, and anxiety can actually be rooted in trauma or past adverse life events, so healing the trauma will help reduce these feelings as well.
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When painful memories are avoided, they keep their disturbing power. While flashback or nightmares can feel like the original trauma, you don’t have to live with this forever. EMDR works in a way to relieve symptoms so you don’t have to keep reliving them every day life. In therapy, and with EMDR, you can face the memory in a safe setting, so that you do not feel overwhelmed. Then you can get through it and move on.
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Use your support system. Knowing who you can reach out to when you need to talk is key.
Engage in some kind of stress reducing body movement each day. Our bodies store our trauma physically as well as emotionally. Try to stretch, walk, hike or do yoga each day.
Try to get into the habit of taking ten minutes each day to practice breathing exercises or meditation. We will teach you more of these skills in session, but to get ready, there are many videos and podcasts that can help guide you in this relaxing process.
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Katie Received her EMDR Training Through the Maiberger Institute. This EMDRIA approved EMDR Training is facilitated by Barb Maiberger, MA, LPC — the author of “EMDR Essentials: A Guide for Clients and Therapists” and the co-author of “EMDR Therapy and Somatic Psychology: Interventions to Enhance Embodiment in Trauma Treatment.”
FAQS
Benefits
Many assume that they are stuck with a life experience, or that it will take a very long time to heal. When you cut your hand, your body knows how to heal the wound. In a similar way, our brains need assistance in removing blocks that are not allowing the brain to heal itself. EMDR will help you remove mental blocks, mental loops, negative patterns to engage your natural healing process, allowing for the creation of new pathways in the brain.