EMDR is an evidence-based approach that helps you work through painful experiences that continue to affect you in the present. Rather than only talking about what happened, EMDR works with your thoughts, emotions, body sensations, and reactions so that the past doesn’t keep showing up in the same ways.

IFS-informed therapy adds another layer by helping us understand the different parts of you that learned to protect you along the way. The part that stays on guard, shuts down, keeps everyone happy, or needs to stay in control didn’t come from nowhere. Instead of trying to get rid of those parts, we get curious about why they’re there and what they’ve been trying to do for you.

Together, EMDR and IFS allow us to work with both the experiences that still affect you and the parts of you that learned to respond to them. The goal isn’t to erase what happened or forget your past. It’s for your past to feel like the past, so it doesn’t have to keep running the show in your life, your reactions, and your relationships.

EMDR sessions are structured but they are not rigid. We will identify the memory or experience we are working with and the belief connected to it. Something like "I have to do everything myself or it won't get done," "if I slow down everything will fall apart," or "I am only valuable when I am useful to someone else."

From there we use bilateral stimulation while you notice whatever comes up. A memory, a feeling, a sensation in your chest or stomach, a thought you didn't expect. We follow it together.

You don't have to tell me every detail of what happened and there isn't a right way to do EMDR. We will move at a pace that feels manageable and pay attention to what you need as we go.

The goal isn't to erase the memory or pretend it didn't happen. You will still know what happened but it may not hit you the same way anymore. The memory doesn't disappear. It loses its grip.

EMDR can be helpful for trauma, PTSD, anxiety, phobias, negative beliefs about yourself, and experiences from the past that still affect how you feel and respond today.

But you don’t have to figure out whether EMDR is right for you before you walk through the door. We’ll talk about what’s bringing you to therapy, what you’ve already tried, and what tends to happen when you get overwhelmed or triggered. From there, we’ll decide together what makes sense.

Sometimes that means EMDR. Sometimes we may spend more time getting to know the parts of you that show up to protect you before we begin processing. And sometimes we’ll use both. The work is not about forcing you through a particular method. It’s about understanding what you need and choosing an approach that fits you.

Internal Family Systems, or IFS, is an approach that helps us understand the different parts of ourselves and why they respond the way they do. You know the feeling when one part of you wants to say no, but another part is already saying yes? Or when your head knows you’re safe, but something inside you is still on high alert? That’s what I mean when I talk about parts.

IFS helps us get curious about those reactions instead of judging them or trying to make them go away. The part that overthinks, keeps everyone happy, stays in control, shuts down, or expects the worst usually learned to do that for a reason.

In our work, we’ll get to know those parts, understand what they’ve been trying to protect you from, and help you have more choice in how you respond instead of automatically reacting the way you always have.