Find your way back to balance and joy.
Rediscover peace and healing through EMDR therapy
Serving Knoxville, TN and online across four states
Tennessee I California I Nevada I Virginia
Experience freedom from what’s been holding you back.
EMDR therapy doesn’t require you to talk in detail about distressing experiences. Instead, it focuses on transforming the emotions, thoughts, and behaviors shaped by those experiences. This process helps your brain restore its natural ability to heal and find balance.
The Adaptive Information Processing (AIP) model is the theoretical foundation behind EMDR therapy. It explains how the brain processes and stores information, particularly related to traumatic or distressing experiences. The AIP model highlights the brain's incredible capacity for healing and adaptability, which EMDR therapy taps into to help people recover from trauma and emotional challenges.
EDMR can help you…
Heal from past events
Reduce stress
Feel “lighter”
Build confidence
Increase emotional intelligence
Sleep better
Feel more calm and relaxed
Improve relationships
Develop health boundaries
Make decisions with clarity
Develop hope for the future
How does EMDR work?
EMDR helps your brain recognize that past events are no longer happening and builds resilience for the future. Think of your brain as a filing system for memories. During REM sleep, researchers believe our daily experiences are naturally “filed” into the appropriate places in our memory. However, when something upsetting or traumatic happens, these memories may not get properly filed. Instead, they remain “stuck,” making it feel like the distress is still present.
With EMDR therapy, you can heal without needing to share out loud the details of distressing experiences. EMDR uses bilateral stimulation to mimic the brain’s natural processes during REM sleep, helping to properly file these memories without the emotional distress attached to them. It’s not about forgetting the past—it’s about healing from it so you can live more fully in the present.
EMDR can also help with ongoing stress in your life or worries you may have about the future. Past distressing events may have tangled your thoughts about yourself and the way you interact with the world. In neuropsychology, there’s a saying “what wires together, fires together.” EMDR works to untangle these beliefs, allowing you to approach life with greater calm, balance, and clarity.
After successful EMDR treatment, the memory of upsetting events remain but feel neutral or less distressing. This allows you to live more fully in the present without being weighed down by the past.
Heal, recover, and move forward with confidence.
What can I expect in EMDR therapy?
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In our first sessions, we will focus on important life events, recent experiences that have brought you to therapy, and collaboratively set goals for our time together. You do not have to discuss details of any specific events for EMDR to be effective, as our work together with aid the brain in doing what it naturally does already.
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The next phase will focus on building specific tools to prepare for EMDR and enhance your internal resources. We will practice using these tools and resources in sessions and identify opportunities to use them between sessions. You will learn methods to activate your parasympathetic nervous system to tell your body when to relax by slowing down your heart and breathing rate. You will also build emotional intelligence in this phase by learning to identify emotions and implement skills to regulate emotional intensity.
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Once a solid foundation of trust and safety has been built, we will move into the reprocessing phase, the “R” of EMDR. This is when our work will focus on memories, body sensations, or future fears related to the distressing events you’ve experienced or are afraid you will encounter in the future. You do not need to talk in detail about the events. I will guide you to use bilateral stimulation to access the right and left brain hemispheres, and your role is simply to notice what is happening internally to your mind and body. The bilateral stimulation works something like REM sleep to help your brain “file” memories in a new way that is more organized and with less emotional intensity attached to it. Sometimes problem-solving and reworking memories happens in this phase, too.
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It may seem impossible now - the next phase occurs when your distress level related to these events is significantly lower or has even subsided altogether. We will focus on how you would like to respond to any reminders or related events in the future. You will incorporate your internal resources, strengthen your adaptive responses, and gain confidence to move forward in life.
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Throughout our time together, we will check in regarding progress towards your goals, reflect on the overall process, and make adjustments as needed. When goals are met, we will agree on a final session and list your take-aways for continued positive resourcing and coping skills, identify opportunities to work through future stressors, and celebrate your overall progress.
MY UNIQUE BACKGROUND
Advanced Trainings
EMDR Certified
EMDRIA Consultant in Training (CIT)
Certified Clinical Trauma Professional
NBCC International Mental Health Facilitator Trainer
Trauma Recovery Network Member
Attachment-Focused EMDR
EMDR Therapy Protocols for Early Intervention & Ongoing Stress
Recent Traumatic Episode Protocol
Group Traumatic Episode Protocol
Group Resource Enhancement Protocol
Global & Local Service
Supported first responders at Ground Zero after September 11th, 2001
Taught a college study abroad course in northern Nepal with a maternal health nonprofit in 2011
Partnered with Rwandan psychologists and nonprofit staff to lead a mental health education course with survivors of the genocide in Kigali in 2017
Collaborated to lead group EMDR to first responders after school shooting in 2023
Provide ongoing group EMDR to mental health clinicians for resiliency building
Currently volunteer with survivors and affected family members of local and regional traumatic incidents
I can hold big stories and help you move through past events so you can re-engage with life in a connected and real way. No experience is too “small” or “not big enough” to be considered distressing to you. Your well-being is worth investing in, and I can help you get there. Schedule a consultation so we can talk further about where you are now and where you want to be.
Frequently asked questions about EMDR
FAQs
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Eye Movement, Desensitization, and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy is an extensively researched, effective therapy that helps people recover from trauma and reduce the onset of PTSD symptoms. Developed by Dr. Francine Shapiro in the late 1980’s, it involves moving your eyes or tapping opposite sides of your body to help facilitate expedited brain processing for difficult events.
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Yes! EMDR is one of the most well-researched and highly recommended therapies for trauma and PTSD. Leading organizations, including the World Health Organization (WHO), U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Department of Defense, and the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies, recognize EMDR as an effective, evidence-based treatment. Its success extends beyond PTSD, helping individuals process anxiety, self-doubt, and other deeply rooted challenges.
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Sometimes the brain and the body do not process upsetting events the same way as other memories. When something reminds you of the experience (a place, smell, a sensation in your body), your brain and body reach as though the event is happening again. The brain goes into survival mode and isn’t able to tell the difference between the past and the present. EMDR reminds your brain the past is not happening in the present.
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Research supports that online EMDR therapy is very effective. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, EMDR therapy has become more routine for many therapists and clients. Research is still new in this area and points to improved mental health, decreased PTSD symptoms, and relief from emotional distress.
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