Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR) is an effective and well researched treatment for trauma and phobias. The emerging world of neuro science has noted some extraordinarily useful changes in the brain and how memories are stored and processed, which has been transformative in the treatment of recent or past trauma, enabling clients to be less stuck and have more positive behaviours, emotions, and thoughts.

If an old (often traumatic) memory remains unprocessed it can cause some people issues in the present, such as flashbacks, anxiety and sleep disturbance, or mood swings. Using EMDR it can be possible to process these old memories and store them in the part of the brain where there is far less affect in the present. It’s almost as if they are ‘put away’ – rather like the experiences of the day are processed by the brain during the rapid eye movement phase of sleep and moved into ‘storage’!

Following assessment and preparation, clients are led through sets of eye movements as they focus on the finger movements of their therapist which move in front of their face. As with all therapy, a strong relationship of trust between client and therapist is essential. EMDR can be used as part of more general therapy or as a stand-alone treatment. Please get in touch for more information.

Practitioners

Sarah Atkinson
Jo Crighton
Jane Pearce
Thomas Reeves
Emma Shickle