It happened then.
Why does it still feel like now?
EMDR helps your brain finally file painful memories away, without having to relive every detail.
It happened then.
Why does it still feel like now?
EMDR helps your brain finally file painful memories away, without having to relive every detail.
So, what exactly is EMDR?
EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) is a structured, research-based therapy for healing from trauma and other painful experiences. People often turn to it for PTSD, anxiety, depression, and panic.
* Recognized by the World Health Organization, the American Psychiatric Association, the American Psychological Association, and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and Department of Defense.
Healing isn’t about forgetting what happened.
EMDR, what’s the difference?
EMDR [Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing] is a structured form of psychotherapy that helps the brain process distressing memories and experiences that may still feel emotionally or physically “stuck.”
Unlike traditional talk therapy, you don’t have to spend session after session describing every detail of what happened.
Instead, your therapist helps you safely access aspects of a difficult experience while using bilateral stimulation—such as guided eye movements, tapping, or other alternating sounds or sensations.
As your brain processes the experience, the memory can begin to feel different.
The goal isn’t to erase what happened. It’s to help your brain understand that it happened—and that it is no longer happening now.
EMDR, what’s the difference?
EMDR [Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing] is a structured form of psychotherapy that helps the brain process distressing memories and experiences that may still feel emotionally or physically “stuck.”
Unlike traditional talk therapy, you don’t have to spend session after session describing every detail of what happened.
Instead, your therapist helps you safely access aspects of a difficult experience while using bilateral stimulation—such as guided eye movements, tapping, or other alternating sounds or sensations.
As your brain processes the experience, the memory can begin to feel different.
The goal isn’t to erase what happened. It’s to help your brain understand that it happened—and that it is no longer happening now.
EMDR Isn’t About Forgetting.
It’s about remembering without reliving.
You may never forget what happened. And you don’t have to.
Healing can mean being able to remember something without your nervous system responding as though you’re still living through it.
It can mean:
“That happened to me.”
instead of
“This is happening to me.”
It can mean having more space between what happened then and how you experience your life now.
It’s about remembering without reliving.
You may never forget what happened. And you don’t have to.
Healing can mean being able to remember something without your nervous system responding as though you’re still living through it.
It can mean:
“That happened to me.”
instead of
“This is happening to me.”
It can mean having more space between what happened then and how you experience your life now.
You Don’t Have to Keep Carrying It.
Maybe you’re tired of understanding your patterns without knowing how to change them.
Maybe you’ve done the talking.
Maybe you’ve tried to “just move on.”
Maybe you’re functioning—but you’re exhausted from functioning.
Therapy isn’t about pretending the past didn’t happen.
It’s about creating enough safety in the present that the past no longer has to run the show.
At I Choose Change, we believe good therapy starts with feeling like someone is on your side. Our clinicians provide a safe, accepting environment where you can explore your thoughts, feelings, beliefs, and behaviors without judgment.
You Don’t Have to Keep Carrying It.
Maybe you’re tired of understanding your patterns without knowing how to change them.
Maybe you’ve done the talking.
Maybe you’ve tried to “just move on.”
Maybe you’re functioning—but you’re exhausted from functioning.
Therapy isn’t about pretending the past didn’t happen.
It’s about creating enough safety in the present that the past no longer has to run the show.
At I Choose Change, we believe good therapy starts with feeling like someone is on your side. Our clinicians provide a safe, accepting environment where you can explore your thoughts, feelings, beliefs, and behaviors without judgment.
01 — We Start With Safety
Before processing difficult experiences, your therapist gets to know you and helps you develop tools for managing difficult emotions and staying grounded.
02 — We Identify What Still Hurts
Together, you and your therapist identify experiences, memories, beliefs, or patterns that may still be affecting you.
03 — Your Brain Begins Processing
With your therapist’s guidance, you’ll briefly focus on aspects of the experience while engaging in bilateral stimulation. This may involve eye movements, tapping, sounds, or another method.
04 — Things Can Begin to Shift
As processing occurs, memories may become less emotionally intense. New insights, emotions, perspectives, or connections may emerge.
05 — We Build Something Different
The goal isn’t simply to feel less. It’s to help you develop a healthier relationship with the experience—and with yourself.
You don’t have to tell the whole story.
One of the things clients often appreciate about EMDR is that healing doesn’t require you to repeatedly retell every painful detail.
Your therapist will work with you to establish safety and coping skills before beginning trauma processing. When you’re ready, you’ll identify the memories, beliefs, emotions, body sensations, or situations you want to work on.
Your therapist then guides you through the EMDR process while you focus on specific pieces of the experience. You remain in control throughout the process.
You decide what you are ready to work on.
Trauma doesn’t always look like what we imagine trauma should look like. Sometimes it’s one overwhelming event. Sometimes it’s years of smaller experiences that changed the way you see yourself, other people, or the world. And sometimes you can’t even pinpoint exactly why you feel the way you do.
EMDR may be helpful for people experiencing:
- Trauma and PTSD
- Anxiety and panic
- Grief and loss
- Distressing or intrusive memories
- Childhood or developmental trauma
- Relationship or attachment wounds
- Shame and negative beliefs about yourself
- Difficult life transitions
- Depression connected to past experiences
- Phobias and fears
- Emotional responses that feel bigger than the situation
- Experiences that you understand intellectually but haven’t been able to move past emotionally
At I Choose Change, EMDR is one of several approaches our clinicians may use depending on your goals, history, and individual needs.