EMDR Therapy | Healing After Trauma & PTSD
Discover how EMDR therapy helps with trauma, PTSD, anxiety, and grief. Gentle, evidence-based counselling to support your healing journey.
If you’ve been through something overwhelming, you may have noticed that the past doesn’t always stay in the past. A sound, a smell, or even a passing thought can suddenly bring back the same fear, sadness, or body sensations you felt during the event. Trauma has a way of bringing the past into the present, and interrupting our ability to move forward.
Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR) is a powerful form of trauma therapy that helps people heal from distressing memories, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress. It’s an evidence-based approach that’s been used worldwide to support people recovering from traumatic experiences, grief, and stress.
What is EMDR Therapy?
EMDR is a type of trauma-focused counselling that works with the brain’s natural healing system. Most of the time, our mind processes experiences like a filing system—storing memories in an organised way. But when something deeply painful or frightening happens, that “file” can get stuck. Instead of becoming part of the past, it lingers in the present, showing up as flashbacks, nightmares, or overwhelming emotions.
EMDR therapy helps your brain reprocess these memories so they feel less raw and intrusive. The memory doesn’t disappear—however it loses its emotional intensity. Many people describe this shift as an increased sense of felt safety and reduced hyper-vigilance. Some people report that they no longer are triggered and have increased experience of peace.
How Does EMDR Work?
During EMDR sessions, you’ll work with a trained therapist in a safe and supportive environment. The process often looks like this:
Preparation: You and your therapist build safety by developing a therapeutic relationship alongside grounding strategies to support your sense of felt safety. Know that you can pause or stop the process at any time.
Targeting the memory: Together, we identify a specific memory or distressing experience to work on.
Bilateral stimulation: While holding the memory in mind, you’ll engage in gentle side-to-side movements (such as following the therapist’s hand with your eyes, listening to alternating sounds, or tapping). This activates the brain’s natural ability to heal, process and integrate experiences.
Reprocessing and relief: Over time, the emotional charge linked to the memory fades, the memory becomes reprocessed and integrated.
What Can EMDR Help With?
Research shows EMDR therapy can be highly effective for:
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
Childhood trauma or abuse
Anxiety and panic attacks
Complicated grief and loss
Phobias and fears
Stress from difficult life experiences
Many people find that EMDR brings relief more quickly than some traditional talk therapies, though the number of sessions needed will depend on your unique history and needs.
Why Choose EMDR Counselling?
EMDR is not about forgetting your story—it’s about changing the way your brain and body hold that story. With the support of a compassionate therapist, you can begin to feel more grounded, you may notice that your body and brain no longer react to triggers and there can be a shift in how you experience moments in your life.
🌱 Healing after trauma is possible. EMDR therapy can be a gentle yet powerful way to move forward and reclaim your life.
