Explore more than just conventional talk therapy
EMDR therapy in CT and NY
You’re ready for a new approach to therapy.
Maybe you’ve been to therapy before and it’s helped, but you’re still getting stuck in old habits and behaviors. The underlying pain persists. You find yourself feeling stuck, anxious and overwhelmed. Relationships are suffering, sleep sucks, and taking care of day-to-day tasks feels like you’ve run a marathon.
EMDR can help. EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) is a treatment approach with over 30 years of research supporting its efficacy - meaning it works! Problems we experience in the present are often driven by past events that have shaped our belief system and how we interact with others, the world, and ourselves. Unlike traditional talk therapies, EMDR focuses on recovering from difficult memories and events by activating the brain and body’s natural healing process rather than talking in deep detail. EMDR helps you process and integrate difficult memories so they no longer carry the same emotional weight. While those experiences remain part of your story, EMDR allows them to feel less overwhelming, creating space for greater balance, relief, and fulfillment in your life.
EMDR therapy can help you get unstuck .
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Trauma memories are stored in a way that's different from everyday memories, which can make them hard to understand or work through. At the same time, these memories can be easily triggered by things you encounter in daily life and leave you with painful beliefs about yourself. EMDR helps you process these traumatic memories in a way that supports healing.
During EMDR, you'll focus on a back-and-forth movement, sound, or tactile stimuli while bringing to mind the upsetting memory along with any thoughts or feelings in your body that go with it. The back-and-forth movement helps you stay grounded in the present moment while your brain processes the painful memory from the past and develops new, healthier ways of thinking about what happened. Over time, this helps you experience the trauma as a difficult memory that no longer feels as distressing. As this happens, you'll also begin to recognize more positive beliefs about yourself that can help you feel better.
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EMDR can be delivered in a few different ways. Here at Rowan Wellness we provide what’s called Brief Adjunctive EMDR. This means I partner with primary therapists to provide EMDR on specific memories, body sensations, or beliefs that are slowing your progress in therapy. By focusing on particular traumatic memories or symptoms, this approach can help you move forward faster in your ongoing work. Adjunct EMDR can help you and your primary therapist work through stuck points and deepen the progress you're already making together.
Adjunct EMDR therapy works alongside your current therapy, it doesn't replace or interrupt it. With this model, you continue seeing your primary therapist while also receiving focused EMDR. Adjunct therapy is time-limited, consisting of a set number of sessions. The effectiveness of adjunct treatment depends on having clear, specific goals that you, your primary therapist, and the adjunct EMDR therapist agree on together.
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EMDR can accelerate your healing and help you move past what's been keeping you stuck. You might find that trauma reminders no longer trigger the same intense reactions they once did, allowing you to feel safer in your daily life. Imagine getting through a big event without any panic or sleeping soundly through the night. EMDR can also help you develop more compassionate beliefs about yourself and improve meaningful relationships.
Is EMDR right for you?
EMDR is a good fit for you if you…
Past experiences still feel “alive” in your body or emotions. You might logically know something is over, yet your nervous system reacts as if it’s still happening.
You feel stuck despite insight. You understand why you feel the way you do, but that understanding hasn’t led to lasting relief.
Talking about the past feels overwhelming or exhausting. EMDR doesn’t require retelling details over and over to be effective.
You have symptoms linked to distressing memories, such as anxiety, panic, shame, intrusive thoughts, emotional numbness, or strong emotional reactions that seem out of proportion to what’s happening.
What we’ll work on
With EMDR, you can…
work through painful or stressful experiences without having to talk through every detail. Instead of feeling stuck in old reactions, your nervous system can begin to recognize that those experiences are in the past. Many people find EMDR helpful when talk therapy hasn’t been enough, especially for lingering anxiety, fear, or self-doubt tied to earlier experiences. Over time, those memories tend to feel less intense, making it easier to feel more grounded, present, and in control in your day-to-day life.
