Healing Through EMDR
By Chris Boyle
Healing Through EMDR: What It Is and Why It Might Help
As a therapist, one of the things I care most about is helping clients move beyond simply “coping” with pain, and toward real, lasting healing. That’s why I’m excited to share that I’m currently undergoing Basic EMDR Training and am beginning to integrate this powerful method into my work with clients.
If you’ve never heard of EMDR, or if you’ve heard the name but don’t quite understand what it is, this post is for you.
What Is EMDR Therapy?
EMDR stands for Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing. It’s a structured, evidence-based therapy that helps people heal from trauma, distressing memories, anxiety, and other emotional blocks that traditional talk therapy can sometimes struggle to reach.
Rather than relying solely on talking through a painful event, EMDR helps the brain reprocess memories that are “stuck.” These are often memories that weren’t fully processed at the time they happened, usually because the experience was overwhelming, scary, or traumatic.
By using bilateral stimulation (often in the form of eye movements, tapping, or sound), EMDR helps the brain unfreeze these experiences, allowing them to be re-integrated in a way that feels less charged, less painful, and more resolved.
How Can EMDR Help?
EMDR has been widely researched and is recognized as an effective treatment for:
Post-Traumatic Stress (PTSD)
Anxiety and Panic
Childhood Trauma and Attachment Wounds
Grief and Loss
Addiction Recovery
Negative Core Beliefs (e.g., “I’m not enough,” “I’m a failure”)
Phobias and Specific Fears
Clients often describe EMDR as getting to the root of an issue—rather than just managing symptoms. It can help make space for new beliefs, healthier emotional responses, and more freedom in your day-to-day life.
What to Expect in EMDR Therapy
In EMDR, we don’t start with your most distressing memories. There’s a careful process of preparation: building trust, understanding your story, and making sure you have the tools to stay grounded throughout.
From there, we work together to identify specific memories or patterns that are still affecting your present. Using a series of guided steps, EMDR helps you move through those experiences in a way that feels contained, safe, and productive.
A Note About My EMDR Training
I have completed Basic EMDR Training, which included both educational components and hands-on supervised practice with clients. This training allows me to integrate EMDR into my work with clients who are a good fit for this modality.
What this means for you:
I am trained and equipped to begin using EMDR in our work together when appropriate.
I continue to receive consultation as I grow my experience with EMDR, ensuring that I offer this approach with care, skill, and ethical grounding.
I’m committed to integrating EMDR in a thoughtful and collaborative way, based on your unique needs and goals.
If you're curious about whether EMDR could support your healing, we can talk about it during our sessions. I’m always happy to answer questions and help you decide if it’s the right next step in your therapy journey.
Is EMDR Right for You?
If you’ve been in therapy before but feel like something is still unresolved…
If you find yourself stuck in old emotional loops or reactions…
If there’s a memory, belief, or experience that still feels alive in your body or thoughts…
EMDR might be worth exploring.
It’s not a quick fix, but for many people, it offers a sense of real transformation, moving from “this thing still haunts me” to “I can finally breathe again.”
Let’s Talk
If you’re interested in learning more about EMDR or working together, I’d love to connect. You don’t need to have a big trauma history to benefit, sometimes it’s the small things that leave the deepest imprint.
Reach out if you’re curious, if you’re stuck, or if you’re ready to do the kind of work that goes beneath the surface.
You deserve to feel free.