EMDR THERAPY · SAN MATEO
You understand why you feel this way. So why do you still react this way?
You know the relationship wasn’t right for you, and seeing their name still makes your stomach drop. You know what happened is over, but something can still bring you right back to how it felt.
Understanding what happened doesn’t always change how you react to it. Your mind knows it’s over, but your body can still respond as though it isn’t. EMDR can help you process those experiences so they no longer have the same hold on you.
EMDR isn’t only for major trauma.
You agree to something you don’t want to do and feel resentful afterward.
You spend an hour thinking about a five-minute conversation.
You know you need to set a boundary, but when the moment comes you soften it, explain too much, or don’t say it at all.
You make decisions confidently at work and can’t trust yourself at all when it comes to a relationship.
Or maybe nothing is obviously wrong. Your life works. Other people think you’re doing great. It just doesn’t feel that way from the inside.
WHAT EMDR ACTUALLY IS
You’re awake the whole time. You can pause or stop whenever you want.
We identify an experience, reaction, or belief that still feels stuck. While you hold parts of it in mind, I guide you through bilateral stimulation, usually eye movements.
You don’t have to tell me every detail of what happened for us to work with it.
What we’re changing. Not the memory, and not your sense that it was painful. What changes is how much force it has now. Something that used to bring up fear, shame, or a familiar belief about yourself starts to feel like something that happened rather than something you’re still living inside.
How I decide when to use it.
I use EMDR with most of my clients, which doesn’t mean we spend every session on it. I don’t start with how can we use EMDR here. I start with what does this person need.
We also don’t go looking for trauma. Sometimes an earlier experience is clearly connected. Sometimes it’s something recent. We work with what’s actually affecting you, not with what seems significant enough to qualify.
One thing worth knowing. Processing sometimes keeps going after you leave.
You may notice more dreams, or a memory surfacing during the week. That’s normal, it settles,
and we talk about it at the next session. I’ll tell you what to expect before we begin rather than after.
I’ve been a Certified EMDR Therapist since 2022. EMDR is a tool.
Knowing when and why to use it with the person in front of me is the
part that takes experience.