The biggest indicator of therapeutic success is the rapport between a client and their therapist. While certain treatment modalities may be more effective, it is the therapeutic relationship that is the most important.
If you choose to meet with me our first session(s) will be for us to see if there is fit. As we work together, I will use tools from SE (Somatic Experience) and EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) to begin to address trauma and its impact on the nervous system.
Before going into the trauma itself I will teach you ways to deal with the distress of the moment. Trauma often is highly activating to the sympathetic nervous system. The sympathetic nervous system speeds things up, and this is useful when one needs to fight or flee, or when one is danger. It is not helpful when we are trying to relate to our spouses, friends, and those we care about. I will teach you how to put the brakes on some of this charge and to activate the parasympathetic nervous system—the part of the nervous system responsible for slowing things down
When we begin to explore the doors of the past, we may find peace as well as beauty.
Somatic Experiencing was coined by Peter Levine. It works on addressing the body sensations associated with trauma that are often stuck and prevent one from being in the moment. EMDR was originated and developed by Francine Shapiro. EMDR may target a specific memory or image. In EMDR we integrate a memory with eye movement and by replaying the traumatic event one is often able to move the event to its completion or to the implicit knowledge that, “It is over. I am safe now” . In EMDR, cutoff memory fragments often emerge and help consolidate trauma memories. Both modalities involve reworking and visiting the traumatic event or body sensations and helping one get to the point that the memory can feel that it is something that is in the past, not replaying in the present
Many top down cognitive therapy approaches attempt to do this as well. But the difference is that knowing something is over, is radically different from feeling something is over.