EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing) Therapy is an evidence-based therapy that allows you to address adverse life experiences that continue to affect you in the present.

I am particularly interested in working with adults experiencing the ongoing effects of trauma. I use EMDR Therapy as my primary therapeutic approach, tailoring treatment to your individual experiences, needs and goals.

EMDR Therapy is also available via Telehealth, where clinically appropriate.

What is EMDR Therapy?

Sometimes, experiences from the past can continue to affect how we feel, think, behave and relate to others, even when we know we are no longer in the situation where those experiences occurred.

You might find yourself reacting strongly to particular situations, feeling unsafe even when there is no obvious danger, struggling with distressing memories, or experiencing patterns in relationships that are difficult to understand or change.

EMDR Therapy aims to help you reprocess distressing memories and the thoughts, emotions and physical sensations associated with them. As these memories are reprocessed, they may become less distressing, allowing you to respond to present-day situations with greater flexibility.

EMDR Therapy is not about erasing memories or minimising what happened. Rather, the aim is to help you remember and understand past experiences without them continuing to have the same emotional impact in the present.

Who can EMDR Therapy help?

I primarily work with adults seeking trauma-focused psychological therapy. EMDR Therapy may be appropriate if you are experiencing difficulties associated with experiences such as:

• Childhood trauma: including emotional, physical or sexual abuse, neglect, or growing up in an unsafe or unpredictable environment.

• Complex trauma: repeated or prolonged experiences that have affected your sense of safety, self-worth, emotional regulation or relationships.

• PTSD or Complex PTSD: including the experience of intrusive memories, nightmares, avoidance of reminders of the traumatic experiences, heightened alertness or persistent feelings of threat.

• Distressing memories: experiences that continue to evoke strong emotional or physical reactions when you remember them or encounter reminders of them.

• Interpersonal trauma: including experiences of family violence, coercive control, assault or other harmful relationships, including within religious institutions.

• Other difficulties, secondary to traumatic experiences: including certain fears or phobias, patterns of emotional distress in relationships, addictive behaviours, compulsive behaviours, and experiences related to grief or loss where EMDR Therapy may be clinically appropriate.

You do not need to have a formal diagnosis to enquire about or engage in EMDR Therapy.

How does EMDR Therapy work?

EMDR Therapy is based on the understanding that distressing experiences can sometimes remain insufficiently processed, so that reminders of the past continue to trigger emotions, beliefs and physical reactions in the present.

For example, someone who experienced repeated criticism or mistreatment growing up may develop a belief that they are not good enough. As an adult, even mild criticism at work or conflict in a relationship may trigger an intense sense of shame, fear or threat. Although they may understand intellectually that the present situation is different from the past, their emotional and physical reactions can feel automatic.

During EMDR Therapy, you briefly bring aspects of a distressing memory into awareness while engaging in bilateral stimulation, such as guided eye movements, alternating taps or auditory tones. This process supports the reprocessing of the memory and its associated information.

Over time, the aim is for the memory to become less distressing or neutral and for more adaptive perspectives and associations to develop. In the example above, the person may become better able to recognise that criticism in the present does not mean they are unsafe or inadequate, but rather is an opportunity for learning and growth. Importantly, reprocessing distressing memory content is not about removing anything that is important. For example, appropriate anger or sadness may be felt toward mistreatment in the past, but the aim is for this to not be experienced as distressing in the present.

At times, the adaptive information required for successful reprocessing of past memories may be insufficient, and may reflect a need for skills building. In the example above, a person who has not experienced a compassionate response from a caregiver may benefit from engaging in compassion-focused imagery, in order to be able to access compassion for their younger self, in place of self-criticism. Where skills building is required, we deviate from reprocessing until the necessary skills have been built, before returning to working on the memory.

What happens during EMDR Therapy?

EMDR follows an eight-phase treatment framework. We do not jump straight into processing traumatic memories. Treatment begins with understanding your difficulties, establishing goals and preparing you for the work ahead.

Phase 1 of therapy consists of history taking and treatment planning. Here, we discuss and make sense of your history in the context of your present difficulties. This may be achieved within our first session, or you may wish to spend an extended time unpacking and making sense of your life experiences - we will spend as much time here as is appropriate to your needs. I may also have you complete questionnaires during this phase to measure your baseline symptoms, which we will aim to re-administer intermittently and at the end of therapy. Finally, this phase consists of treatment planning, where we determine our therapeutic goals and our plans for the next phases of therapy.

Phase 2 consists of preparation and stabilisation. Stabilisation is the part of therapy where we work toward you being able to effectively manage your day-to-day experiences most optimally, and this is where other types of therapy are often implemented. For example, CBT techniques may be taught to assist you with unhelpful thoughts, and techniques such as breathing, relaxation, and imagery may be employed to assist you to manage difficult emotions and physical sensations.

The amount of sessions spent on stabilisation depends largely on your existing ability to manage challenging psychological experiences, your ability to regulate your emotions, and the existence of current life stressors: we may determine that you already have relative stability and so we may achieve this within our first session, or we may spend an extended period of time working toward stabilisation that spans most of our therapeutic work together. Stabilisation may be returned to at any point in time during later phases of therapy, as needed. Prior to entering into Phase 3 of therapy for the first time, you will be informed in detail about what to expect during the reprocessing phases.

Phases 3-8 involve activating, desensitising, and reprocessing distressing memory content, closure of the memory, and then re-evaluation of the previously distressing memory at the next session, to ensure complete reprocessing has occurred. These phases are repeated for each target (i.e., memory, but we can also target maladaptive urges, triggers, imagined future catastrophes, etc.) for reprocessing. Often, not every memory originally identified as related to a current difficulty will need to be targeted for reprocessing, as generalisation will often occur (i.e., the effects from working on a memory may similarly affect other related memories). We will aim to reprocess past experiences and present triggers of distress until these no longer bother you in the here and now, and you are able to respond to them in line with your values.

Do I have to talk about what happened?

You do not necessarily need to describe your traumatic experiences in detail for EMDR Therapy to be used. In many instances, we can work with a memory using only a brief label or minimal verbal description. You remain involved in decisions about what you share, and we discuss how the process works before beginning.

However, some discussion of your history and current difficulties is important for assessment, treatment planning and safety. I will need enough information to understand your experiences and determine whether EMDR Therapy is appropriate. We can work together to find an approach that respects your boundaries while allowing treatment to proceed safely and effectively.

Can EMDR Therapy be done online?

Yes. EMDR can be delivered via Telehealth using a secure video consultation, provided it is clinically appropriate for the individual. Online sessions allow you to participate in therapy from a private space of your choosing, without travelling to a clinic. Bilateral stimulation can be adapted for online delivery, and we discuss the available options before commencing.

Online EMDR is not suitable for every person or circumstance. During assessment, we consider your current difficulties, ability to manage distress, access to privacy and support, and whether remote treatment can be delivered safely.

You will need a reliable internet connection and a private space where you can participate without interruption. We will also discuss what to do if you become distressed during or after a session.

Learn more about Online Therapy here.

How many sessions will I need?

There is no single number of sessions that is right for everyone.

Therapy can be brief (a few sessions) through to lasting for years - this depends on what you are hoping to achieve, the duration of time you have been experiencing your difficulties, the complexity of your difficulties, and your relative degree of stability. I approach therapy with the end in mind, where our work is goals-directed and will be completed when our therapeutic aims have been met, no matter how long that takes.

As I often work with people who have had longstanding difficulties, I find the duration of therapy is at least 6 months, through to ~4 years, with the average person attending my services for at least 1 year. I generally recommend weekly therapy for at least a year (or the fortnightly equivalent) to expect to experience fundamental change.

If you have limitations on your ability to attend, please let me know in our first session so that we can create realistic goals to fit the expected therapy duration.

My approach to EMDR Therapy

I am a Clinical Psychologist and an EMDRAA Accredited EMDR Practitioner. My EMDR training includes Basic Training, Structural Dissociation and Masterclass training, as well as additional training in:

• The Flash Technique: an approach that may assist with working towards processing highly distressing memories.

• DeTUR: a protocol developed to address urges, triggers and associated behaviours.

• EMDR 2.0: an approach that uses additional working-memory demands during processing.

• The Flashforward Procedure: an approach that may be used to address feared future scenarios, including certain fears, phobias and panic-related difficulties.

• Adaptations of EMDR Therapy for chronic pain, disordered eating, attachment-related difficulties, and grief and loss. Please note I only provide support for chronic pain and disordered eating as secondary difficulties (i.e., not primary concerns).

I am currently working toward becoming an EMDRAA Accredited Consultant.

Where clinically appropriate, I may also incorporate Ego State Therapy and elements of other evidence-based psychological approaches such as Schema Therapy, CBT, ACT, and DBT Skills to support preparation, stabilisation and treatment goals.

The approach used will depend on your individual presentation. Not every technique is appropriate for every person, and we will discuss the treatment plan together.

Is EMDR Therapy right for me?

The best way to determine whether EMDR is appropriate is through an individual assessment. EMDR Therapy may be worth considering if you are interested in trauma-focused treatment and suspect that past experiences continue to influence your present-day difficulties.

Before commencing, we will consider your history, current circumstances, treatment goals, available supports and readiness for the process. We may need to spend time building skills and stability before beginning memory processing, or consider another approach if EMDR Therapy is not suitable.

EMDR Therapy Sessions

I offer the following session lengths:

• Standard session: 50 minutes, offered as an ongoing appointment time.

• Extended session: 75 minutes, offered as an ongoing appointment time or as requested as a standalone session.

• Intensive session: 90 minutes or longer, as requested as a standalone session.

Please refer to my Fees & Appointments page for current fees, appointment information and relevant rebate details.

Enquiring about EMDR Therapy

If you are an adult seeking trauma-focused psychological therapy and are interested in EMDR Therapy, you are welcome to submit an enquiry.

I look forward to supporting you through your therapeutic journey.