Services
My primary intention as a therapist is to honor your unique human experience and guide you in finding whatever you might be needing mentally, physically, spiritually, or emotionally. I strive to create a space that feels safe enough for us to explore ways to bring more gentleness and acceptance to your inner world, allowing you to have a more fulfilling and authentic existence.
Our nervous systems are at the core of how we experience and move through each moment of life. I’ll assist you in building on your nervous system’s capacity so you can feel your feelings with more ease and allow them to move through you.
Then, with a broadened range of emotional tolerance, you’ll feel less anxiety and overwhelm during times of difficult emotion or high distress. I’ll guide you in using mindful and somatic practices to create this capacity and use more adaptive ways of coping.
Having experienced EMDR Therapy from both the therapist and client perspectives, I am grateful for the healing it can offer. It’s all possible because of our brain’s natural ability to reprocess memories that were stored with distress, so the distress from the past isn’t as intense when it is activated in the present (and future!).
This translates into improvement of quality of life, mood, and relationships.
EMDR Therapy
EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) is a therapy that builds self-regulation, lowers reactivity, and helps people heal from stored trauma and persistent survival strategies. It uses guided eye movements (or other forms of bilateral stimulation) to stimulate the brain’s ability to reprocess memories that were stored with distress and emotional charge. Since its development in 1989, EMDR has been widely researched and it’s now known to be able to help people heal more efficiently and more thoroughly than some traditional talk therapies.
The EMDR approach is based on the understanding that our brain’s and nervous system’s core functions are to keep us safe from danger. When we have positive or negative life experiences that are able to be resolved, our brains typically store those memories in an adaptive way. But when we have experiences that are especially painful, overwhelming, or unresolved, that memory information is stored differently. This is the brain’s way of trying to keep the information about the painful experience handy so that it can try to avoid facing that ‘danger’ ever again. Even long after the original danger happened, the brain may continue responding as though the threat could still happen. EMDR Therapy helps the brain ‘update’ those memories so they feel less intense and more in the past.
EMDR Therapy is best known for treating post-traumatic stress, yet it has also been shown to be effective for anxiety, depression, dissociative tendencies, and more. It’s a flexible approach that targets the root of the distress, not just the symptoms, and looks a little different for each person.
EMDR Therapy is recognized as an effective, evidence-based treatment worldwide. The prevalence of EMDR Therapy is supported by an extensive body of research, with numerous clinical trials, research studies, and academic papers. Organizations like the World Health Organization and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs support EMDR as a valid therapy and recommend it for treating PTSD.
Mindfulness Tools & Regulation Strategies
Get connected with Mindfulness Tools & Regulation Strategies created by Amy, available on Audio.com.
The tools and exercises provided are designed to support you as you continually build self-awareness and regulation for your nervous system. Most of them can be done while you are sitting, standing, or laying down so feel free to try them during various parts of your day! The tools and exercises are not original creations; rather, they are adapted from and inspired by a variety of therapeutic, educational, and wellness resources that I have found helpful over the years.
Please note that these resources are not intended to be a replacement for individualized psychotherapy, crisis intervention, or medical treatment; and not all tools are appropriate for every individual or circumstance, so please use your own judgment and seek other support when you need it.