EMDR Therapy
FIND RELIEF FROM RELIVING DIFFICULT MEMORIES AND START MAKING NEW JOYFUL ONES
Flight, fight, and freeze are all normal reactions to situations that feel instinctively threatening. They’re our nervous system’s way of taking protective measures to try to keep us safe. Ideally, we process these reactions in the moment or soon after, so we can remember the experience in our minds and don’t have to keep reliving it in our bodies.
But what happens when we don’t process a distressing experience in a timely way? We don’t just remember what happened — we relive it again and again and it can feel just as real and distressing as the first time.
Interrupt the cycle of reliving hard experiences with EMDR, a form of psychotherapy that gives the brain and the body new tools to re-process difficult memories and heal deeply.
What is EMDR?
EMDR, also known as Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing, is designed to help people heal from trauma or distressing life experiences by accessing these subconscious physical associations and facilitating the brain’s natural healing process.
Experiences that feel particularly heightened can overwhelm our nervous system’s ability to cope, and instead of processing the situation, we hold the memory in our body as trauma. When one or more of our senses gets activated by a similar sound, smell, sight, touch, and/or taste to what we experienced before, they don’t just cause us to think about the memory. Even without us meaning to, our nervous systems can feel the bodily sensations and overwhelm all over again as if we’re living through the traumatic event in real time.
Because the memories of trauma are stored at a subconscious physical level in our bodies, we can’t just think (or talk) our way to forgetting what our bodies remember. This is where therapeutic support can help, and heal.
In EMDR, the therapist guides the client through a series of bilateral eye movements, taps, or auditory stimuli, which bypasses the triggers and allows the brain to reprocess distressing memories in a way that makes new associations for the nervous system. By working on this level, the nervous system can bypass the difficult triggers and the emotional intensity of the experience is minimized.
Learn about EMDR in more detail in this 10-minute video created by EMDRIA.
Who is EMDR For?
EMDR is available to all ages, even children, and can support anyone whose fight-or-flight response gets activated by past experiences during current circumstances. At Ensemble, we offer EMDR treatment for adults, teens, and children.
Whether the past events may seem “big” or “small” to anyone else, if the recall of the memories creates physical reactions that reflect how the body reacted the first time, EMDR can be an invaluable tool.
EMDR can support many current conditions and past experiences, including:
Support for the symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety disorders, depression, and other conditions rooted in past experiences
Mental recovery from physical trauma, such as a car accident, serious injury, or sexual assault
Healing after any form of violence, including bullying, yelling, abuse, physical violence, and war
Emotional support for both personal and collective loss, including deaths, job loss, illness, and natural disasters
Getting closure for past interpersonal conflicts that the body is still holding onto
Lessening the impacts of and creating healing for complex or prolonged trauma
Support for any form of distress or disruption from past negative experiences that continues to feel activating afterward
What to Expect
All of our EMDR sessions take place on a regular frequency you agree on with your therapist, and sessions with children include a blend of EMDR treatment and play therapy that is determined on the day of to meet your child where they are that day.
Because the core of re-processing happens below the surface during a session, EMDR therapy is just as effective whether you provide a lot or only a little information about the experience to your therapist. This makes it particularly useful as a treatment for children, who may not have the vocabulary or understanding, and it also works well for adults and teens.
Only a small connection to the event is needed, which is useful if you don’t quite have the words for what happened or, as is often the case, you can’t fully remember the details of the experience. A full memory recall of the event is not needed, which can help calm any fears that the therapy will cause retraumatization.
Services
At Ensemble Therapy, we are experts at integrating play and creative intentions for children during EMDR, making the process developmentally appropriate and impactful. Your child will work with a clinician who has obtained or is in the process of becoming a Registered Play Therapist (RPT®), which means their care will allow for a flexible approach that incorporates a blend of EMDR treatment and play.
Don’t assume that expertise just stops at working with children though! Even for sessions that focus on adults and teens and resemble traditional EMDR treatment, we’re focused on providing an experience that takes your particular needs that day into account and offers treatment that responds accordingly.
Sessions can take place remotely or in-office.
EMDR Session for Teens and Adults, 50 minutes - $150 - $200, sliding scale available
EMDR / Play Therapy Session for Children, 50 minutes - $150 - $200, sliding scale available
Caregiver Consultation, 60 minutes - $200 - 240, sliding scale available
Investment cost for the intake session and therapy sessions varies by therapist based on experience and licensures, and we offer a sliding scale range for the cost of visits to support low income needs. Please inquire about details with your therapist.
How does the process work?
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How does the process work? ♡
Step 1: FREE 15-MINUTE PHONE CALL (OPTIONAL)
This optional first step is for you if you feel like you need more information before you move forward with the process. We’ll have a free, 15-minute phone consultation with you to discuss your general questions and concerns. This is not a time where we will assess your or your child’s specific needs, but rather to help you decide if this is the right therapeutic modality for you or your family at this time.
Step 2: Initial Consult
We will go over detailed background information about you or your child and family, discuss potential aims of support, review practice policies, and set goals for you or your family’s therapeutic work. You’ll be asked about background, challenges, functional skills, and have the opportunity to ask questions.
Step 3: THERAPEUTIC SESSIONS
For adults and teens, typical sessions occur once a week for 50 minutes until treatment plan goals have been met.
For children, each session will take place in a play therapy room and will be tailored to your child’s needs that day. On a given day, this may look like 45 minutes of EMDR, or it may look like 15 minutes of EMDR and then transitioning to play therapy. Your presence is welcome, but not required in the therapy space during sessions.
Along the way, your therapist will provide guidance and feedback to process your experience and ensure that you and/or your child have a supportive foundation to work from.
Step 4: ASSESS TREATMENT OUTCOMES
For adults and teen treatment, you can alter the frequency and time of sessions depending on your personal needs any time after your initial consultation with your therapist.
If your child is the focus of therapeutic support, caregiver consults are conducted after every six sessions to discuss your child’s progress toward the goals of their treatment plan, and adjust the frequency and approach as needed. If desired or needed, your child’s care can be easily transitioned into play therapy sessions after EMDR treatment goals are met.
Our Approach
Our therapeutic approach comes from a human-led, trauma-informed perspective, meaning we’re focused on engaging with the reality of each person on each day. We want to be present with you as a person first and to understand your unique circumstances rather than assume we always know based on past experience.
You and your child are the experts of your own experience, and we honor that expertise just as much as the research-based understanding of human and child development, psychology, education, kinesiology, and biology and research-backed intervention strategies we rely on in our therapeutic practices.
At Ensemble Therapy, EMDR offers a directed treatment that allows you or your child to find space around difficult experiences, and maybe even play. Our focus is to help you be here in the present and set down the past, so you can create an inviting future for your mind, body, and nervous system.
READY TO FIND OUT IF EMDR
IS RIGHT FOR YOU OR YOUR FAMILY?
Learn about our therapists and choose your best fit.
Meet Our Therapists
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Meet Our Therapists ♡
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Kristin is a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) and EMDR trained. She received her Master’s Degree in Biblical Counseling from Dallas Theological Seminary. She also has a Master of Education in Curriculum and Instruction and Bachelor's Degree in English, both from Texas A&M University.
Kristin is passionate about walking alongside others as they are. The intrinsic worth of each person as an individual and within community is core to the way she approaches the therapeutic relationship. She enjoys working with all ages and learning from every person’s story. She considers it a privilege to help people find healing from traumatic events and witness their inner resources. As a neurodivergent practitioner, Kristin is particularly passionate about meeting the needs of autistic people and people with ADHD.
Rate & Location
EMDR Session for Teens and Adults, $150 - $200
EMDR / Play Therapy Session for Children, $150 - $200
Location: Berkman & Spicewood Springs
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Rebekah is a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC). Rebekah received her Master’s Degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from The University of Louisiana at Lafayette (CACREP Accredited Program) and a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology from Louisiana State University. Rebekah has received her Registered Play Therapist™ (RPT™) credential. She has experience working with children, teens, and young adults in an inpatient hospital setting as well as in a community clinic. Her work includes providing individual, family, and group therapy services to clients with diverse needs.
She believes in cultivating a safe and non-judgmental environment where clients feel seen, heard, and understood. With all clients, she uses an integrative approach which incorporates different evidence-based modalities to best fit the unique needs of the client. She works collaboratively with parents, care-takers, and/or key support figures in the client’s world to provide comprehensive care and support them fully.
Rate & Location
EMDR Session for Teens and Adults, $150 - $200
EMDR / Play Therapy Session for Children, $150-200
Location: Berkman & Spicewood Springs
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Suzanne is a warrior for children’s mental health. She believes that every child has the superpower to heal from trauma, and the resilience to develop the necessary social and regulatory skills to become their true, authentic and best selves. Suzanne believes in working closely with caregivers and school staff in order to best support children.
She has worked as a School Counselor in elementary schools for almost 20 years, and prior to that worked as a Special Education Teacher. Suzanne has worked closely with children who have learning differences, dyslexia and autism. She has also facilitated support groups for neurotypical children who have a sibling with special needs.
Rate & Location
EMDR Session for Teens and Adults, $150 - $200
EMDR / Play Therapy Session for Children, $150-200
Location: Berkman & Spicewood Springs