If you want to process past painful experiences or trauma with EMDR, I am here to support you.
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is an evidence-based approach to trauma healing that helps your brain process traumatic or painful memories so they no longer control your present. Unlike traditional talk therapy, EMDR offers a holistic framework to integrate traumatic experiences stored in your mind and body.
EMDR doesn’t require you to share your most painful stories in detail—you choose what you want to share. While I also offer integrative trauma counselling, I use standalone EMDR to help clients move past specific traumatic events, workplace abuse, loss, and distressing memories that keep showing up in their daily lives.
Trained in EMDR through a trauma-informed phase model, I create a safe, structured process where healing happens at your pace.
I offer a free consultation to explore how EMDR can support your healing journey.
EMDR therapy might be right for you if you’re struggling with intrusive memories or flashbacks that just won’t let go, or if nightmares and sleep disturbances from past experiences keep disrupting your rest. Perhaps you find yourself experiencing heightened emotions or intense anxiety without fully understanding where these feelings are coming from, or you notice yourself avoiding certain people, places, or situations because they trigger difficult memories.
You might be dealing with symptoms of trauma or PTSD—whether from a specific incident like an accident or assault that still haunts you, workplace trauma or bullying, or childhood experiences you’re ready to process after working to stabilize your nervous system. Maybe you’re carrying grief from losing someone you love, or you’ve tried traditional talk therapy but still feel stuck in the same patterns.
If any of this resonates with you, EMDR could offer a path forward—a way to process what’s been holding you back and find the relief you’ve been seeking.
If you’ve experienced complex trauma, attachment trauma, or relational wounds, explore my integrative trauma counselling. For growth with a trauma-informed approach, see my trauma-informed counselling or trauma-informed coaching
My approach to EMDR is a personalized and empowering journey toward healing. Whether you’re receiving in-person or online EMDR therapy, the following benefits are common to both approaches:
EMDR is a research-backed approach that helps process distressing memories and emotions related to traumatic experiences and painful memories. Before starting memory reprocessing, you’ll go through a preparation phase to ensure your nervous system is stable enough. The preparation phase depends on what has happened to you and where you are in your healing journey. Please note that the more complex or layered your traumatic experience, the more likely you’ll benefit from integrative trauma counselling that incorporates EMDR rather than standalone EMDR sessions—especially if you are at the beginning of trauma recovery.
Traditional talk therapy is often not enough to heal trauma since it frequently excludes the body. EMDR is a bottom-up approach that includes mind, body, sensations, and emotions. When people process traumatic experiences with EMDR, noticeable improvements in trauma symptoms, anxiety, and other emotional challenges can occur within just a few sessions (excluding preparation time). As a result, distressing symptoms like nightmares, flashbacks, and overwhelming emotions subside.
EMDR allows you to process distressing memories without having to relive or extensively discuss painful details. This can be especially helpful for sexual assault, rape, or traumatic experiences connected with your family. As a result, it fosters a sense of control, emotional regulation, and self-mastery.
Many clients experience long-term relief from traumatic experiences after completing 10 to 20 EMDR sessions (excluding preparation time). By reprocessing traumatic memories, EMDR promotes deep emotional, physical, and cognitive healing and allows you to transcend trauma.
Since each person has a unique recovery journey, I adapt EMDR to meet diverse needs. By integrating other therapeutic techniques, I provide a tailored healing experience.
If this resonates, I offer a free consultation to explore how I can support your healing journey.
Hi, I’m Natalie (they/them) — a trauma counsellor in Calgary with over 14 years of experience supporting people healing from trauma, loss, complex trauma, and childhood abuse. I’m trained in EMDR by an EMDRIA-approved institute and have additional training to work with attachment and dissociation. My approach integrates best practices for trauma recovery, including EMDR, IFS-informed parts work, and somatic practices — always adapted to your unique needs.
I believe healing should be safe, inclusive, and rooted in social justice, so I integrate anti-oppressive practices into my work. I also offer income-based pricing to make trauma counselling more accessible. I’m here to support you at your own pace and help you reconnect with your inner strength.
EMDR follows an 8 phase process to trauma recovery that I’ll explain here:
Phase 1 is about laying the foundation. This means we’ll explore what has happened to you and what you’re experiencing right now that’s limiting your life. We’ll create a timeline of the most painful experiences in your life in a safe way, though this doesn’t mean you need to give any details. In this phase, I also start to introduce practices to manage emotions safely.
In this phase, you’ll learn grounding and calming strategies to manage emotions and explore the different states of your nervous system. You’ll also get to know practices to contain painful memories. This preparation phase is hard to determine since it depends on what has happened to you. Once again, the more complex the experience, the longer it might take.
These are the phases when the memory reprocessing with EMDR happens. Remember that it only happens if you feel confident you have the skills to manage it.
Here, we identify the memory and negative beliefs that you want to work with and activate them in your body. If it’s a single memory, we work with it directly. If it’s connected with a series of events—like a toxic relationship or the illness of a loved one—we start with the first time when something felt off.
This likely doesn’t make much sense without doing it, but this is what happens in the session: You’ll focus on the memory while following my fingers with your eyes (or listening to sound). You may experience thoughts, memories, body sensations, or emotions. That’s individually different. After about 30 seconds, we’ll stop the eye movements and you can share whatever you want to share (or choose not to). We’ll continue the process until the memory has an emotional intensity of 0 (or nearly 0). This phase can take one or many sessions—it depends on the memory and emotional charge. Many clients experience relief after a couple of sessions.
If the emotional intensity of the memory is zero, we continue to strengthen the positive belief. You choose the belief based on what feels true to you. We continue with eye movements until the belief feels fully true.
The final step in integrating the memory is to do a body scan to check for residual body sensations. If so, we process them together with eye movements until the scan is clear.
Closure happens at the end of each EMDR memory processing session. If the memory isn’t fully processed in one session, we’ll contain what we’ve worked on and debrief together so you can leave feeling as calm and grounded as possible.
Phase 8 happens at the beginning of each new session or when the memory is processed. We assess how it has worked for you and whether we need to adjust the approach. If the memory is fully processed, we can either decide to work on a different traumatic experience based on your trauma history or end the counselling process.
I understand that EMDR is not always the best option for everyone, and we’ll explore together whether it’s the right approach for where you are in your healing journey. Just to give you some ideas:
EMDR is particularly effective for single-incident trauma, workplace abuse or bullying, PTSD from identifiable events, phobias, and for adults with childhood trauma who are in the integration phase with a stable window of tolerance.
If you’re dealing with complex trauma, are an adult with childhood trauma early in your healing journey, or still building emotional regulation skills, I often recommend starting with trauma-focused counselling to stabilize your nervous system first. Once your window of tolerance is more stable, we can integrate EMDR for deeper processing.
While we’ll explore as thoroughly as possible whether standalone EMDR is the right fit for you, I can offer the option to transition to integrative trauma counselling if that turns out to be a better approach.
Yes, EMDR is highly effective and recognized by the World Health Organization, American Psychiatric Association, and Department of Veterans Affairs as an evidence-based treatment for trauma and PTSD. Research shows it can be as effective as—or more effective than—traditional trauma-focused therapies, often in fewer sessions.
However, EMDR may not be right for everyone, and timing matters. If you’ve experienced complex trauma or relational trauma, EMDR alone is unlikely to provide complete healing. In these cases, trauma counselling that addresses boundaries, triggers, emotional regulation, and connection with yourself may be more appropriate as a foundation. The preparation phase is typically more extended when traumatic experiences are more layered.
There’s also a risk that EMDR can dysregulate your autonomic nervous system if you haven’t been appropriately prepared. This is why, for complex trauma, best practice is an integrative approach to trauma counselling that draws from different trauma-focused modalities—building stability first, then integrating EMDR when your nervous system is ready for deeper processing.
The bottom line: EMDR absolutely works, but the question is whether it’s the right approach for you at this stage of your healing journey. We’ll assess this together.
It depends on the nature of your trauma. In my professional experience, single-incident trauma may resolve in 10-20 sessions (excluding the time for phase 1 and 2). At the same time, it can work within one session if it’s just about the “final touches” of integration.
EMDR can be effective for those with complex trauma, but an integrative approach often works best. I frequently combine EMDR with parts work therapy and somatic techniques for a comprehensive healing process.
Yes, but timing matters. If you’re in the integration phase of healing with a stable nervous system and healthy boundaries, EMDR can be very effective. If you’re earlier in your journey with childhood trauma, an integrative approach combining trauma counselling with EMDR often works better.
You’ll focus on a traumatic memory while following bilateral stimulation (usually eye movements or tapping). Many clients describe it as intense but manageable—memories may feel vivid initially, then gradually lose their emotional intensity. You remain in control and can stop anytime. However, I also adjust the processing time to my clients’ needs, e.g., doing 10 minutes instead of the complete session. If you notice that your symptoms worsen, it’s likely a sign that we’re doing too much too quickly. Pacing really matters in trauma recovery, and it’s common that we shift between memory processing and preparation phases.
Apart from the service delivery method, there is no difference between virtual EMDR therapy and in-person EMDR sessions in Calgary—the therapeutic process and effectiveness remain the same. It really comes down to your personal preference and location.
Many of my clients prefer virtual sessions because they offer flexibility and the ability to work with a counsellor who’s the right fit, even if they don’t live in the same city. Others prefer the experience of being in the therapy room for in-person sessions. Both options are equally effective, so it’s about what feels most comfortable and convenient for you.
If this approach to trauma recovery resonates with you, I’d be honoured to get to know you.
I offer a free consultation so you can explore your options in a safe, supportive space. You can book through our secure online booking system or send me a direct message at nat@brighthorizontherapies.com—whatever works better for you.
