EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitisation Reprocessing ) therapy was created by a Clinical Psychologist called Francine Shapiro.  It is a therapy that aims to help activate our brain’s natural healing processes and enable us to recover from disturbing events or experiences that continue to cause us difficulties in our day-to-day lives.  

Unlike traditional talking therapies, EMDR uses bilateral stimulation (eye movements, taps, sounds, or buzzers) to help patients process and heal difficult experiences. 

EMDR is a very effective therapy for traumatic experiences, but it can also help with other difficulties, for example, performance anxiety, OCD and phobias.  

Early Childhood Trauma and Attachment-Focused EMDR

For earlier childhood traumas, try to look for a therapist who specialises in Attachment-Focused EMDR. Mark Brayne’s website is a good resource for this and I have included some other links for this below:-

What is Attachment-Informed EMDR?

Find an Attachment-Informed Therapist

Attachment-Focused EMDR Liverpool

What is AI-EMDR with Mark Brayne

What training do EMDR practitioners need to have?

See this link for the different levels of training. I have completed all parts (1-4) of the Standard Accredited Training, and I am supervised by an EMDR Consultant, so you can be assured that I will practice EMDR safely and with your best interests uppermost in mind at all times.  

Where can I find out more about EMDR?

To find out more about EMDR have a look at the EMDR.com website where you can also find out more about the founder of EMDR, Francine Shapiro.

What is Brainspotting Therapy?

The founder of Brainspotting Therapy, Dr David Grand was an EMDR Therapist who took notice of where a client’s eye gaze went when they discussed traumatic experiences and strong emotions. He formalised what he noticed into a therapy he termed ‘Brainspotting Therapy’. It is used for vivid and traumatic memories or for issues where a client has strong emotions and a negative belief that is impacting on them. For example, a performer who struggles with severe performance anxiety following a difficult experience that makes them subsequently believe that they can’t do it, or that something bad will happen. The therapy would work in a similar way to EMDR where the therapist would use a fixed eye gaze for certain parts of the memory, instead of a bilateral eye movement. Interestingly, Brainspotting therapy still utilises bilateral movements, but it tends to use bilateral sound rather than bilateral eye movements.