Trauma and mental health disorders are all too common, and finding the best way to address and overcome the effects of trauma, anxiety, panic, depression, or other disorders, is crucial. At Redpoint, we are committed to helping each client find their best path to a healthy future by employing a wide array of strategies to help you pursue your goals for a healthier, happier life. EMDR is just one of our proven therapeutic modalities that may be able to help you.

Boulder and Larimer County Mental Health and Drug Rehab EMDR Therapy PhotoWhat Is EMDR?

EMDR, or eye movement desensitization and reprocessing, is a proven, effective strategy for addressing a myriad of distressing life experiences. While it is primarily utilized to help clients cope with traumatic events in their past, helping to quell anxieties and other symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), EMDR has had proven success in treating other distressing experiences, including panic, stress, phobias, personality disorders, and even the emotional effects of addiction.

Properly trained clinicians are essential to effective EMDR practices, and Redpoint is standing by with experts in the practice to guide you through this transformative process and create an approach to recovery that is right for you.

The Goals of EMDR

EMDR helps clients safely navigate traumatic memories and experiences by addressing how traumatic experiences continue to affect each client’s mind, mood, and perspective. EMDR seeks to provide clients with the tools and resilience necessary to process past, present, and future traumas and stressful experiences. This is achieved by measuring a client’s psychological and physical responses to traumatic memories and reframing these events in a more manageable light.

Clinicians will guide clients through directed exercises and memories so each client can better address the unique ways trauma, anxiety, and other distressing feelings continue to impact the brain. By helping the body and mind focus through various techniques, EMDR can stimulate the brain’s natural healing processes as clients begin to move on from these experiences or navigate how they continue to affect their present state. This reframing of one’s experiences is the hallmark of EMDR as clients successfully move past difficult memories and experiences. While the memory of one’s experience is still present, the way in which the brain recognizes and responds to such memories can be changed from stress, anxiety, or panic into a healthy alternative.

EMDR in Practice

EMDR differs from traditional talk therapies, like cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) or dialectical behavior therapy (DBT). Instead, trained clinicians will guide clients through the practice in relative quiet.

First, clinicians will guide clients through recalling a traumatic experience, focusing on mental snapshots of these experiences and noting the physiological responses accompanying them. Then, by using guiding questions, thoughts, and bilateral stimulation, clients can begin to reprocess these experiences and their attached traumas.

Trained clinicians will use various tools to stimulate certain parts of the body and mind, from tracking a moving light or object, alternating sounds in headphones, or touching and tapping, establishing an alternating rhythm as one navigates their traumatic experiences.

The Phases of EMDR Treatment

Effective EMDR treatment takes place over multiple sessions, and clients will regularly engage with Redpoint staff to navigate EMDR in stages. By dividing up the process into these stages, clients can continue to practice effective strategies while also addressing any new developments or experiences that may manifest throughout the process, leading to a truly transformative and effective recovery.

Planning

The planning phase of EMDR treatment will have clients sitting alongside clinicians to identify traumatic experiences. This includes particular prevalent traumas or emotional turmoils and a client’s perception of these events to identify specific instances to focus on throughout subsequent EMDR sessions. Clients will discuss particular events and the emotions and behaviors that stem from these experiences to create a plan alongside Redpoint’s trained professionals.

Resourcing and Preparation

This phase is crucial for effective EMDR treatment. Redpoint will guide clients through resourcing and preparation, identifying and practicing key skills that empower clients to face traumatic memories while equipped with an effective foundation of coping strategies. Breathing strategies, mindfulness practices, grounding strategies, and more are all practiced to prepare each client for confronting their unique traumas while preventing relapse. Through this resourcing, Redpoint enables clients to safely and effectively engage with future EMDR practices.

Action

Redpoint’s clinicians will guide clients to focus on particular distressing images that may be prevalent in one’s mind, such as flashbacks to particular traumatic events or specific situations and stresses. Clients will also be invited to express how these events carry negative connotations or perspectives, causing self-destructive beliefs. Then, clients will be guided to begin replacing these thoughts or statements with more positive, re-affirming thoughts or notions, all while being guided through effective bilateral stimulation.

Professionals will also be able to adapt to new experiences or connotations that manifest as a result of EMDR treatment. New memories or thoughts may arise during EMDR sessions, and adjusting one’s strategies and practices throughout the process allows Redpoint to create a personalized approach to each individual session depending on each client’s unique needs and experiences.

How EMDR Can Benefit You

Effective EMDR can help clients desensitize themselves to these negative emotions, allowing for more directed processing and the installation of new, genuine, positive beliefs. During an EMDR session, clients will be provided with a safe, comfortable space to help relax their minds, providing the ability to refocus on positive thoughts and experiences, combat feelings of anxiety and panic, and distance themselves from past traumas by situating themselves in the present rather than feeling trapped by past experiences.

Bilateral stimulation and EMDR also help clients ground themselves and practice effective mindfulness exercises, becoming more aware of one’s body and the connection between one’s emotional responses and behaviors.

EMDR is an effective, proven therapeutic modality. While it may not be applicable for everyone, it can greatly benefit those in recovery from a wide array of emotional stresses. Redpoint is here to help you challenge these stresses each day for a healthier life ahead.

At Redpoint, we are dedicated to the healing process. For more information on how EMDR can help you through trauma, addiction, or other mental health disorders, call us today at (303) 710-8496.

Additional Treatment Programs.

Alcohol Addiction

Stimulant Addiction

Marijuana Addiction

Meth Addiction

Mental Health Treatment

OUR PROGRAM

If you have questions about Redpoint Center's mental health rehab and drug programs in Boulder, Larimer, or Garfield County, please call (888) 509-3153 or text us now.

CONTACT US

We are here to help.

Contact us today to get started on your mental health, drug rehab, or addiction treatment journey.

(888) 509-3153