EMDR is a therapy approach that differs significantly from talk-based types of therapy (such as CBT or psychodynamic therapy) as it does not involve a lot of talking on my part or yours. You don’t have to rehash the most painful moments of your life to heal from them.

In the EMDR process, we identify past experiences that are still reverberating in your life in a painful way today, or we can work with current symptoms that are making your daily life harder than it needs to be. We then apply alternating visual, auditory, or kinesthetic stimuli, such as having you follow a ball that moves back and forth across your screen with your eyes, sounds that move from ear to ear, or tapping on your knees or upper arms. This kicks your brain into processing mode and the result of this activation of the brain is that the past finally feels like it should - over and done with - so that you can finally live in the here and now rather than being haunted by past painful experiences.

You will learn new things about yourself and your experiences in this process and may even walk away with a new outlook on life as a result of undergoing the EMDR treatment process.

Many therapeutic approaches incorporate the idea that the human personality is made up of many parts. It's likely that at some point in your life, you've found yourself saying something along the lines of "a part of me wants x...and another part of me wants y...". It's perfectly normal to have different parts of your personality that want and need different things. In my view, these different parts develop in response to our life experiences, both positive and negative. Each part serves a purpose and all parts have our best interests at heart, though they may sometimes manifest in ways that seem unhelpful to us.

In our work together, we will identify parts that are in play in your internal world and facilitate engagement with those parts to provide an experience of healing and resolution that often cannot be achieved via traditional talk therapy. 

Ericksonian hypnotherapy is gentle and collaborative process that is geared towards helping you get in touch with your own inner resources. You have many strengths and skills that you are not aware of, and Ericksonian hypnotherapy can help you access these resources. This approach to hypnotherapy can be formal, meaning that there will be a procedure I will have you follow, such as staring at a spot on the wall as I talk to you and help you understand yourself and your experience in new ways. If you are seeking hypnosis and explicitly ask for it, I will use a formal approach like this.

On the other hand, this approach to hypnotherapy can be more informal and conversational, in which case I will use whatever might be happening with you in the moment to help you ease into a state of awareness that differs from your everyday state of consciousness so that you can access the inner resources that you have that lie outside of your everyday awareness.

Erickson hypnotherapy is not about commands and control. It is a collaboration, between myself, you, and your unconscious mind. It involves the gentle directing of your awareness towards the resources within you that will help you solve your own problem.