S.A.F.E. EMDR In Leander and Throughout Texas, Massachusetts & Virginia
You can sometimes become trapped in a cycle of negative and unhelpful ideas and beliefs about yourself. Or perhaps you feel stifled or stuck by something from your past. Maybe you get frustrated because you get triggered by everyday events or experience more anxiety than you consider healthy. You've heard that EMDR can be beneficial. Perhaps a friend, psychiatrist, or doctor told you about this unconventional yet highly effective therapy. If you are curious about EMDR, you've come to the right place! Keli Hemingway, LCSW-S is pleased to provide S.A.F.E. Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy. EMDR is highly effective as a trauma treatment that can immediately relieve trauma and anxiety symptoms. It’s also an incredibly effective treatment for many other mental health concerns, such as anxiety, depression, and anger.
The Healing Benefits of EMDR
At Clear Minds Psychotherapy, we know that you want to feel like you have the power to make yourself a better, more confident person. To feel an internal sense of empowerment, you must overcome the negative thoughts, worry, and other mental health problems holding you back. The trouble is that nothing you've tried so far has helped you feel better. You feel like there isn't much hope now. Keli believes you can get better and deserve to get better. You should get the help that really works. She has thirty years of clinical experience and knows a lot about stress, anxiety, food issues, body issues, and the patterns that can make someone feel stuck. She can help you not only deal with your past but also get to a place where the things that have been bothering you won't bother you as much anymore. Wouldn’t that be nice?
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EMDR therapy is founded on the belief that trauma interferes with our brain's ability to process information during the event adequately. Since you are human, you have likely experienced trauma. The reality is that life is complex because humans are complex beings. Remember that big traumas include violent experiences, war, and natural disasters. Most people experience many small traumas as they go through the developmental stages of their life, such as bullying, humiliation, belittling, accidents, falls, being a sick child, having an emotionally unavailable caretaker, etc. These small traumas are real and must be processed, transformed, and healed. For example, you may still feel flush if you scan back to childhood and remember a humiliating incident. If you had a critical parent who always made you feel inadequate, if you think back to a specific moment in time when you felt that way, you might still feel “small,” even as an adult. How does this affect you now? Perhaps you get irritable, lash out, cry, or get defensive if someone makes a harmless comment that makes you remember what it feels like to be inadequate.
All humans are running off of “programs” (stories about their experiences through their perceptions at the time of the event) from their earlier years. Think about your memory bank as a compilation of everything you’ve ever experienced. Your memory bank becomes something similar to a computer hard drive. How the internal computer of your mind is “programmed” is how it will automatically behave. If there’s a virus, watch out because it gets overwhelmed and doesn’t function well! That’s what happens with people, and that’s why so many teens and adults struggle. You are running on old programs in your computer (mind) hard drive!
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It’s a specialized and comprehensive way of using EMDR created by Deborah Kennard that is Somatic & Attachment-Focused EMDR. Behavior patterns comprise each person's attachment styles, experiences, and natural reactions. Most therapies see these patterns and responses to trauma as obstacles that get in the way of the healing process. Keli, on the other hand, sees these blocks as both strengths and obstacles. She has learned that blocks are overdeveloped skills that allow her to work safely with her clients' behavioral patterns instead of against them.
Attachment styles involve what we must do to adapt, survive, and connect to our caregivers to meet our basic needs for love, safety, and security. When we were young, it became our strength and is/was very helpful. However, our greatest strengths can sometimes get in our way in our present life. Keli approaches EMDR from a somatic (body) focus since the mind and body are deeply interconnected, and there is no way to disconnect the two. What the mind thinks the body will feel. The body always tells the truth, and the mind can become very good at creating a false truth or reality. If you want to know the truth, listen to your body. How does it feel? Is there any tension? Is your heart beating fast? Are you holding tightness in your jaw? When you think of a particular person or event, do you feel uncomfortable in any part of your body?
Photo of a lightbar in Keli's office that she uses for in-person EMDR sessions.
EMDR Therapy
If you experienced EMDR before and didn’t have a positive outcome, or you’ve heard of someone who didn’t have a positive outcome then there’s a good chance you didn’t work with someone completely trained in EMDR. Many licensed mental health professionals say they provide EMDR therapy, yet they’ve only watched a video or attended a two-hour workshop. It’s impossible to be skilled and competent in EMDR in such short training. Legitimate EMDR training is comprehensive, rigorous, and at least forty-eight hours long. Ten hours of clinical supervision is also required to be fully trained. EMDRIA (The governing body over EMDR training & credentialling) is trying to prevent therapists without proper training from saying they provide EMDR therapy, but it’s an impossible battle to win. If you have had EMDR therapy before and haven’t had a positive experience or haven’t noticed any benefits, please don’t blame the EMDR. You had a therapist who wasn’t adequately trained or skilled. Keli is proud to be double-trained in EMDR and is also getting certified. Therapists who haven’t been adequately trained in EMDR use it as a technique when it’s really a comprehensive psychotherapy with 8 Phases 3 Prongs, and a variety of other important concepts.
What Mental Health Concerns Can EMDR Treat?
Positive therapeutic results with SAFE EMDR have been reported in numerous case reports and studies, as documented in a wide range of populations. They include the following:
Many people with PTSD have been hurt by war, such as combat soldiers from Desert Storm, the Vietnam War, the Korean War, and World War II, as well as victims of terrorist attacks and refugees.
Persons with a phobia, panic disorder, or other anxiety disorder whose fear and other unpleasant symptoms disappeared quickly.
Crime victims, police officers, and first responders who are no longer distressed by the effects of violent attacks.
People relieved of excessive grief due to losing a loved one.
Children healed of the symptoms caused by the trauma of assault or natural disaster.
People who have been sexually assaulted no longer have crippling effects; they can live everyday lives and have intimate relationships.
Accident, surgery, and burn victims who were once emotionally or physically debilitated can now resume productive lives.
Victims of sexual dysfunction who can now maintain healthy sexual relationships.
Clients of all states of chemical dependency and other addictions, such as food, who now show stable recovery and a decreased tendency to relapse.
Clients with severe trauma and a wide range of PTSD and psychological problems caused by trauma who healed.
People who have performance anxiety and want to improve their performance in work, the arts, school, and sports have benefited.
People suffering from chronic pain and other body disorders who have rapidly recovered.
Clients with a diagnosed personal disorder or complex PTSD who show increased stabilization and functioning.
Clients with depression and other mental health diagnoses who have experienced substantial benefits from SAFE EMDR.
Clients with eating disorders and disordered eating have reported a massive decrease in discomfort and distress around their bodies and a decreased obsession with food.
Why Should I Come to Clear Minds Psychotherapy?
Keli is a therapist who values balancing well-researched trauma treatment protocols, in this case, S.A.F.E. EMDR, with a lot of clinical experience (Keli is an EMDR therapist who is passionate about this treatment and has learned many tips and tricks along the way), and most importantly, the needs of YOU, her client!
She assists individuals in person in her NW Austin office and residents throughout Texas with virtual therapy to feel better. During SAFE EMDR, you'll perform the rewarding work of counseling in a warm, supportive office setting or online from the comfort of your home anywhere in Texas. Keli has made her counseling office comfortable for you to heal as efficiently as possible. She wants to help you discover recovery as soon as possible, so everything from the first phone contact, the free video consultation she provides, and the EMDRemote computer tool she uses to help you get the same results with EMDR Therapy from your computer as you can from the office, and her welcoming office environment is meant to assist you in your healing.