#315 – 20385 64th Ave, Langley V2Y 1N5 604-533-9163

EMDR Therapy

What Is EMDR Therapy?

A traumatic event is any experience that is too overwhelming for the brain to process. The upsetting images, thoughts, and emotions from the experience continue to disturb you long after it’s done. It’s as if you’re frozen in time—every time something reminds you of your trauma, you feel like the event is still happening.

EMDR, which stands for Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing, is an approach to therapy that helps the brain process traumatic memories and allows normal healing to resume. The brain has a natural ability to recover from trauma—EMDR taps into this ability. It takes the emotional charge out of traumatic memories so that you can remember what happened without feeling upset or overwhelmed. This way, you can stop living in the past and feel more at peace with the present.

How Effective Is EMDR And Who Can It Help?

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy was initially developed by Francine Shapiro in 1987 to treat post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Since then, EMDR has evolved into one of the most respected and effective forms of trauma therapy available today. Global organizations such as the World Health Organization (WHO) and the American Psychiatric Association (APA) now recommend EMDR as a first-line treatment for trauma and related disorders.

At Darcy Bailey & Associates Counselling, our registered therapists and certified EMDR therapists use this powerful approach to support new clients and long-time therapy seekers on their mental health and healing journey. Whether in in-person sessions or via secure online care, EMDR allows individuals to reprocess distressing memories that have kept them feeling stuck, anxious, or emotionally overwhelmed.

EMDR is especially effective for individuals who have suffered from a wide range of traumatic experiences, including:

  • Assault or abuse
  • Anxiety and acute stress
  • Car accidents or natural disasters
  • Grief and loss
  • Addiction and disordered eating
  • Effects of Childhood neglect or emotional wounds
  • Relationship issues and anger management challenges
  • Performance anxiety in sports, academics, or the arts

Many people are surprised to learn how often trauma underlies everyday struggles like depression, anxiety, eating disorders, phobias, or difficulty focusing.

EMDR helps by targeting the emotional distress and past wounds locked in the brain’s memory networks. Through guided sets of eye movements and other techniques, clients begin to process trauma and change the way their brain stores painful experiences.

We’ve found EMDR to be especially useful for children, teens, adults of all ages, first responders, including neurodivergent people, including ADHD. The therapy is tailored to each person’s unique needs and often provides relief when other methods have failed to create changes.

For those dealing with performance anxiety, such as athletes or musicians haunted by a previous mistake, EMDR can remove mental blocks and restore confidence. Our EMDR practitioners help clients reprocess the emotions tied to those events, allowing them to reconnect with their passion and perform at their best again.

If you’ve been searching for an EMDR therapist near me, know that you’re not alone—and help is available. At Darcy Bailey & Associates, we have experienced therapists with professional EMDR training and we create a supportive environment where healing, growth, and peace are possible. Whether you’re struggling with stress, relationship challenges, anger, or unresolved trauma, EMDR therapy can be a transformative part of your therapy journey.

As EMDR therapists, Langley, we welcome you to explore how EMDR can support your well-being, enhance your quality of life, and help you move forward with greater joy, focus, and inner calm.

Looking for EMDR therapists near me? Contact Us

How Does EMDR Therapy Work?

For new clients, we know there’s nothing more laborious than talking through your entire history at the beginning of counselling. That’s why we like to get right down to what matters.

After a brief assessment of your symptoms, we’ll give you skills and resources that you can use when you’re processing traumatic memories. This way, you’ll have the tools to stay calm and grounded during trauma therapy. These tools are also very practical and can positively impact your day-to-day wellness.

From there, you and your therapist will begin the EMDR work. They’ll walk you through a series of bilateral stimulation techniques while you recall the key events and related distressing memories. These techniques can include tapping, moving your eyes from side to side, and other forms of visual and audio stimulation.

As you do these practices, the memories will be reprocessed and become less emotionally painful. The goal is for the thoughts and feelings associated with your trauma to be neutralised—you’ll be able to remember your experience without feeling traumatised.

Looked at another way, EMDR allows your brain and body to “digest” traumatic memories so that they can be processed just like the rest of your memories. It helps you respond to trauma instead of reacting. You can engage with your environment with less anxiety and more presence of mind.

Can You Use EMDR To Help Children?

Yes, we do! For children, we typically combine EMDR with other child-friendly approaches to counselling, such as play therapy and art therapy. After all, most kids don’t want to sit in a chair and talk for long stretches of time. That’s why we make therapy fun and engaging for them.

Our therapists can also support parents from a trauma-informed perspective. If your child is in EMDR therapy, we can help you understand how to better assist them in day-to-day life. We’ll talk to you about what’s helpful and not helpful and give you strategies for supporting your child with compassion and understanding.

What Makes EMDR More Powerful Than Other Approaches To Trauma Therapy?

Talking about trauma is hard. Oftentimes, it can even make your trauma more upsetting and overwhelming.

The great thing about EMDR is that it doesn’t require you to discuss your traumatic experience, even though you still need to recall it and think about it. You can share as little as you want. The bilateral stimulation exercises get right to the core of your traumatic stress and allow your brain to release long-held emotional pain.

What’s more, EMDR follows a very structured format and usually doesn’t take as long as most forms of therapy. Clients should be able to commit to a series of sessions so that there is consistency supporting their progress; on average, they should commit to about six to eight sessions.

Although EMDR is not a one-time solution, most clients begin to feel some relief after just a few sessions of bilateral stimulation.

In the end, EMDR is simply the most complete and research-based approach to trauma therapy out there. It can help you change your thoughts, feelings, and perceptions, letting you experience life in a new way.

You Don’t Have To Feel Stuck In
The Past Anymore

In addition to being certified EMDR practitioners, several of our counsellors have experienced EMDR as clients. We can attest to its healing power in our lives and that’s why we’re so passionate about using it with clients.

If You Want To Experience The Healing Power Yourself, We Encourage You To Connect With Us. To Get Started, You Can Use The Conact Us Form