EMDR in Manchester
Are you living with the echoes of painful memories and feeling stuck? Do you find day-to-day activities and events cause you to feel ‘triggered’ or remind you of the past?
Sometimes we can easily guess what’s going on; you might know you experienced a specific traumatic event, suspect your childhood was tough or lacking in warmth, or that your ex has left you feeling low and lacking in confidence.
It’s common to feel trapped in patterns of anxiety, fear, shame, self-doubt, or emotional numbness. You’ve tried to think your way out of it, perhaps even read books or listened to podcasts, but something still feels off and you can’t move forward.
EMDR is a way of healing anxiety, trauma and emotional distress. It uses the brain's natural ability to heal and process aspects of the past that have become stuck. It can help us take the emotional sting out of past events and alter our ways of seeing ourselves, others and the world.
Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR) is an evidence-based therapy, which means it has undergone rigorous scientific testing and trials and has proven to be effective.
Unlike traditional talk therapy, EMDR focuses on the brain's natural healing processes and the importance of the body in therapy. The sessions don't involve talking things through to 'make sense' of the past. Instead, we use bilateral stimulation to process tough stuff, including 'stuck' thoughts, images, emotions and bodily sensations.
"EMDR is a bizarre and wondrous treatment and anybody who first hears about it, myself included, thinks this is pretty hokey and strange." Bessel A. van der Kolk - Trauma Specialist
How can EMDR Help me?
EMDR is a trauma-focused therapy that helps people process overwhelming experiences, so they stop feeling so raw, scary or stuck in your body. It doesn’t require you to discuss everything in detail. Instead, it works by helping your brain reprocess difficult memories using a structured and supported approach, including something called bilateral stimulation—gentle eye movements, tapping, or sounds.
Over time, people often notice that the same memories feel less charged, and the beliefs they held about themselves (like “I’m not safe” or “It was my fault”) begin to shift.
But EMDR isn’t just for the big scary trauma experiences. It can help you to understand your emotional learnings; the unconscious things that your body and mind have learnt through experiences.
What Problems Can EMDR Help with?
EMDR has been shown to be effective for a range of issues, including:
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and single-event trauma
Distressing memories, flashbacks or nightmares
Complex PTSD (CPTSD), including childhood abuse or neglect
Attachment Difficulties
Feeling emotionally stuck or disconnected
Anxiety and Panic Attacks
Shame and Self-criticism
Phobias - including preparing for specific feared events
Grief and Loss - including non-death grief like heartbreak, job losses, physical illness and relationship wounds
OCD (please read here about my approach to OCD) (page coming soon)
Research shows that when we use EMDR to address underlying traumatic experiences, it can improve a range of problems that you may not even realise had roots in the past
What to expect within EMDR Therapy?
EMDR therapy has specific steps and a structure that has been shown to be effective across many clinical studies. But the art of EMDR therapy is working together as a team to move between the different steps according to your specific needs, goals and experiences. Before we begin working on memories, we’ll spend time making sure you feel safe, supported and ready. You’ll learn simple grounding skills to help you manage strong emotions if they arise and build therapeutic internal resources, helping you to tap into supportive brain states and feelings that you can draw on for your day-to-day life and when facing difficult memories.
When you’re ready, we spend time getting to know your story, both what has happened in the past, what you’re experiencing in the present and what your hopes are for the future. We’ll identify memories or situations that still carry a lot of distress. As you bring one to mind, I’ll guide you through short sets of bilateral stimulation while you notice what comes up. This process helps your brain do what it was designed to do, make sense of what happened and store the memory in a way that no longer feels threatening, whilst allowing you to make new connections and insight.
EMDR therapy follows an eight-phase process:
Understanding your history and identifying where you feel stuck in the present
Building emotional safety and trust so you feel ready for deeper work.
Targeting specific memories that link to your current distress.
Reprocessing those memories using bilateral stimulation.
Reinforcing healthier beliefs that feel more true now.
Listening to your body and resolving physical tension held by trauma.
Closing sessions with grounding and care.
Checking in regularly to track your progress.
Each step is taken at your pace. There’s no rush.
Therapy in Manchester and Online
I offer both in-person sessions at my Didsbury clinic in South Manchester and online. Whether you're at the beginning of your journey and unsure what type of therapy you need or you're seeking to deepen your healing journey with specialist support, I'm here for you.
Taking the first step can feel daunting; I absolutely understand that. That's why I offer a free initial call; it's your chance to talk through your support needs and what to expect from therapy. There's no obligation to book with me after the call, and if I'm not right for you, I'll do my best to give you pointers in the right direction.