EMDR Therapy

If you are looking for EMDR therapy in Victoria, Vancouver, Kelowna or online, we can help.

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is a mainstream evidence-based therapy that is used to treatment trauma, anxiety, depression and other mental health concerns. EMDR therapy is designed to resolve traumatic memories. For many clients, EMDR therapy can be completed in fewer sessions than other psychotherapies.

Waypoint Counselling offers personalized help in finding the right counsellor for your unique needs.  The client-counsellor “fit” is critical to good outcomes from EMDR and improving your life.  Waypoint’s experienced counsellors in Victoria, Vancouver and Kelowna offer phone and video counselling wherever you are.  By completing our  counsellor matching form , our Clinical Director will get an understanding of your personal concerns, and what counselling approach and style will work best for you, and will match you with a seasoned clinician.  You can then meet with that therapist to see if the “fit” is right.  We follow-up to make sure you have the right counsellor for EMDR. For more information, see Match me to a Therapist.

All of our counsellors offer sessions by phone or online with a secure video link.

What is EMDR?

EMDR was developed in 1987 for the treatment of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). EMDR therapy does not require talking in detail about the distressing issue or completing homework between sessions. And EMDR does not require seeing a counsellor in-person. It can successfully be done online via video.

Unlike other treatments that focus on directly altering the emotions, thoughts and responses resulting from traumatic experiences, EMDR therapy focuses directly on the memory, and is intended to change the way that the memory is stored in the brain, thus reducing and eliminating the problematic symptoms.

During EMDR therapy (also referred to as rapid eye movement therapy), the client has an opportunity to address their trauma in a safe environment. Patients are encouraged to briefly focus on the traumatic memory while simultaneously experiencing stimulation (typically eye movements), which can reduce the vividness and emotion connected with the memories of the trauma. This side-by-side rapid eye movement of EMDR therapy is a type of bilateral stimulation.

Is EMDR for me?

While EMDR has had such a positive impact on many of clients, it may not be for everyone. Your EMDR therapist will likely suggest meeting initially to understand the nature of the issue before deciding to use EMDR. During those sessions, they’ll provide more information on EMDR, answer questions, and explain the process. Then, you and your therapist will decide mutually if EMDR is the right approach to address the specific problems that led you to treatment.