Approach & specialties
Eight phases, one goal: the memory stops being the present.
EMDR is a protocol, not a vibe. Here's the whole sequence, in order, including the parts that happen long before anyone asks you to recall anything.
- 01
History and treatment planning
We map what happened, what's happening now, and what you want to be different. No reprocessing yet.
- 02
Preparation and resourcing
You learn the brakes before the accelerator: grounding, a calm-place resource, and a stop signal that I will always honor.
- 03
Assessment of the target
We pick one memory and identify the image, the belief attached to it, the feeling, and where it lives in your body.
What this feels like: Clinical and oddly calm. You are describing, not reliving.
- 04
Desensitization
Bilateral stimulation while you hold the target, in short sets, with a check-in after each one.
What this feels like: Things move. Images shift, other memories surface, the body loosens or braces. Sets are short on purpose.
- 05
Installation
We strengthen the belief you'd rather hold — it's over, I did what I could, I'm here now — until it holds under pressure.
What this feels like: Quieter. Often the point at which people say it sounds true instead of just correct.
- 06
Body scan
We check the body for leftover charge and reprocess whatever is still holding on.
What this feels like: Physical and specific. People notice their jaw, chest, or hands letting go.
- 07
Closure
Every session ends contained, whether or not the target is finished. You leave regulated, not cracked open.
- 08
Reevaluation
We start the next session by checking what held, then decide together where to go.
Specialties
For clients already in therapy
Adjunct EMDR
You don't have to leave a therapist you trust to get EMDR. In adjunct work I provide a defined block of EMDR — typically eight sessions — while your primary therapist stays primary. We coordinate with your written consent, agree on targets up front, and I hand the work back at the end with a summary you approve.
This suits people whose ongoing therapy is working well but has hit one stuck memory, and clinicians who want their client to get EMDR without losing the relationship they've built.
What EMDR is not
It isn't hypnosis.
You're awake, oriented, and can stop at any point. Nobody is putting you under and nothing is suggested to you.
You don't lose control.
You keep the stop signal for the whole session. If you use it, I stop mid-set. There's no version of this where I keep going.
You don't have to narrate the memory in detail.
I need a target, not a transcript. A lot of the reprocessing happens in silence, and some people never say the details out loud.
It isn't quick for everyone.
Single-incident trauma can move fast. Complex, layered trauma does not, and anyone promising you eight sessions for a childhood is selling something.
It isn't only for combat veterans.
That's where the research started. It's now used across trauma, anxiety, grief, medical trauma, and performance blocks.
Questions about how this would work for you specifically are exactly what the free consult is for. Dana Reyes answers those directly.
A consult is a conversation, not a commitment.
Fifteen minutes, no paperwork, no pitch. If I'm not the right fit, I'll tell you who is.