the present is perceived through the lenses of the past

Big T and little t trauma are shorthand terms for different types of adverse life events. Big T trauma involves major, life-threatening events, little t trauma involves painful cumulative stressors, but both can overload the nervous system and make daily living difficult. 

Most often we process such events, storing them in the long-term memory in a healthy way. But sometimes they get stuck and stored in the brain in isolation, getting locked in the nervous system with the original mental representation (images, sounds, smells, sensations, thoughts, fantasies) causing old distressing material to be triggered repeatedly in the here and now. This prevents learning and healing from taking place. In another part of the brain is most of the information needed to resolve these problems, the two just can't connect yet.

EMDR is a therapy developed to help the brain process the stuck mental representations. Once EMDR starts, a linking takes place. New information can come to mind and resolve old problems. EMDR uses guided bilateral stimulation like eye movements or tapping, while focusing on distressing material. By taxing the working memory, it helps reduce the emotional intensity of material. This may be what happens spontaneously in R.E.M. or dream sleep when eye movements help to process unconscious material. 

EMDR is research-supported and recommended by the World Health Organisation, NHS and NICE for PTSD, but also very effective for sexual difficulties, behaviours, distressing emotions, anxiety, depression, stress, phobias, sleep problems, grief, addictions, pain, self-esteem, performance anxiety - just about anything both sexual and non-sexual. 

My practice is trauma-informed: drawing upon relevant fields, such as evolutionary science, attachment theory and inhibitory learning theory; trauma-aware: attuned to the possible role of trauma in a wide range of clinical issues; and trauma-sensitive: alert to the risks of experiential work, especially when making contact with "difficult stuff". 

EMDR intensive are bespoke, concentrated therapy sessions of 90 minutes or more, designed to give faster access to EMDR and accelerate progress compared with standard length sessions. They are delivered online and the approach may suit people with single-event trauma, grief, time constraints, feeling stuck in therapy, or an upcoming event they want to prepare for. We start with an assessment and treatment planning session, then EMDR session(s) to address your concerns, and end with a review appointment. Longer sessions over a period of hours and even 1-2 days can also be arranged.