Many people come to therapy after years of trying to “think” or “talk” or “insight” their way out of anxiety, trauma, depression, relationship struggles, parenting, or intrusive thoughts.
They’ve read the books, listened to the podcasts, practiced positive thinking, have all the insight, understand why they feel the way they do and even know how they want to feel, show up, behave, and choose and yet it all still feels stuck.
That’s because lasting healing isn’t only about insight.
It’s also about helping your brain, body, and nervous system experience something different. We need to have embodied, felt safety to actually implement the insight and the changes we want to make.
This is why I integrate EMDR therapy, Internal Family Systems (IFS), somatic therapy, and attachment-focused therapy.
Together, these therapies help us work with your thoughts, emotions, body, relationships, parts, memories, and nervous system so change doesn’t just make sense intellectually-it begins to feel true and become true. Even in beautiful Colorado, we still need help getting to those changes we want in our lives. I’d love to work with you to achieve those goals you’ve so carefully outlined.
People often ask me which therapy works best.
The answer depends on your whole self.
Rather than fitting you into one therapy model, I tailor treatment to your unique goals, experiences, and nervous system.
Sometimes we might use EMDR to process a painful memory. Sometimes a part of you might not feel safe enough to fully let go.
Sometimes we spend time getting to know protective parts through IFS.
Other sessions may focus on helping your body regulate through somatic techniques or exploring how attachment experiences continue influencing current relationships.
Usually, as each session unfolds we will weave in as we go because we follow your own nervous system and what each part of you needs.
These approaches complement one another beautifully because they address healing from multiple directions.
Instead of simply managing symptoms and piling on more coping tools that are more band-aids than deep healing, we work toward understanding and changing the underlying patterns keeping you stuck.
One of the questions I hear most often is:
“Do you use EMDR or Internal Family Systems or somatic or ?”
My answer is usually…
All of the Above.
Along with somatic therapy and attachment-focused work.
Because healing isn’t one-dimensional.
Sometimes your thoughts understand you’re safe…
…while your body still feels like danger is around every corner.
Sometimes your nervous system begins settling…
…but a protective part of you still believes you have to stay perfect, hypervigilant, or hyper independent to be loved. Or we can’t fully let go of that hypervigilance because it’s not safe.
Other times we’ve identified where a pattern began…
…but your brain hasn’t fully processed the experience yet and a part of you doesn’t believe it’s over.
Each therapy offers something different.
Together, they help create lasting change.
No matter what issues are bringing you to therapy, together we can find the path forward. Even the day to day in our lives can be incredibly difficult. Overwhelm can come from so many places along with depression, anxiety, loss and the events in our communities. Often times we are also struggling with past trauma or patterns we’ve noticed in our lives and it feels as if we are barely getting through the day. We may spend a lot of time trying to avoid uncomfortable feelings or thoughts in an attempt to feel better, but despite the effort, it’s not working the way we want.
Therapy provides a safe, accepting, non-judgmental place to explore these issues and make desired changes.
Together we can find that balance, reduce stress, feel empowered, process past trauma and find more joy. I use a variety of different techniques that may be different from other therapy you’ve had in the past that clients have described as healing and transformative. Explore some of those techniques here and on the following pages.
I provide virtual therapy for trauma, anxiety, depression, life transitions and other issues for people in Colorado. EMDR, IFS and Somatic therapy for trauma, anxiety and depression can make a difference. Call now to find out more!
A metaphor I like to use is to imagine that you are on a boat with a team of people. Everyone wants to get to shore but everyone has different ideas of how to get there so everyone is frantically paddling in different directions and calling out what they think the boat should be doing. This is what our brain can feel like when there are parts commenting on what we should be doing. Through therapy, we can establish you as the captain of the boat and find ways to listen to all of the different crew members without one of them taking over and trying to captain the boat by themselves.
Check out some of my blogs on IFS here:
Finding Clarity in Internal Family Systems Therapy Colorado
IFS Therapy in Colorado: Why Curiosity Is a First Step to Healing – Colorado Wildflower Counseling
EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) is an evidence-based psychotherapy that helps the brain process experiences that continue to feel emotionally “stuck.” Rather than repeatedly talking through painful memories, EMDR helps the brain naturally integrate them so they feel like part of the past instead of continuing to affect the present. Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy is an extensively researched therapuetic modality that helps people heal from trauma and other distressing life experiences, including PTSD, anxiety, depression, and panic disorders.
When your mind knows you’re safe, but your body doesn’t believe it
Have you ever caught yourself thinking:
“Why can’t I just let this go?”
“Why do I keep replaying what happened?”
“Why do I still feel anxious when I know everything is okay?”
“Why do I keep choosing the same relationships or reacting the same way?”
Maybe you’ve read the books, listened to the podcasts, practiced mindfulness, journaled, exercised, and done everything you’re “supposed” to do.
And yet…
You still lie awake replaying conversations.
Your inner critic seems louder and meaner every year.
You worry people are upset with you.
Your body feels tense even when there’s no immediate danger.
You know, logically, that you’re safe—but your nervous system hasn’t gotten the message.
If that sounds familiar, you’re not failing at healing or therapy.
Often, your brain and body are still responding to experiences that haven’t been fully processed.
At Colorado Wildflower Counseling, I provide virtual EMDR therapy throughout Colorado for adults experiencing anxiety, trauma, PTSD, childhood trauma, attachment wounds, relationship concerns, perfectionism, betrayal trauma, grief, depression, intrusive thoughts, insomnia, and nervous system dysregulation.
Healing isn’t about forcing yourself to “think positive” or pretending the past never happened or talking through past events to reframe them or find the silver lining.
It’s about helping your brain, body, and nervous system recognize that what once felt overwhelming no longer has to shape how you experience your life today.
Why EMDR Therapy?
When we experience something overwhelming—whether it’s a single traumatic event, years of chronic stress, emotional neglect, bullying, betrayal, or painful relationship experiences-our brain doesn’t always get the chance to file that experience away as something that’s over (in the most simplistic of terms, it doesn’t get filed away in your hippocampus, or library of past experiences.)
Instead, those experiences can remain stored in a way that keeps them feeling emotionally and physically present, as if the danger is present now.
Rather than becoming part of your past, they continue to influence how you think, feel, react, and relate to yourself and others.
You might notice this as:
- Feeling anxious even when nothing dangerous is happening
- Replaying conversations long after they’ve ended
- Intrusive thoughts that seem impossible to shut off
- Feeling “not good enough” despite evidence to the contrary
- Difficulty trusting yourself or other people
- People-pleasing or perfectionism that feels impossible to stop
- Feeling emotionally numb or disconnected
- A nervous system that always seems to be on high alert
These reactions aren’t signs that you’re weak or “overreacting.”
Often, they’re signs that your nervous system is still trying to protect you.
EMDR helps the brain finish processing experiences that became stuck so they no longer feel like they’re happening in the present. There are some really cool research studies on fMRI’s demonstrating where memories light up the brain before EMDR (emotional and threat detection centers, for example) and after EMDR (hippocampus and decreased activity in the emotional and threat detection centers). Here is one of those studies:
Fear extinction learning improvement in PTSD after EMDR therapy: an fMRI study (European Journal of Psychotraumatology) – EMDR International Association
Many clients describe EMDR as “magic” and “I can’t believe I feel so differently now” and being able to remember difficult experiences without feeling pulled back into them.
The memories are still there—but they lose their emotional grip.
Instead of continuing to shape your daily life, they begin to feel like something that happened, rather than something you’re still living.
This allows space for new beliefs to emerge:
“I am safe.”
“I can handle this.”
“I am enough.”
“I have choices.”
These aren’t affirmations you’re trying to force yourself to believe by repeating them and journaling about them every day.
They’re beliefs that often arise naturally as your nervous system updates and integrates what it has learned.
I help clients use EMDR for:
EMDR is different from many other therapies because it does not involve extensively talking about past traumas in detail.
I am a certified EMDR provider.
Find some of my blogs about EMDR here:
Can EMDR Work If You Don’t Remember Your Childhood Trauma? – Colorado Wildflower Counseling
rumination anxiety why can’t I let go of the past
Heal Trauma and patterns with EMDR Therapy Colorado
Check out my instagram for more posts about EMDR: https://www.instagram.com/coloradowildflowercounseling/
Or my Tik Tok: Colorado Wildflower Counseling (@colorado.wildflow) | TikTok
