How I work
EMDR therapy
A structured trauma therapy that works on the memory itself rather than on talking it through. I am accredited by EMDR Europe and work online across the UK, in English or Spanish.
What EMDR helps with
EMDR — eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing — is one of the two treatments NICE recommends for post-traumatic stress disorder in adults, alongside trauma-focused CBT. If that is what brought you here, my page on PTSD and trauma covers the problem itself: the flashbacks, the hypervigilance, the sense that something from years ago is still happening now.
It is not only for single, obvious traumas. I use EMDR with people whose difficulty has no dramatic story attached to it at all: a childhood of being criticised, a medical procedure that went badly, a birth that was frightening, a humiliation at school that still decides how they behave in meetings.
It also earns its place inside other work. Panic that started with one terrifying episode, a phobia that traces back to a specific incident, social anxiety anchored to a memory of being laughed at, or grief that has stalled — in each of these there is often a memory doing the driving, and processing it moves things that talking about them had not.
EMDR is not a good fit for everyone or everything, and it is not a first move when someone's life is currently unsafe or unstable. Part of the assessment is deciding, honestly, whether this is the right treatment for you now — and saying so if it is not.
How EMDR works
The working idea behind EMDR is that some memories never get filed properly. Ordinary memories settle: they lose their charge, they move into the past tense, they become something that happened. An overwhelming memory can stay stuck in its raw form — the images, the body sensations, the beliefs about yourself that came with it — and any reminder reopens it at full volume.
EMDR aims at the filing rather than at the story. While you hold a piece of the memory in mind, I guide you through sets of bilateral stimulation: your eyes following a movement side to side, or alternating taps or tones. In between each set you tell me briefly what came up, and we follow wherever it goes.
What people notice is that the memory starts to move on its own. It gets further away, or smaller, or oddly less interesting. Details rearrange. A belief that felt like a fact — it was my fault, I am not safe — loosens, and something truer takes its place. You are not talked out of anything; it shifts.
The whole treatment runs in eight phases, and the reprocessing above is only phase four. Before it come history-taking, preparation and building the skills to steady yourself; after it come installation, a body scan, closing each session down properly and re-evaluating at the next one. That structure is what keeps the work contained.
Online, the bilateral stimulation is a moving marker on your screen, sounds through your headphones, or tapping you do yourself — and it works. EMDR delivered by video has been studied and holds up well against the in-person version.
What to expect
Nothing gets reprocessed in your first session. We begin with history-taking and preparation: what happened, what is happening now, and what you already have that helps you settle. If those resources are thin, we build them first. This part is not a delay — it is what makes the rest safe.
You do not have to give me a detailed account of the worst thing that happened to you. That surprises people, and it is one of the reasons EMDR suits those who cannot face narrating it. I need enough to know what we are working on; you keep the rest.
Reprocessing sessions run 60 to 90 minutes, because the work needs room to open and close within one appointment. A single-incident trauma in an otherwise settled life can resolve in a handful of sessions. Trauma that ran for years, or started early, takes considerably longer — and I would rather say that now than imply otherwise.
Sessions can be tiring, and processing sometimes continues for a day or two afterwards in dreams or passing images. I will tell you what to expect, and we always close a session down before you go — you will not be left mid-way through something.
Everything is online by secure video, anywhere in the UK, in English or Spanish. If at any point EMDR is not the right thing for you, we change course; I also work with trauma-focused CBT.
Common questions
Do I have to describe what happened in detail? No. EMDR works on the memory rather than on the telling of it. I need enough to know what we are targeting, not a full account.
Is it hypnosis? No. You are awake, in control and aware throughout, and you can stop at any point. If you want a set to end, you say so and it ends.
Does EMDR work over video? Yes. The bilateral stimulation becomes a moving marker on screen, alternating tones, or self-tapping, and the outcomes hold up. All my EMDR work is online.
Will it dig up things I would rather leave alone? We agree the target before we start, and preparation comes first for exactly this reason. EMDR does sometimes connect a memory to others like it — that is often where the change comes from, and we go there deliberately, not by accident.
How many sessions will I need? A single-incident trauma may take a handful. Trauma that was repeated or began in childhood takes longer, and I will give you an honest estimate after the assessment rather than a number designed to sound reassuring.
Can sessions be in Spanish? Yes — I offer therapy in English and Spanish.
Ready to take the first step?
Send an enquiry and Gisela will be in touch within one working day.