EMDR Therapy in Kitsilano, Vancouver & Online BC
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) for Trauma, Anxiety & Relationships
EMDR, short for Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing, is a structured, research-backed way of processing distress connected to past events, using eye movements or other forms of bilateral stimulation. It works with how your brain naturally processes memory, similar to what happens during REM sleep, in which emotional and physiological distress and negative beliefs are gradually resolved, so you don't have to relive every detail to move through what happened.
EMDR is best known as a treatment for PTSD, and for good reason, it's one of the most researched approaches to post-traumatic stress out there. Not everyone knows that EMDR can also help with anxiety, self-worth, grief and other internal challenges that don't trace back to one single traumatic event. Wildly enough, it can also work if you don’t really have specific memories at all. If you’re not sure if what you're carrying feels "big enough" to count as trauma, it might still be exactly the kind of thing EMDR can help you with.
Know you want support but not sure where to start?
Come take your shoes off, curl up with some tea and let’s make a plan. You’re not broken, you’re just wonderfully human, which can be complicated (and sometimes frustrating) to navigate.
Our Find a Counsellor form can guide you in connecting with an EMDR counsellor or therapist who is the right fit for you.
Meet Our EMDR Counsellors
Finding the right counsellor matters.
The following members of our team offer offer EMDR therapy in Vancouver and online sessions and have availability for new clients.
Our in person and online EMDR therapists offer free 15-minute consultations so you can connect and ask questions first.
You can browse our counsellors yourself or have our intake team help you find a potential fit.
What actually happens in an EMDR therapy session? Let’s de-mystify things.
Before we start processing anything, we take time to get to know what's actually going on for you, your current challenges (ie. shame, fear, distressing memories or thoughts), your history, and what you're hoping will shift. We'll also build up regulation and grounding strategies together to support you in experiencing calm and increased ability to cope with difficult emotions as they arise before any deeper work begins.
When we actually start processing we'll focus on specific memories, moments or feelings. Your counsellor will guide your focus during short sets of eye movements or other bilateral stimulation, like tapping or buzzers. Somewhere along the way, you’ll likely start to notice that new nervous system patterns, thoughts and deep knowings about yourself tend to show up and stick.
Depending on your current challenges, goals and history, EMDR counselling may be used as a stand-alone therapy or be integrated into regular talk therapy sessions, which can be extremely helpful in understanding and integrating changes or insight gained from EMDR into your life or understanding of yourself in the world. Some counsellors also weave in parts work, like IFS, ego-state therapy or somatic approaches alongside EMDR, checking in to see which parts need tending to while processing something difficult. If you love structure, EMDR is also great for those who find it comforting to know what sessions look like ahead of time.
When is EMDR helpful?
More often than not, clients come to our clinic searching for EMDR treatment Vancouver therapists offer, since they've heard how quickly it creates changes. Our counsellors will let you know that while EMDR can create significant and lasting change, EMDR isn’t a magic wand and requires time and commitment to work. Many counsellors offer EMDR as a way to work through emotions, behaviours and patterns that have shifted or reduced through other therapy but still remain impactful.
EMDR can help you move through a wide range of experiences, including:
EMDR for Trauma or Complex Trauma: When a memory still feels stuck, EMDR can help your brain finish processing it, so it carries less charge in your body and daily life.
EMDR for PTSD: PTSD often means living with a nervous system still bracing for something that already happened. EMDR is one of the most researched approaches for helping that settle.
EMDR for Anxiety & Depression: Rather than only managing symptoms day to day, EMDR works with what's underneath anxiety and depression.
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Old relational patterns and painful breakups can lose some of their grip through EMDR, so they carry less weight going forward.
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The early messages that taught you to doubt your value and hold shame can be processed with EMDR, so they carry less weight in how you see yourself now.
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Earlier moments of embarrassment or rejection often shape how safe it feels to be seen by others. EMDR can work directly with those roots to support clients with social anxiety.
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A scare, diagnosis, or loss can teach your body to expect danger long after the danger's passed. EMDR helps process that origin, not just the worry itself.
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What happened earlier in life can still shape how safe or worthy you feel today. Our counsellors offer EMDR therapy for trauma in Vancouver that works directly with those roots.
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When big reactions arrive faster than you can name them, EMDR can help your nervous system find more ease.
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Postpartum depression can bring up distressing thoughts, or a sense of disconnection that is hard to pinpoint. This experience can be further made distressing by the fact that new parents and motherhood is not a commonly discussed or well supported transition in North America.
EMDR can help process what's still carrying weight, whether that's the birth itself, the transition into parenthood, an unexplainable heaviness or moments that still feel raw.
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You don't have to describe every detail out loud. EMDR offers a way to process what happened at whatever pace feels safe.
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A loss that feels stuck, complicated, or tangled with other unresolved feelings is exactly the kind of thing EMDR can help untangle.
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Discovering someone you trusted wasn't honest can bring real shock and disorientation. EMDR can help process that.
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A compulsion is often driven by an underlying fear or memory. EMDR works with the root of OCD, not just the behaviour.
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You don't need to consciously remember where a fear started for EMDR to help process the early moment and places of origin it's connected to.
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Anxiety doesn't always trace back to one clear event; sometimes it's more like a nervous system stuck on high alert. EMDR can help process what's underneath that activation, so anxious thoughts and physical tension have less to hold onto over time.
Anxiety doesn't always trace back to one clear event. Our counsellors offer EMDR therapy for anxiety in Vancouver that can help process what's underneath that activation, so anxious thoughts and physical tension have less to hold onto over time." -
Underneath the urge is often something EMDR can help you process directly, not just manage.
Not sure if what you're carrying fits this list? Reach out and ask, EMDR often helps with things that don't have a clean label.
Let’s face it… if you haven’t done EMDR before, it likely sounds a bit weird, and might take a bit to wrap your head around.
We know EMDR isn’t exactly like traditional therapy and honestly is a bit difficult to imagine without seeing it for yourself. Even the name is a bit confusing, with many casually calling it “Rapid Eye Movement Therapy”, which of course is exactly what it looks like! Here's a quick video walking through what an EMDR session might look like.
The video includes a fairly simple example of EMDR for a single event. Please note that the length of EMDR therapy and the process will vary depending on your history and what you bring to counselling.
To learn more about EMDR, supporting research and FAQ, visit EMDR Canada or EMDRIA.
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All of our EMDR clinicians have received training through an EMDRIA approved training program such as EMDR Consulting, the EMDR Centre of Canada, Envision Workshops.
Our clinicians also participate in regular EMDR consultation at New Tides, and several clinicians have received further training, specializations and supervision in EMDR. See our counsellors’ individual pages for details!
Online EMDR Therapy in Vancouver and Across BC
Can you really do EMDR online?
Believe it or not, EMDR online can be quite effective, with your counsellor following the same careful preparation and process as in-person work. During the session, your online EMDR therapist guides you through bilateral stimulation using Remote EMDR, an online platform along with audio or tapping. You can also tap on your arms, shoulders or knees, which some clients find surprisingly soothing and prefer to eye movements!
Online EMDR therapy from home is also a preference for many of our clients. There can be something reassuring about being in a familiar, cozy space, complete with pets and no trip home after the session ends.
What does online EMDR feel like?
Your counsellor stays closely connected to what you're experiencing and adjusts the pace as you go. You don't have to know exactly what you're supposed to notice or how you're supposed to respond. The work is still collaborative and responsive, just through a screen.
While we offer many approaches virtually, including EMDR trauma therapy online, counselling in front of a screen isn’t always isn't right for everyone. Our counsellors will collaboratively assess whether it's a good fit before beginning processing stage of therapy, particularly if someone is experiencing higher levels of activation or is newer to therapy. For many, EMDR from home can be a comfortable, effective way to work.
You make sense, and you’re not alone.
Create space to move forward.
All of our counsellors offer a free 15-minute consultation. This offers you the chance to connect and ask questions about how they work, and get a sense of who you might feel comfortable with. It also helps us understand what you're looking for, so we can help you find an EMDR therapist or counsellor who feels like a great fit for where you are.
If you're looking for an EMDR or EMDR 2.0 therapist in Vancouver, many of our Vancouver EMDR counsellors offer both in-person sessions at our Kitsilano clinic (1682 West 7th Ave, Suite 300, Vancouver BC) and online for clients anywhere in British Columbia & beyond.
Frequently Asked Questions About EMDR Therapy
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EMDR is priced the same as our regular session rates. Our counsellors each charge different rates based on their experience, and some offer sliding scale. Head over to our main counsellors page to view each individual counsellors bio and fees.
Please note that our interns do not offer EMDR. -
The research is a bit vague on how EMDR actually works, but essentially it uses eye movements or other bilateral stimulation to help your brain process a memory it's been stuck on, similar to what happens naturally during REM sleep. In short, when our brain experiences something traumatic or difficult, it often stops communicating properly with other parts of the brain, and this is where we get stuck. EMDR supports our brain in processing the way it normally does.
For more info, you can head to the EMDRIA website. -
No. EMDR doesn't ask you to describe everything that happened for it to work. While it can be helpful for your counsellor to know what you’re experiencing during processing, often clients will share their experience of imagery, metaphor, or body sensations rather than the full details of the event or memory being processed.
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We wish we could answer this question more clearly, how many sessions EMDR depends on your history and what you're hoping for. While some people notice a shift in just a few sessions, particularly for working through recent, single events, others take the longer road, and that's completely normal as well.
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Not at all. EMDR can help with one distressing event just as much as it can help with patterns that built up slowly over time. It doesn't need to feel big enough or even simple enough to count.
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Definitely. A lot of our clients weave EMDR right into their ongoing individual counselling. Some clients prefer to alternate EMDR sessions with talk therapy sessions, while others find longer sessions with a combination helpful; this way you can have time to debrief your week, and time to process the past!
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Yes. EMDR can used for specific fears and phobias as well as anxiety or trauma, the process works with how a memory or fear response is stored, whatever it's connected to, though it might look a bit different depending what you’re working through.
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EMDR isn't something to try on your own. It works because your counsellor is tracking your responses closely and adjusting the pace as you go, especially if something intense comes up, support that's simply not there in a self-guided version.
While EMDR is safe for most people, there are a few risks and contra-indications. If processing happens too fast, or without enough preparation, EMDR can bring up intense reactions, panic, or flashbacks rather than help, and extra training for dissociation can be important for counsellors working with complex trauma and dissociative disorders.
It’s not always right for everyone; EMDR may not be the right choice for active psychosis, severe untreated dissociation, or times when someone's life circumstances are too unstable to hold the work safely. This is one of the reasons why it’s important to not rush into processing.
Every counselling relationship starts with getting to know what's going on for you and building regulation and grounding tools together, before any deeper work begins. -
EMDR has a strong evidence base, particularly for PTSD, and is recognized by major health organizations worldwide. Some of the ongoing debate is about why it works, researchers still don't fully agree on the exact role the eye movements themselves play, even though the outcomes are well documented. It's also newer than more traditional talk therapy, so it hasn't always had the same reach. None of that changes how effective it can be for many people, however, there are some remaining gaps and questions with where the research currently stands.
We often receive the question, “Is EMDR hypnosis?”, which may also be a part of where the controversy enters. EMDR doesn't involve a trance state, and you stay fully alert and aware throughout the entire process. The confusion likely comes from the fact that both involve focused attention, but the mechanisms and experience are genuinely different. In EMDR, you're actively engaged and tracking your own responses the whole time, not being guided into an altered state.
RCC, She / Her
Nicole supports clients with anxiety, depression, emotional overwhelm, family-of-origin experiences, grief, childhood abuse and neglect, trauma, self-worth, burnout, life transitions and relationship challenges, including experiences involving abuse, infidelity and codependency. Nicole is a sex positive therapist and enjoys working with clients kink relationships as well as those with complex PTSD and miscarriage and/or traumatic birth experiences.
Approaches:EMDR · Anti-Oppressive & Trauma-Informed · Attachment-Focused · CBT · Mindfulness · Parts Work