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Therapeutic approach

What is Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing? EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) is a therapy tool that helps people to heal from the symptoms and emotional distress that occur because of disturbing life experiences. It is widely assumed that severe emotional pain requires a long time to heal. However, EMDR therapy shows that the mind can effectively heal from psychological trauma in a similar way to the body's ability to recover from physical trauma.  If the system is blocked or imbalanced by the impact of a disturbing event, the emotional wound festers and can cause intense suffering. Once the block is removed, healing resumes.  Think about when you cut your hand.  Your body will work to close the wound, but if a foreign object or repeated injury irritates the wound, it festers and causes pain. Once the wound is cleaned and the foreign object is removed, healing resumes. EMDR helps the brain's survival instinct (fight, flight, freeze) to rest, so that high functioning can take over and healing can happen.  Once the survival instinct is resolved (often experienced as body sensations and strong emotions), the brain’s information processing system naturally moves toward restored mental health .  What is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy?  CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) states that we all hold beliefs about ourself, others, and the world around us.  These beliefs can be health or unhealth.  They impact how we think, how we feel, and ultimately, how we behave. In fact, the more we access these negative beliefs, the  stronger they become.  They present automatically and often unconsciously.  By recognizing unhealth beliefs and changing them to something more healthy and positive, we can manage emotions more easily, and hopefully, behave in new healthier ways. What is Faith-Informed Care? All healing originates in and with Our Lord.  We invite the Holy Spirit to infuse the therapy session through Church teaching, Scripture, and Christian philosophy.  A faith perspective is easily integrated with both EMDR and CBT and adds a spiritual healing element to this work.