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Group therapy is a time to begin the healing process of coming together with other adults who have been impacted like yourself. It is common to often feel ashamed, alone, abnormal and embarrassed when you are not connected to others with similar experiences. Group therapy provides an opportunity for you to come together and reach out to others who have experienced a similar trauma. **Groups are offered 4 times throughout the year: January, April, July, October**
Women’s Sexual Trauma Support Group: This is group is for Adult Women who identify as being sexually assaulted as an adult (rape, date rape, drug rape, sexual assault/harassment, etc. Note: If you have been both sexually abused as a child and as an adult (very common) and are unsure which group would be best for you, please email or contact the therapist to discuss further. Through the initial assessment together, a solution will be created.
Group Focus Provide a safe environment for women to join and support each other, Share personal struggles related to sexual trauma, Identify challenges you struggle with daily as an adult, Explore challenges with memories, Develop knowledge about sexual trauma, Learn and apply skills to help reduce symptoms.
Women’s Support Group: This group is for Adult Women who self-identify as being sexually abused as a child (incest, rape, sexual abuse, molestation, etc.
EMDR helps to relieve trapped trauma in the body. Trapped trauma can look like uncontrollable twitching, aches, pains, muscle tension, shaking etc. EMDR can help process through body memories which can occur when you process through trauma. EMDR can also help unstuck memories trapped in the body.
In talk therapy, the Therapist actively listens as the individual discusses their thoughts, feelings, behaviors etc. The individual is supported as the Therapist provides a non-judgmental safe place for the individual to discuss trauma details. This has great benefits for many. However, many individuals have a difficult time talking about the trauma and get stuck in feeling frozen, scared and often dissociate. This is very common. With EMDR, the Therapist will focus only on body sensations and feelings and use Bilateral Stimulation with hand buzzes or headphones to help desensitize the sensations and feelings to help reduce trauma related somatic symptoms.
EMDR is NOT hypnosis. The individual is awake and aware the whole time and is in control. The individual will have one ear in the Trauma Room and one ear in the Therapy Room, so the individual brings up the trauma memory in their head (Trauma Room) and listens to the Therapist (Therapy Room).
No. The benefit of EMDR is working with the body, which is where the trauma has been trapped. The individual does not have to talk about all the details and can work through the trauma by identifying feelings, sensations and limited details (ex. I was in my bedroom when it happened).
The Therapist will review the basics of how EMDR works, answer your questions, develop a treatment plan and goals, and obtain permission to proceed with EMDR treatment.The Therapist will ask you a set a question which can include identifying your negative core belief, an adaptive positive belief, the intensity of your negative belief and other questions.The Therapist will utilized Bilateral Stimulation with either hand buzzers which the individual will hold in the palms of their hands or where a set of headphones that will give a bell sound. The Therapist will be observing your body language to check for dissociation and to determine how present you are in the session. EMDR processing will continue until the past experience and negative core belief has been applied as the identified positive belief.
