Frequently Asked Questions

When you enter through the front entrance, you will see a lobby with a desk and possibly a receptionist (unless she’s eating lunch or busy doing something). Walk straight ahead toward the water feature and turn left into the “great hall,” as I call it. You will be in a big room with office doors lining both walls.

Feast your eyes on all the interesting things to see, and then head toward the north end of the room (straight ahead past the dining table). There, you will see a seating area with some comfy-looking chairs. Try a chair out; if it isn’t just right, try another.

When it’s time for your session to start, I will open my office door and welcome you into the room where all the magic happens! I am in the second to last office on the west side of the great hall.

I work with adults who want to heal from deep emotional wounds or traumatic experiences that traditional talk therapies can’t fully resolve.

In my experience, this kind of therapy works well for motivated individuals who have some insight into the issues they struggle with. It’s important to be committed to the process and hopeful about the outcome to get the full benefit.

On rare occasions, I may see an older teen (16+) if they are a good candidate for what I offer.

I offer 55-minute sessions and 85-minute sessions. I start sessions at the top of the hour. When we hit the 55-minute mark, I need to kick you out to see my next client. It’s not personal, I promise!

I also offer three-day intensives where we do EMDR therapy for three hours each day. Some clients are driving long distances for treatment and can’t come weekly. Some want to kickstart their progress and get results in a shorter time frame.

If this is something you’re interested in, let me know, and we can schedule it. I typically do intensives on a Thursday, Friday, or Saturday, so you have Sunday to give your brain and body a break before returning to the work week on Monday.

I am not contracted as an in-network provider with any insurance, but you can check with your insurance to see if you could get partial reimbursement for out-of-network (OON) care.

I can provide you with a superbill to be submitted to your insurance for OON reimbursement.

If you would like help submitting superbills to your insurance company, Reimbursify offers a simple way to help you do that for a small fee. You can check out their website at www.reimbursify.com.

Here’s the thing… in-network therapists easily get frustrated and burnt-out keeping track of insurance contracts, doing extra paperwork, stressing about being audited, and fighting to collect on unpaid claims. They choose to take insurance for the “free advertising,” but they pay for it in time and stress (or literally pay for it by hiring a biller to fight their battles for them).

I see private-pay clients so I can focus on my clients and the work that I do without being beholden to the insurance companies. I put a lot of effort into mastering therapy modalities that help my clients achieve desired results faster than traditional talk therapies can. While my colleagues become increasingly exhausted and resentful, fighting to collect hundreds or thousands in unpaid claims, I bask in the ever-loving joy of freedom.

I feel happier and more fulfilled in my work, which means you will have a better experience, and we can all sing kumbaya as we walk into the sunset together. This is a financial investment for you. I get it. I’ve invested in therapy without insurance. It was worth it because I had a competent trauma therapist who effectively helped me get unstuck. Bless that woman! It was worth every penny, and I don’t regret it. In fact, that’s why I am here now doing what I do.

Ultimately, you do what feels right for you. To insurance or not to insurance? That is the question.

If you decide not to insurance, call me for a free 15-minute consultation!

It is a psychotherapy used to heal adverse symptoms and emotional stress resulting from disturbing life experiences. Repeated studies show that people using EMDR can experience the benefits more quickly which talk therapy takes years to make a difference.

The mind can heal from psychological trauma just like our body can heal from physical trauma. If the body sustains an injury, it works to heal the wound. However, if a foreign object or repeated injury irritates the wound, it begins to fester and cause pain. Once the object is removed, healing resumes.

EMDR therapy demonstrates that a similar sequence happens for mental processes. The brain’s information processing system naturally moves toward healing and mental wellness. Trauma or disturbing experiences can create a block in the healing process and cause emotional wounds to fester. Once the block is removed, healing resumes.

I wouldn’t be doing this if it didn’t!

During EMDR, we activate the brain’s information processing system and use bilateral stimulation (right-left eye movements, alternate tapping, or sounds) to integrate unprocessed material across both hemispheres of the brain.

Once the material is integrated, communication between the brain and the nervous system improves. This means you can regulate your emotions and feel less reactive. Symptoms like anxiety and depression decrease, and you feel more peace and joy. You get triggered less easily and are more in control of your behavior.

EMDR does not take away functional mental illnesses like bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. Individuals with these conditions need to consult a psychiatrist for medication to regulate symptoms of the illness before trying EMDR therapy.

Research shows that EMDR is effective at treating PTSD, anxiety disorders, depression, phobias, panic disorder, chronic pain, and addictions.

Bessel van der Kolk, a trauma researcher, uses the following definition:

An event that overwhelms the central nervous system, which alters the way we process and recall memories.

Basically, trauma occurs when we experience something stressful, frightening, or distressing that feels outside our control. Even when we are no longer in the situation (or relationship), it can affect how we think, feel, and behave.

Trauma is a childhood of abuse and/or neglect that leaves you with profound feelings of worthlessness and shame.

It’s discovering messages to an affair partner on your spouse’s phone and feeling the shock like a knife in your gut.

Trauma is losing a loved one unexpectedly or suffering the long, drawn-out process of losing them to cancer.

It’s the relentless bullying from grade school still imprinted on your soul that eats away at your self-esteem despite your accomplishments.

It’s the false accusations your ex-spouse uses to weaponize the legal system against you.

And being alienated from your children while feeling helpless to do anything about it.

Trauma is not being believed when you speak up, leaving you feeling utterly and hopelessly alone.

It’s watching your friend die and then coming up with a thousand things you could have done differently to prevent the accident from happening.

It’s having your boundaries violated and feeling like it was your own fault.

It’s when you’ve done something that IS your own fault. When YOUR actions have been the source of someone else’s pain and terror.

Trauma happens to everyone at some point.

If you’re feeling stuck like you can’t get past it, it’s time to get professional help.

Call me for a free 15-minute consultation. Let me help you put the past in the past and live more freely in the present.

It’s difficult to say how many sessions healing will take, but a single traumatic event would likely need 2-3 sessions (85-minute sessions).

The Meninger Clinic in Houston, Texas, did a study on EMDR with rape victims. They reported that three 90-minute sessions eliminated PTSD in 90% of the participants.

Multiple studies show that EMDR effectively treated PTSD in combat veterans within 12 sessions.

More complex trauma, like childhood abuse and neglect, will likely take longer to treat. More preparation may be necessary before reprocessing adverse experiences that occurred during a developmentally sensitive period like childhood.

Each person is unique in their perception of life experiences, their temperament, and their access to inner resources like resilience and strength. These things all affect how long treatment takes.

They are things I’m assessing early in therapy as we make a treatment plan to accomplish your goals.

If you’re wondering if EMDR can help you, call or email me and let’s do a free consultation!

Something terrible happened to you, and it’s tucked away in the recesses of your brain. Digging it up and going into detail feels like asking you to swim through shark-infested waters with shark bait trailing behind you.

I get it.

The awesome thing about EMDR is you don’t have to give details to reprocess the trauma successfully. You will focus on the images, negative self-beliefs, emotions, and bodily sensations that go along with the memory.

You only share what you are comfortable with. I only need enough information to make sure your brain is processing toward an adaptive resolution.

If you’re feeling stuck, I may need a little information to help you get unstuck, but your privacy is important to me.

It takes courage to face your inner demons. You’ve already tried going around them, ignoring them, and bargaining with them. It’s time to try something else.

If you are ready for change, call me for a free 15-minute consultation.

I can help you navigate through the shark-infested waters to a nice, relaxing beach.

For the first session or two, I will gather background information and assess how ready you are to reprocess traumatic or disturbing memories with EMDR.

We will also practice some emotion regulation exercises (called resourcing in EMDR) to prepare your nervous system for reprocessing traumatic or disturbing memories.

I will help you identify targets for reprocessing based on your goals for treatment and the presenting symptoms or issues you bring.

Don’t worry if there is so much stuff in the past that you’re thinking, “Where do we begin?!”

My job is to ask the right questions, synthesize the information with my trauma and attachment lenses on, and then suggest potential targets for reprocessing.

You are in control, though. If you feel a strong pull to reprocess that day in first grade where you peed your pants in front of the whole class (it was my teacher’s fault for ignoring my raised hand!!), then tell me and let’s dive in!

Trust your mind to bring the things to the surface that need to be resolved.

Speaking of, I need to call my therapist now…

Actually, people go to prison for that kind of thing. Kidding!

I can’t stop you from trying, but I don’t recommend it.

If you are going to try reprocessing something on your own, please only attempt something rather benign like getting frustrated in line at the grocery store.

As for installing resources like peace, confidence, nurturing, and protection… you can practice tapping those into your nervous system all you like! In fact, I encourage clients to do it between sessions to strengthen their emotional regulation skills.

Reprocessing truly disturbing material takes a skilled outside observer. You need someone to help you keep one foot in the past and one foot in the present while your brain and body “digest” the trauma. And you need someone who knows how to get you unstuck when something is blocking the digestion.

Probably not what you’re thinking. This isn’t what your eccentric Uncle Jeff volunteered to participate in at the State Fair last summer.

Basically, it’s using a natural biological state of mind (called a “trance” in hypnosis) to give the subconscious mind an extra nudge toward healing.

You’ve probably experienced “highway hypnosis” where you zone out on a long stretch of road without noticing several miles go by. You’re not asleep; just in an altered state of consciousness. If a deer darted into the road, your body would kick into fight or flight so you could respond appropriately by slamming on the brakes.

Hypnosis is a tool I use to help clients reach a deep mental and physical relaxation to get the subconscious mind on board with the healing!

Don’t feel comfortable using hypnosis? No problem. You get to decide what is best for you.

I’m a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) in Idaho. I hold a bachelor’s degree in Marriage, Family, and Human Development from Brigham Young University and a master’s degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from Northwest Nazarene University.

My emphasis in graduate school was trauma, grief, and crisis. I am trained in Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy. I did my training with Connect Training and Consulting which is accredited by the EMDR International Association. I did my Clinical Hypnotherapy training with Dr. Rick Boyes who has 40 years of experience in the mental health field. He was trained by Gil Boyne, an American pioneer in modern hypnotherapy. 

So glad you asked! The Tonight Dough is my forever #1 flavor. Have you tried it?! Do yourself a favor and go get some TODAY.

I love reading and listening to mental health stuff to broaden my understanding and sharpen my professional skills. I like taking my dog, Milo, for walks and finding fun things to do with my kids. It’s always a good time to go to the movies or eat out with friends. Paddleboarding is a new favorite summer activity of mine. Yardwork is therapeutic for me. I pop in my air pods, listen to some true crime, and get mowing!

Look at you, vetting me to see if I’m legit. Yes, I did many EMDR sessions with a wonderful counselor back in 2019 and 2020 when the apocalypse was happening, and I was going through a divorce.

It was kind of a stressful time for me. Scratch that, it was so freaking stressful I thought I was literally losing my mind. Many days, all I could do was put one foot in front of the other and keep trudging forward.

Rest assured, I have walked the walk. I spent years learning about attachment theory, human development, and relationships. I went to talk therapy off and on throughout my 20s. It was all helpful to a degree.

But no matter what I did, I couldn’t shake the symptoms of anxiety and depression. Medication helped me function, but I was still spinning in negative thoughts and feelings. Hearing about EMDR in 2019 changed the game for me!

Yes, I still feel stress. I still feel anxious at times or have days where I feel kind of blah. But I don’t stay stuck there for weeks or months at a time. Anxiety and depression are no longer the constant buzzes in the background, like an annoying fly I keep swatting at but can’t get away from.

Overall, I am much more emotionally and mentally resilient. Deep-rooted wounds from my past healed. Intrusive thoughts faded away, negative self-beliefs changed, and I felt physically different. I felt more alive and clear-headed. I felt internal peace and stillness.

It was transformational and spiritually healing for me. It’s really hard to connect to God (or whatever higher power you believe in) while in a constant state of intense anxiety, depression, and self-loathing.

The results came steadily as I attended weekly appointments, reprocessed old memories, verbally processed current stressors, and made necessary changes in my life. It wasn’t easy, but I knew I couldn’t keep going like I was. Something had to change.

EMDR was like doing physical therapy for my nervous system. My body now has appropriate responses to stress without getting stuck in overdrive (anxiety) or crashing into depression.

Life is hard. EMDR can make the hard parts of life doable and much more peaceful despite the challenges. It takes courage to clean out old wounds, but it will be the best thing you ever do for yourself.

If you feel stuck, please call me for a free 15-minute consultation.