By April Lehman, LPC

EMDRIA Consultant in Training

What is anxiety? These days it seems like the norm to hear people say they have “anxiety.”  Especially over the past few years in the wake of Covid, political turmoil, and racial injustice, I think all therapists can agree we have seen an uptick in clients seeking therapy due to anxiety.  And not just adults, kids are feeling the effects as well. But what is anxiety? Anxiety can be described as worry and fear regarding everyday situations. However, when these symptoms are persistent and begin to interrupt your daily functioning they can meet criteria for an anxiety disorder. 

So, how do we manage anxiety and prevent it from interfering in our lives? There are some things we must understand first. It is normal to have some anxiety. Having some anxiety helps us stay out of harm's way and helps us prepare for important tasks. It’s completely normal to feel nervous about a first date or have anxiety...

By Katie Honeywell, LPCMH, NCC

Consultant In Training

Have you ever had one of those moments? One instance triggers an uncomfortable emotion that seeps into the whole day, the week, or longer. You aren’t alone. Many of my clients have experienced this, and so have I. It's an icky sensation of feeling emotionally stuck. These stuck emotions can significantly disrupt our lives if they linger, affecting our relationships, work, sleep, and other critical aspects of life. 

Let’s first look into our nervous system and answer why this emotional stuckness happens. Then I will give a few suggestions showing you how to release stuck emotions from within your own body. 

I lean into Polyvagal Theory to understand our nervous system. Simply put, this theory hypothesizes that the goal of our nervous system is to feel safe, connected, curious, present, and grounded. When our nervous system perceives a threat, it will remain in a fight, flight, or freeze response until it...

By Sarah Martin, LCPC, NCC
EMDRIA Approved Consultant

Alpha-Stim is a powerful tool to help people with emotion regulation and widening their window of tolerance. According to the website https://alpha-stim.com/, “The Alpha-Stim cranial electrotherapy stimulation (CES) device delivers a natural level of microcurrent, via small clips worn on your earlobes, through the brain to stimulate and modulate specific groups of nerve cells.” The microcurrent the device produces helps stimulate alpha-wave production in the brain and it is cleared by the FDA to treat anxiety, depression, insomnia, and chronic pain.

Types of Alpha-Stim devices  

There are two types of Alpha-Stim devices: the AID and the M. The AID device is for anxiety, depression, and insomnia utilizing ear clips to deliver the microcurrent.  Licensed mental health providers are authorized to prescribe the AID. The M device is specific for treating localized pain and comes with probes for delivering the...

By Marlee Bardenett, LCPC, NCC

EMDRIA Consultant in Training

When I was trained in EMDR, I was so excited to have such a powerful approach for treating trauma. As a bonus, I was thrilled to hear that EMDR and Sandtray could be used together. EMDR is so adaptable and allows clinicians to bring their creative interventions to the trauma processing space. I was trained in Sandtray Therapy while I was in graduate school. Being trained in Sandtray and EMDR has allowed me to combine two passions. Sandtray and EMDR are well-suited to be used together to support clients. I have noticed that Sandtray is especially helpful for clients who need support with visualizing and grounding.

Homeyer and Sweeney define Sandtray Therapy as “an expressive and projective mode of psychotherapy involving the unfolding and processing of intra- and interpersonal issues through the use of specific sandtray materials as a nonverbal medium of communication, led by the client(s) and facilitated by a...

By Jamie Sedgwick, LCPC, NCC 

EMDRIA Approved Consultant

2020 was a year of challenges and changes. For many of us, our lives have been forever changed. One necessary challenge and change was an openness regarding the impact of systemic racism on our country. Understanding the impacts of systemic racism led me to consider how it has impacted the field of psychology, what changes need to be made and how EMDR can potentially be utilized to treat cultural and racial trauma. 

Systemic Racism and Psychotherapy

I have often felt that my Master’s program’s one course requirement in cultural competency did not do anything to make me culturally or racially competent as a therapist. If anything, I remember walking away from that course with an unsettled feeling. It was a textbook full of “facts” and “statistics” about races and cultures that did nothing to make me feel more prepared to be a culturally competent therapist. In reflection, that...

By Jamie Sedgwick, LCPC, NCC 

EMDRIA Approved Consultant

An increase in information about trauma, PTSD and C-PTSD has led to an increase in the demand for Trauma Therapists. However, there are no clear guidelines on what is actually required to be a Trauma Therapist. There are plenty of training programs that promise a “Certification” once completed and all these programs and trainings contain different information and different levels of engagement. Ultimately, pretty much anyone can call themselves a “Trauma Therapist” meaning that Trauma Therapists and their skill sets vary greatly. 

So how do you become a Trauma Therapist that is truly equipped to help clients heal from trauma? 

Take Time to Become Trauma-Informed 

Trauma-Informed treatment approaches consist of three elements: realizing the prevalence of trauma, recognizing the impact of trauma and responding in a way that puts this knowledge into action.1In layman’s terms,...

By Sarah C. Smith-Trawick, LCSW-C 

EMDRIA Approved Consultant

Have you noticed how trauma seems to be everywhere these days?

By now, most clinicians are familiar with “Big T” traumas such as a car accident, an assault, a natural disaster, or even the death of a significant person in your life.

Are you familiar with “Small t” traumas which could include the loss of a job, a divorce, or infidelity in a romantic relationship?

Traumatic events can also include other persistent adverse experiences including poverty, neglect, community or household violence, and growing up in a home where a caregiver suffers from mental health challenges or substance abuse. We each have our own unique ways of responding to events that overwhelm our system. These events (or series of events) can sometimes alter our worldview and our view of ourselves. What is traumatic to one person may not be considered traumatic to another person. Additionally, while we all might experience...

By Jamie Sedgwick, LCPC, NCC
EMDRIA Approved Consultant

Increased access to social media in recent years has meant more access to information about mental health and various diagnoses. There are pros and cons to the increased exposure, with one of the biggest drawbacks being no quality control to verify the accuracy of the information being shared. Individuals hoping to better understand themselves or a loved one may receive inaccurate or biased information.

One mental health diagnosis that has garnered a lot of social media attention is Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). This is a diagnosis that has carried a negative connotation even among medical professionals. Some even believe this diagnosis cannot be cured. As a result, many clinicians will refuse to treat BPD and attempt to refer those who have it to other clinicians.

As a clinician specializing in this disorder, I have seen a significant increase in the amount of individuals self-diagnosing and seeking treatment. Due to...

By: Katie Honeywell, LPCMH, NCC

How does the brain change with trauma? The word “trauma” is becoming more familiar to the general population. Many people recognize the psychological impact of being in physical danger or witnessing someone being in danger. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition defines trauma in relationship to a near-death experience of oneself or a loved one (2013). However, you will hear the echoes from trauma therapists, that the existence of trauma is less about the content of the experience and more about the process of the nervous system. In other words, if the nervous system is overwhelmed, then it is trauma.

Let’s highlight a few examples of events that at face value may not seem life-threatening, but can be traumatic. Humans see the world through an individualized lens based on what we have experienced and learned thus far in life. We can look at Maslow's Hierarchy of needs for some guidance on threats of...

By Katie Honeywell, LPCMH, NCC

Do you have personality traits that you or others in your life feel strongly about? Most of us do. Chances are these traits have been with you for a long time. They can be signs of untreated trauma. One way I can spot childhood trauma in adults is where these traits fall in our nervous system and how it shows up day to day.

Have you heard of polyvagal theory developed by Stephen Porges (2011)? The pieces from polyvagal theory important for learning here are the three areas of the nervous system. The sympathetic system is one, and it activates hyperarousal states of fight or flight behaviors. The dorsal vagal system shuts the body down into a hypoarousal freeze response as it realizes there are very few options for survival and attempts to conserve energy. Polyvagal theory adds our social engagement system, which is a mixture of activation and calming. The social engagement system is where people feel safe, connected, and ready to experience the world....