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EMDR is one of the tools used in online trauma therapy, and it targets specific memories that still feel distressing today. The memory stays with you, but the strong reactions attached to it ease over time. Trauma therapists introduce EMDR once there’s enough safety and steadiness within you to revisit difficult experiences.
Dr. Francine Shapiro developed EMDR around the Adaptive Information Processing model. This model suggests that unprocessed memories can shape present-day feelings, beliefs, and reactions, such as anxiety or thoughts like “I am not good enough.”
EMDR Within the Stages of Online Trauma Therapy
EMDR follows a structured 8-phase protocol, which falls into 3 clear stages.
- Safety and preparation (phases 1 to 2): You and your therapist talk about your history, your goals, and the memories that still cause distress. They will introduce grounding skills to calm your nervous system before memory work begins.
- Memory reprocessing (phases 3 to 6): You focus on one specific memory while following a moving dot on screen or tapping on yourself. Your therapist looks for distressing signals, which are often unspoken body cues.
- Closure and review (phases 7 to 8): Each session ends with grounding so you leave steady and settled. At the next session, your therapist reviews your progress and picks the next memory to target.
Typical Number of EMDR Sessions
EMDR works as a short-term, focused approach within online trauma therapy. According to EMDRIA, here is what a typical course looks like:
- History and planning usually take 1 to 2 sessions at the start.
- Preparation and grounding skills take 1 to 4 sessions for most people.
- Reprocessing a single traumatic memory generally happens within 3 sessions.
- Each EMDR session lasts between 60 and 90 minutes.
People with several distressing memories may need additional sessions, since each memory gets its own reprocessing.
Why do therapists incorporate EMDR into online trauma therapy?
Trauma can affect your mood, body, and relationships, so therapists pair EMDR with other approaches. Together, these approaches support you in a few important ways:
- Address co-occurring symptoms, such as depression, anxiety, or dissociation.
- Support nervous system regulation before and after EMDR sessions.
- Build coping skills you can use on your own between sessions.
- Help you put new beliefs, such as “I am safe now,” into practice in daily life.
Therapies That Support Online EMDR Therapy
Online EMDR therapy works alongside these approaches, which prepare you for reprocessing and support you after it.
1. Polyvagal Therapy
With Polyvagal Therapy, you learn to recognise when your nervous system gets stuck in fight, flight, or shutdown. In the preparation stage, this awareness shows when you feel steady enough for memory work. It also gives you simple ways to notice and respond to activation between sessions.
2. Somatic Experiencing
Somatic Experiencing uses gentle awareness of physical sensations to help your body release stored stress. Before reprocessing begins, it regulates your nervous system so trauma work feels manageable. It also supports the body scan phase of EMDR, where you check your body for any leftover tension or distress.
3. Internal Family Systems
Internal Family Systems explores the parts of you that hold pain, fear, or protective roles. Some protective parts block access to a memory because revisiting it feels unsafe to them. Your therapist gets to know these parts and builds their trust before reprocessing continues.
4. Attachment-based Therapy
Attachment-based Therapy explores how early relationships shaped your patterns of trust, closeness, and self-protection. EMDR may target childhood memories first when difficulties begin early in life. With this understanding, you can build secure connections and clear boundaries in present-day relationships.
5. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
ACT builds awareness of difficult thoughts and emotions without letting them take over. Its mindfulness skills keep you grounded and present in and between EMDR sessions. Once a memory loses its emotional charge, you can focus on steps that reflect your values.
Begin online trauma therapy in Ontario
Online trauma therapy gives you space to process difficult memories with support at each stage. As a therapist trained in EMDR, IFS, Polyvagal, Somatic, Attachment-based Therapy, and ACT, I aim to create a safe space. You set the pace, and we begin memory work only when you feel ready.
If you’re in Ontario, I am here to support your healing journey.