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EMDR Therapy in Maryland
For Adults Healing from Relationship Trauma and Attachment Wounds
Serving Maryland, Virginia, & Washington DC
What is EMDR?
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) Therapy provides significant relief from the distress caused by traumatic or painful experiences.
This method has eight stages. It helps people recover emotionally. It builds resilience and empowers them to take back their lives.
Benefits of EMDR Therapy
Efficiency
EMDR Therapy typically achieves results sooner than most traditional talk therapies.
1
Broad Applicability
EMDR treats more than PTSD or trauma. It's effective for anxiety, phobias, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and other disorders.
2
Evidenced-Based
EMDR is one of the most researched therapies and its efficacy is well-proven. It is recognized by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the American Psychological Association (APA).
3
Client Empowerment
The client plays an active role in the therapy process, fostering a sense of empowerment and control.
4
You May Benefit from EMDR...
If you experience any of the following, you may benefit from EMDR therapy:
A Note From the Therapist Kassandra Barry
I help adults in Maryland, Virginia, and DC heal from relationship trauma, attachment wounds, and fear of abandonment. I also help people work through people-pleasing patterns and the emotional fallout of harmful or abusive relationships.
As many have, you might have experienced pain in relationships that should have felt safe. You might be wondering if you'll ever heal or if this is how you will always feel. It doesn't have to be. Healing is possible.
-Kassandra
If you'd like to learn more about my background and approach to EMDR, visit my About page.
1
History
The first stage of EMDR is about understanding your history and how EMDR can support your goals. Rather than delving into every detail of your past, we work together to find key memories, patterns, and themes affecting your well-being.
Includes: clarifying your concerns and goals, identifying target memories, assessing readiness, and building a tailored treatment plan
2
Preparation
This stage helps you feel informed, empowered, and ready before reprocessing begins. We will discuss bilateral stimulation and what to expect. Also, we will go over coping skills and other techniques that we may need to use.
Includes: coping strategies, grounding techniques, identifying resources, and establishing a sense of control throughout therapy.
3
Assessment
Rather than retelling the story, this phase focuses on how the brain stores the memory and how distressful the memory feels. Together, we will identify a specific image, the negative beliefs tied to it, and the positive belief you would like to hold instead.
Includes: rating emotional distress, noticing how true the positive belief feels, and tracking physical sensations connected to the memory
4
Desensitization
This is where we spend most of our time in the EMDR process. This is where we begin reprocessing using bilateral stimulation such as eye movements, tapping, or tones. During reprocessing, you notice what thoughts, feelings, or physical sensations surface while the distress gradually eases.
This phase allows you to think and feel about the memory differently, often with more insight and less intensity.
5
Installation
Once the distress is gone or neutralized, we shift our focus to strengthening the positive belief. The positive belief, also called the positive cognition, can be something like "I am safe now" or "I am worthy". The goal is to take a factual statement and make it feel more true to you.
This phase supports self-compassion, replacing shame or blame, and building confidence and self-worth
6
Body Scan
This phase about the mind-body connection. Trauma is not just emotional or cognitive; it can be physical as well. The body scan involved mentally scanning from head to toe for any lingering physical tension or sensations tied to the memory. If present, we use bilateral stimulation to release it.
Trauma can stay in the body. True healing means relief physically as well as emotionally.
7
Closure
Every session ends with closure to ensure you leave the session feeling grounded and stable, even if the memory is not fully processed yet. We return to a calm state together and reinforce the coping skills available to you.
May include grounding exercises, visualization, and reflecting on the progress made during the session.
8
Re-evaluation
At the start of each new session, we check in on your progress and any changes since the last session. We assess whether the target memory feels less distressful or neutral, whether new material has emerged, and how you feel about the memory.
This keeps therapy effective and provides an opportunity, if needed, to adjust the plan. This is one of the ways EMDR ensures lasting results.
Have Questions? Ready to Schedule?
Curious about what therapy is like?
Read what clients have shared about their experience.