Brainspotting
Therapy
Process Trauma Without Reliving It
If you've tried traditional talk therapy and felt like you were just circling the same stories without real relief, Brainspotting might be what you need. This approach accesses trauma and emotional pain through your body's natural processing system, no need to narrate every detail or analyze yourself to exhaustion.
When Talking About It Isn't Working
You might benefit from Brainspotting if
You've talked about your trauma extensively but still feel stuck
Anxiety lives in your body; chest tightness, stomach knots, tension you can't release
You have trouble putting your feelings into words
Traditional talk therapy feels too slow or intellectually focused
You experience emotional flashbacks but can't always identify why
You feel things intensely but can't always explain them
Past experiences still trigger strong physical reactions
You're tired of retelling your story over and over
Your Body Remembers
What Your Mind Tries to Forget
Trauma doesn't just live in your thoughts and memories. It gets stored in your nervous system, creating patterns of tension, reactivity, and dysregulation that talk therapy alone often can't reach.
You might be able to understand your trauma intellectually—know exactly why you react the way you do—and still feel hijacked by your body's responses. That's not a failure. That's your nervous system doing what it was designed to do: protect you from threat.
The problem is, it's protecting you from dangers that are no longer present.
Brainspotting works differently. Instead of starting with your story, we start with where you feel it in your body. By maintaining focus on specific eye positions while tuning into physical sensations, your brain can process and release trauma at the neurological level—often much faster than traditional approaches.
You don't need to understand why your body reacts this way. You just need a method that can actually reach where the trauma lives.
How Brainspotting Therapy Works
Your Session
We'll identify what you want to work on—a memory, sensation, or emotional state. I'll help you find a "brainspot"—an eye position that activates the issue. You maintain that gaze while noticing what emerges. There's no "right" way to do it.
Gentle Processing
Unlike trauma therapies requiring you to recount details, Brainspotting is surprisingly gentle. You're in control. You decide how deep to go. Many describe it as "productive spacing out"—your conscious mind relaxes while your deeper brain does the work.
Brain-Based Healing
Brainspotting accesses your brain's natural healing ability through your field of vision. Where you look affects how you feel. We locate and process trauma stored subcortically—below where talk therapy typically reaches—often achieving faster results.
What We Treat
• Trauma and PTSD
• Anxiety and panic
• Grief and loss
• Performance anxiety
• Chronic pain with emotional components
• Creative blocks
• Relationship patterns
• Emotional dysregulation
• Feeling "stuck" despite other therapeutic work
What to Expect
FIRST SESSION
Assessment and Introduction
We'll talk about what brings you to Brainspotting and what you hope to resolve. I'll explain the process in detail and answer all your questions. If you're ready, we might do a brief demo so you can experience what it feels like.
DURING TREATMENT
Active Processing
Each session focuses on a specific target—a memory, sensation, belief, or emotional state. Progress often happens in layers. You might feel immediate relief after one session, or you might need several sessions to fully process a particular issue.
Between sessions, your brain continues integrating the work. You might notice shifts in how you feel, react, or think about things. Some people experience vivid dreams or emotional releases. This is all part of healing.
ONGOING
Integration and Maintenance
As you process stored trauma, you'll likely notice cascading improvements—things you didn't even realize were connected start shifting. Triggers lose their power. Physical tension eases. Emotional reactions become more proportionate. You feel more present and less hijacked by your past.
How Brainspotting Therapy Compares to Other Approaches
Brainspotting vs. Talk Therapy
Talk Therapy
Focuses on understanding, analyzing, and making meaning of your experiences. Works primarily with your conscious, verbal mind.
Brainspotting
Focuses on releasing stored trauma from your body and nervous system. Works with deeper brain structures where trauma actually lives.
Both are valuable. Many clients use them together—Brainspotting for processing, talk therapy for integration and skill-building. In my practice, we can move fluidly between approaches based on what you need in any given session.
Brainspotting Therapy vs. EMDR
EMDR
Uses bilateral eye movements to process trauma. Structured protocol with specific phases. Highly effective and research-backed approach for trauma and PTSD.
Brainspotting
Uses fixed eye positions to access and process trauma. More flexible and less structured. Adapts fluidly to your unique process and needs.
Both are powerful approaches. EMDR is a great option for many people. I refer to fantastic EMDR therapists all the time! But some clients find Brainspotting more comfortable—especially if you're neurodivergent or find rigid protocols difficult. There's no "right" or "wrong" way to do Brainspotting. Your process is your process.
Why I Use Brainspotting
After 25 years as a therapist, I've seen countless clients who were smart, insightful, and deeply committed to their healing—but still stuck. They could explain their trauma, understand their patterns, and articulate exactly what they needed to do differently. But they couldn't actually do it.
That's when I knew I needed tools that work below the level of conscious thought.
It's particularly effective for my neurodivergent clients who sometimes struggle with the talking-and-analyzing approach. Many ADHD brains actually find the focused-yet-spacious quality of Brainspotting easier to access than traditional therapy.
You Don't Have to Keep Carrying This
Whatever you've been through, you don't have to keep reliving it. Your brain is trying to heal, it just needs the right conditions.
Brainspotting creates those conditions. It offers a way to process trauma that honors both your need for safety and your capacity for healing.
If you're tired of feeling stuck, tired of your body's reactions controlling you, tired of talking about the same pain without relief, let's try something different.
Want to know more about costs? Check the [Fees & Insurance] page. Have other questions? Read the [FAQ].
Brainspotting Therapy FAQ
The following questions address common concerns about Brainspotting therapy, including how it is used within treatment and how it fits into a broader therapeutic approach.