How To Prepare For EMDR Sessions

You’ve done it, you’ve secured the EMDR therapist! They take your insurance, they have openings (or you’re finally off their waitlist), and the appointment is set. You’re ready to start the work and dig in. How do you prepare for EMDR therapy though? This is a common question I get, and it’s an important one. These are some things to consider when starting EMDR. If you happen to be questioning what in the world EMDR even is, I wrote An Introduction to EMDR Therapy that explains just that.

stress management for EMDR

Okay, first thing: Coping Skills

When you start your EMDR journey, be ready to increase your use of skills. Skills and resourcing are one of the first steps in the EMDR process.

Skills help us to cope with stressors, regulate our nervous systems, and help us to ground ourselves in the present moment. The goal is to identify what helps you come back to a space of calm, helping your nervous system to feel a sense of safety.

A few examples: box breathing, walks, gentle stretching/movement, yoga, music, watching your favorite comfort show, journaling, gardening. Your skills are your own, if it helps you to feel an increased sense of calm and safety in your body, use it!

Resourcing or “building in resources” in the context of EMDR, involves installing techniques that support you in finding and coming back to a sense of calm or safety, that are specific to EMDR. A few examples include; calm/safe space, soothing butterfly tapping, light stream, or creation of an ideal parental figure or adult.

Some people stay in a space of skill building/resourcing for a while and it’s completely normal for you to need support in skill building.

Okay, so we’ve covered the importance of skill building and resourcing in EMDR sessions. The following are a few ways for you to think about preparing for your ongoing sessions.

during sessions

Comfort

Bring in a comfort item, a stuffie, a photo of something or someone positive, your favorite blanket. Comfort is your interpretation and you’re in charge here.

Sensory needs

Calming scents (aroma oil rollers, scented lotions). Grounding items such as a rock or stone, fidgets, water, caffeine free tea, mints, and/ or anything you can think of that will be helpful for comfort and grounding and can help you come back to the here and now.

Stop signal

Consider how you want to tell your therapist if you need to stop processing for a moment, or for the session. This can look like holding up your hand as a stop sign, creating a stop sign, having a safe word, or saying stop. You’ll work with your therapist on creating your stop signal. You’re in charge here and absolutely can say when you’re ready to be done.

before and after sessions

Schedule down time

I get it, you took time out of your day and already rearranged your schedule. If you can, try and schedule downtime for after the session. This work can be hard and often causes you to feel pretty tired, sometimes even into the following day/s. Think of this when you’re scheduling your sessions.

Sleep

Seriously, sleep. This may seem like a great big, “ha ha” for those of you who have sleep issues related to your trauma, or just in general. Your brain continues to sweep things into the correct receptacles in your memory networks and storage systems while you are sleeping following your sessions, so sleep is extra important while doing EMDR.

Avoid substances

Use of substances does not inherently mean you cannot engage in processing, but will definitely alternately impact the work. Leading up to, day of, and day after, work to limit use of substances. Benzodiazepines are the main medication that block your work and your clinician will highly likely opt to not engage in processing if you’ve utilized this type of medication.

Journaling

Between sessions, journal. If you don’t like journaling, jot things down in your notes app or voice to text yourself. Giving yourself the space to do this helps you continue to process, even when the session is over. Journaling helps get you in tune with what you're feeling, thinking, and what your body is telling you. Jot down: What comes up between sessions? What is happening in your dreams? What are some consistent triggers you happen to notice? Bring these things in to share with your therapist for areas to work on or even tweak for current work.

Talk to your therapist about any questions and concerns you have throughout the entire process. Let them know if you have some worries, fears, or hang ups about the process. I can assure you, they are valid. I can also assure you, as I do with almost every single one of my clients, no you are not going to “do it wrong.”The work is hard, but very worth it. I speak from experience from both sides of the couch.

Please reach out if you are interested in doing EMDR with one of our clinicians at Lifeologie Counseling Ada at (616) 929-0248, or explore all of our Lifeologie Counseling therapists who are trained in EMDR at wefixbrains.com.