EMDR Therapy
EMDR Therapy for Women in Boulder
You’ve done the work. Therapy, maybe years of it. You can explain exactly where it started and why it makes sense. And your body still gets there before you do. EMDR works on that part.
EMDR Therapy in Boulder • 1500 28th St. at Arapahoe Ave. • In-Person & Online
The Method
What EMDR Actually Does
Your brain already knows how to finish things. A cut closes without you deciding anything. EMDR works on the same principle, on experiences that got interrupted before they could settle.
You hold a piece of the memory in mind while your therapist guides you through bilateral stimulation. Usually eye movements. Sometimes taps, or tones through headphones. She stops between sets and asks what moved. You won’t have to tell the whole story, and you decide what you say out loud.
Colorado Women’s Center is designed for women, so you won’t spend your first session explaining context that should already be understood. EMDR is one of the approaches available among our therapy methods.
Want to learn more before reaching out? Our guide, “What is EMDR Therapy”, explains the eight phases of EMDR and gives you a clearer picture of what you can expect during a session.
Our Promise to You
We Guarantee Our Therapist Matching
EMDR asks you to stay with something hard while someone else keeps you steady. That only works with a therapist you trust. If the first one isn’t right, say so, and we’ll match you with another at no additional cost.
What This Works On
What EMDR Helps With
Trauma is the most common reason. It is nowhere near the only one. None of it has to reach a crisis before it’s worth bringing in.
Trauma and PTSD
One event. Or a long stretch of them. Either way trauma & PTSD therapy using EMDR works on the memory itself, so you don’t have to tell it well for it to help.
Anxiety That Won’t Quiet Down
Some anxiety answers to reasoning. This kind doesn’t. It just hums. When it keeps running under a life you’ve otherwise sorted out, ask your therapist about EMDR.
Panic Attacks
It shows up somewhere ordinary. A meeting. The parking lot. Nothing in the room explains it, because what it connects back to is rarely where you’re standing. That’s where the reprocessing goes.
Painful Memories
Years on, it still lands hard. You’ve stopped expecting that to change. It never finished settling, and reprocessing is what lets it.
Childhood Experiences
It got set early. Before you had words for any of it. What you expect from other people, and from yourself. EMDR can reach those memories without you building a story around them first.
Grief and Loss
Grief with guilt braided through it stops moving. Or regret. Or a conversation you’d take back. Often the work is on the one moment you keep returning to.
Phobias and Fears
The fear is bigger than the thing. It usually started somewhere specific, and that’s where EMDR goes.
Negative Self-Beliefs
It was my fault. I can’t trust myself. From the inside they read as facts. EMDR works on the experiences you built them out of.
Our Approach
Starting EMDR at the Boulder Office
Reprocessing isn’t step one. EMDR therapy in Boulder starts with preparation. Here’s the order it goes in.
Start With a Match Call
You’ll talk with a Wellness Coordinator first. She asks what you’re looking for, EMDR included if that’s what you came for, and matches you on that, on whether Boulder or online suits you, and on therapist specialty and experience.
Preparation and Grounding
Your first sessions involve no bilateral stimulation at all. Your therapist takes a history, learns how you handle being activated, and teaches you settling skills for the week between appointments. Nothing gets targeted until that’s in place.
Reprocessing at Your Pace
You and your therapist choose a target memory and the belief attached to it. Then short sets, with a pause after each one to check what moved. You can slow down, pause, or stop. Sessions are 50 minutes, and longer intensives of about three hours are available when your therapist thinks the format fits.
At the Boulder Office or Online
The office is on 28th St. at Arapahoe Ave., a few minutes from the CU campus and just down from Pearl Street. Other kinds of therapy in Boulder are at the same address. Sessions run seven days a week, 8am to 8pm.
Methods We Offer
- EMDR
- Somatic Therapy
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
- Attachment-Based Therapy
- Mindfulness-Based Approaches
- Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT)
- Gottman Method
- Family Systems Therapy
Common Questions
EMDR Questions Boulder Women Ask Us
What happens in an EMDR session?
You and your therapist pick a target memory and the belief attached to it. From there you work through short sets of bilateral stimulation, with a pause after each one. A session is 50 minutes. You set the pace, and you can slow a set down or stop it at any point.
I’ve already done years of therapy. Is EMDR still worth trying?
Often, yes. It does different work from insight-based therapy. Understanding a pattern completely and still getting caught by it is one of the most common reasons women in Boulder raise EMDR. Bring that to the Match Call, along with what you want in a therapist. It shapes who you’re matched with.
Will I have to describe what happened?
No. You choose how much you say out loud. Your therapist needs a target and enough to follow what comes up during a set. She’ll tell you before each set what she’s asking you to hold in mind. Nothing about the method needs a full account, in order, out loud.
How many sessions will this take?
That’s decided between you and your therapist rather than set in advance. It depends on what you’re bringing in, how much of it is connected, and what you want out of the work. It also depends on how the sessions are sitting with you. If a stretch is hard to tolerate, your therapist slows the pace or comes back to grounding first. That’s part of how EMDR is meant to run. Sessions at the Boulder office are 50 minutes.
How soon can I be seen in Boulder?
Match Calls are usually available within 48 hours and often within 24. Most clients are scheduled with a therapist inside a week, depending on your own availability. The office at 1500 28th St. is open seven days a week, 8am to 8pm, evenings and weekends included. Call 720.810.2355 or use the form on this page.
Does EMDR work online?
Yes. Instead of eye movements you use alternating taps or tones through headphones, over secure video anywhere in Colorado. Boulder clients often mix the two, coming in to the office some weeks and working from home in others. Our online therapy page has the details.
What if I’m not sure EMDR is right for me?
Say so on the Match Call. Your Wellness Coordinator will note EMDR as what you’re weighing and match you with a Boulder therapist trained in it. What you actually start with gets worked out between you and her in the first sessions. Booking a call doesn’t sign you up for a method.
Find Us in Boulder
Colorado Women’s Center, Boulder
EMDR therapy in Boulder is at one office, on 28th St. at Arapahoe Ave., and any session can be done over secure video instead.
You’ll find us easy to reach from Gunbarrel to the northeast, and from Louisville, Superior, Lafayette and Erie out to the southeast and east. There is parking on site.
Outside Boulder? You can do EMDR over secure video anywhere in Colorado, so getting to an office isn’t a condition of starting.
Other Nearby Locations
Longmont and Broomfield Are Often the Easier Drive
EMDR therapy for women in Colorado is available at all five Colorado Women’s Center offices. Longmont and Broomfield are the two nearest. If one of them is a shorter drive for you, start there.
