EMDR & EMDR-Intensives
Eye Movement Desensitization & Reprocessing Therapy: Reduce Disturbing Memories & Shift Unhelpful Thoughts About Yourself
Available In-Person in Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Available Virtually, Statewide in Florida, Virginia and Washington DC
The benefits of EMDR are far reaching and there is evidence to back this up.
EMDR is a phenomenal tool that helps people overcome disturbing memories and reverse the impacts of negative core beliefs (sometimes referred to as unhelpful cognitions/thoughts). In addition, it helps reduce triggers that cause unhelpful and automatic responses, including undesired behaviors.
As a result, in addition to being the gold standard for trauma treatment, EMDR can also be utilized for almost any presenting reason someone may seek therapy. Jordan has even helped multiple individuals quit smoking and reduce urges for addictions with EMDR’s De-TUR protocol!
EMDR can bring relief from unhelpful or intrusive thoughts. It can bring balance to your life. It can help where traditional talk therapy hasn’t worked for you. It can help with depression, anxiety and many other symptoms people live with after having lived through overwhelming events that have not fully been metabolized by the brain and body. It can even help those who have been through years of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) but still find reframing isn’t enough.
Jordan integrates EMDR as a tool into most sessions and treatment plans; and, also offers the opportunity to reduce time in treatment with EMDR-intensives; a multi-hour format treatment approach.
EMDR-Intensive Therapy
EMDR-intensives can assist with deep diving into topics, triggers and issues, which provides greater insight and clarity than traditional weekly, 60 minute sessions may afford. Intensive-format EMDR will likely also reduce one’s overall treatment cost.
This option is available in-person or remotely. Though there is no minimum or maximum commitment, most current clients find that blocks of three hours at a time are most impactful. For those seeking EMDR-intensives only, historically, Jordan has met for many hours at a time over blocks of two to four days.
Who will benefit from EMDR Intensives?
The truth is most anyone will benefit; however, you must first have an assessment session to gauge if an intensive session is indicated for your concerns and symptoms.
Is it guaranteed I will be seen for intensives after my intake?
It depends. EMDR is not appropriate to be started immediately for all persons. For some clients it may be recommended to meet for a few one-hour sessions before embarking on intensives. (For those already under weekly treatment, intensives can be requested at any time.)
Clients who have experienced a single-incident trauma (click here for more information on single-incident traumas) are more likely to benefit from EMDR intensives immediately; whereas those with a more complex trauma history will likely benefit from attending weekly therapy for a few months and then shifting into intensive-EMDR blocks.
EMDR-Certified Therapist by EMDRIA–Why It Matters
Jordan Nodelman, LCSW is a Certified EMDR Psychotherapist, certified by EMDRIA International EMDR Association. Why does this matter?
Anyone who attends Level 1 EMDR training can say they are a trained-EMDR therapist. Certified EMDR Therapists meet the highest standards in the EMDR clinician community. Jordan has completed Level 1, Level 2, Completed 30 hours of EMDRIA Approved Consultation Hours with a high-level, EMDR Consultant who has been in the field since EMDR’s inception. Additionally, as a Certified EMDR Professional, Jordan is required to complete a minimum of 12-hours of Continuing Education specific to EMDR every certification renewal cycle, though he completes much more than the minimum. As of 2024, Jordan has conducted over 5,000 hours of EMDR sessions and/or EMDR crisis interventions.
Jordan continues to seek consultation for complex client situations from other clinicians in the EMDR community, assuring you that you will be working with an EMDR therapist who is knowledgeable, comfortable with different protocols and insightful into states, such as dissociation, which make EMDR processing challenging and more nuanced. Finally, Jordan is an EMDRIA-Approved Consultant-in-Training, currently obtaining and training other psychotherapists seeking EMDR-Certification.
For access to the EMDRIA Focal Point Blog, click here
EMDR Certified Therapist in Fort Lauderdale
EMDR Certified Therapist Virtually in Florida
EMDR Certified Therapist Virtually in Virginia
EMDR Certified Therapist Virtually in Washington DC
EMDR Certified Therapist
Telehealth in Florida | Telehealth in Virginia | Telehealth in Washington DC
What does a basic/traditional EMDR course of treatment look like?
The following information outlines the basic protocol for EMDR. There are many protocols and ways EMDR Clinicians build upon this basic protocol. Consider the following information as the foundation of EMDR.
EMDR is an art, built upon this foundation.
There are eight phases to the foundation of EMDR therapy treatment.
The traditional 8-Phases are:
Phase 1: History taking and making sure EMDR is suitable for your specific needs, including looking at past events that have created the current issues in your life, current triggers and any needs you have in your future.
**History taking will include screening tools to gauge if you have dissociative symptoms that may require more preparation before addressing the issue(s) you are looking to work through.
Phase 2: Preparation for processing may include educating the client on connections between past and present, including the integration of techniques for the client to be able to regulate themselves.
Phase 3: Assessment where the therapist accesses the target (issue ) to be processed and baseline measurements using scaling, negative and more adaptive beliefs identified, and emotions and body sensations discussed.
Phase 4: Desensitization* phase where processing toward a state of no distress, allowing the client to gain insights, work through the emergence of emotions and physical sensations and memories.
Phase 5: Installation of the desired, positive belief and integrate that into your memory network, assisting your neural network to think differently about the memory/issue that was desensitized.
Phase 6: Body Scan to rid your body of any residual physical sensations.
Phase 7: Closure where you and the therapist discuss expectations and plan for between-session time, including (if necessary) meditations to stabilize (in case desensitization was not possible during a session).
Phase 8: Reassessment will start at the next session to make sure EMDR is effective and that you are able to integrate insights and having positive outcomes.
*The desensitization phase (Phase 4) can take multiple sessions depending on the complexity of the issue(s) being processed.
At Nodelman Counseling & Psychotherapy, EMDR has been shown to help those suffering from the burden of trauma, self-esteem issues, depression, phobias and stressful life events. More recently, Jordan has worked with adults living with ADHD, ADD and Learning Differences who have found themself in repeated cycles of anxiety, procrastination, and lowered esteem. EMDR has been transformative for many people living with ADHD, ADD and Learning Differences shift unhelpful thoughts.
It has also been shown to be highly effective as a way of helping clients looking to shift out of negative beliefs and negative self-evaluation that are holding them back from living a fulfilling life.
Most clients report being at peace with the issue they came into therapy with, gaining insights about what happened to them and are able to move on from therapy feeling more free and less burdened by the issue that brought them here.
EMDR works because it assists the brain in retrieving distressing memories during therapy and gaining new insights on them. In the process, your brain and body stores the memories tied to stressful life events and negative core beliefs in a way that becomes more adaptive and less stressful than it was prior to therapy. The result is you will feel less triggered and think more adaptively about the events and similar events moving forward.
We offer EMDR counseling to adults seeking help for:
-Life transitions
-Shifting negative self-evaluation to positive self-evaluation
-Specific issues rooted in negative belief patterns
-Adults feeling stuck in life: work, relationships, feeling blue
-Adults (especially established professionals) who are living with ADD, ADHD or Learning Differences and who have been living with shame and developed unhelpful thoughts such as self-doubt, negative comparisons with peers, and exhaustion caused by perfectionism.
-Clients suffering from Acute Stress Disorder, PTSD, Complex-PTSD (c-PTSD) or Vicarious Trauma (First Responders)
–Survivors of a traumatic event or series of traumatic events
-Clients who have experienced childhood trauma, including physical, emotional or sexual abuse
-Clients who were betrayed and traumatized and “stuck” because of the experience
-Individuals looking to overcome awful memories
-Mild to Moderate Depression
-Client who have been through talk therapy and still find they are perpetually negative or stuck
EMDR can be provided by telehealth (Real-Time Virtual Video) and we have had many success stories with Telehealth EMDR (a video feed is mandatory and a laptop or large monitor is preferable though not necessary.)