Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) helps the brain finish processing traumatic memories so they stop controlling the present. Offered by an EMDR-certified therapist and EMDRIA-Approved Consultant who has trained hundreds of clinicians in this work.
EMDR is one of the most researched treatments for post-traumatic stress, recognized by the World Health Organization and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. At Samadhi Healing Collective it is practiced by a therapist who has spent nearly two decades doing it, teaching it, and adapting it for the people standard protocols leave behind.
A note on availability. New clients are currently being accepted for ketamine-focused services, including Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy (KAP) and integration support. EMDR is woven through that work. If you are looking for EMDR on its own, please still reach out. We will let you know about openings and whether KAP might be a fit for you.
When something overwhelming happens, the brain sometimes cannot file the memory the way it files ordinary experience. The memory stays raw. It carries the original images, emotions, beliefs, and body sensations, and it can be triggered by anything that resembles it, years later. EMDR helps the brain finish that filing. You briefly hold the memory in mind while following bilateral stimulation, most often side-to-side eye movements, gentle taps, or alternating tones. With one foot in the memory and one foot in the safety of the room, the brain does what it could not do at the time. The memory does not vanish. It becomes something that happened, rather than something that is still happening.
Clinical Perspective
EMDR is not about erasing a memory or forcing yourself to relive it. It is about giving the nervous system the conditions it needs to complete what it started.
EMDR follows a structured eight-phase approach. In practice, it moves through three broad stages:
We take a careful history, understand how your nervous system responds under stress, and build the grounding skills you need before any processing begins. For complex trauma, this stage may take several sessions, and that is time well spent.
We identify a target memory and the image, belief, emotion, and body sensation attached to it. Then we move through short sets of bilateral stimulation, pausing between sets to notice what shifts. You are in control and can stop at any time.
As the charge on a memory fades, we strengthen the new, truer belief that emerges in its place and check the body for any remaining disturbance. Future situations that used to trigger you are rehearsed from this new ground.
Sessions run 60 to 90 minutes, in person at our Delaware Avenue office or by secure video for preparation and follow-up. You do not have to describe a memory in detail for EMDR to work. Many people find this one of the most relieving things about it. Between sets you will be asked simply to notice what comes up: a thought, a feeling, a sensation, an image. There is no right answer and nothing to perform. Your only job is to stay present and let your brain do the work.
EMDR was developed for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and that remains its strongest evidence base. In practice it also helps with:
I work exclusively with adults in individual therapy.
Standard EMDR can move too quickly for people with complex trauma or dissociation, and that pacing problem is where many people have had a difficult experience with EMDR elsewhere. My clinical and teaching focus is adapting EMDR for exactly these presentations: complex PTSD, dissociative identity disorder, and other specified dissociative disorder (OSDD). That means longer preparation, work with the protective parts of the self using Internal Family Systems and the conference room technique, and careful attention to keeping the work within what your system can tolerate. If EMDR has felt like too much before, it may not have been the wrong method. It may have been the wrong pace.
For some people, even carefully paced EMDR cannot reach what needs to be reached. The defenses that once kept them safe are too strong to set down in an ordinary state of mind. Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy (KAP) can create the opening that lets EMDR-informed work take hold. Used in a therapeutic frame, with your therapist in the room, ketamine softens rigid patterns and allows access to material that is otherwise out of reach. At Samadhi Healing Collective, KAP is never offered as a standalone treatment. It is trauma therapy with an additional tool, and EMDR principles run through every part of it.
Seaghan Coleman is an EMDR-certified therapist and EMDRIA-Approved Consultant with nearly two decades of clinical experience. He co-founded the Buffalo EMDR Training Institute, spent five years teaching graduate-level EMDR therapy at the University at Buffalo School of Social Work, and has delivered more than 650 hours of trauma therapy training to clinicians across the United States and Canada. He also provides consultation for therapists working toward EMDRIA certification.
EMDR is billed as psychotherapy. Seaghan is in network with Blue Cross Blue Shield (multiple plans), Independent Health, Univera, Aetna, United Healthcare, and Fidelis. Private pay sessions are $250 per hour. Payment plans and sliding scale are available in certain cases. Please ask.
If you are considering EMDR, the first step is a conversation. We offer a brief consultation to talk through what is bringing you in, answer your questions, and decide together whether this work is a fit.
Schedule a ConsultationEMDR stands for Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing. During EMDR, you briefly hold a distressing memory in mind while following a form of bilateral stimulation, most often side-to-side eye movements, taps, or tones. This dual attention, one foot in the memory and one foot in the safety of the room, appears to help the brain finish processing the memory. The memory does not disappear, but it loses its charge. It becomes something that happened rather than something that is still happening.
The first few sessions are about history, safety, and skills. You will not process a traumatic memory on day one. When you are ready, a reprocessing session begins by identifying a target memory, the image, belief, emotion, and body sensation attached to it. We then move through short sets of bilateral stimulation, pausing between sets to notice what is shifting. You are in control throughout and can stop at any time. Sessions run 60 to 90 minutes.
It depends on what you are working with. A single-incident trauma, such as an accident, can sometimes resolve in a handful of sessions. Complex trauma from childhood or long-term relationships takes longer, because there are usually many linked memories and more preparation is needed first. We will talk honestly about what to expect once we understand your history.
Yes, when it is adapted properly. Standard EMDR can move too fast for people with complex trauma or dissociation, and that pacing problem is exactly where many people have had a bad experience. Seaghan's clinical and teaching focus is adapting EMDR for complex PTSD and dissociative presentations, including careful preparation, parts work, and techniques that keep the work within what your system can tolerate.
At this time, new clients are being accepted for ketamine-focused services, including ketamine-assisted psychotherapy (KAP) and integration support. EMDR is woven into that work. If you are looking for EMDR on its own, you are still welcome to reach out. We will let you know about openings and whether KAP might be a fit for you.
Often, yes. EMDR is billed as psychotherapy. Seaghan is in network with Blue Cross Blue Shield, Independent Health, Univera, Aetna, United Healthcare, and Fidelis. Private pay sessions are $250 per hour, and payment plans or sliding scale may be available in certain cases.
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