Dr. Karma Guindon, RSW & Associates
DBR & EMDR
DBR and EMDR are evidence-based therapies developed from advances in brain research. They work at the root level of how the brain processes experiences, helping to release the impact of past trauma and stress. In both approaches, you remain awake, alert, and fully in control—the changes that happen come from your brain’s natural ability to heal.​
EMDR
By working at the level of your brain’s neural networks, EMDR allows distressing memories to be reprocessed and stored more adaptively
EMDR is an evidence-based therapy that helps your brain process implicit and explicit memories of stressful or traumatic experiences that may stored in separate systems in the brain. These memories, when activated by a triggering experience, can show up as distressing emotions, physical sensations, or negative beliefs about yourself. EMDR helps your brain reprocess these experiences so they can be stored more adaptively, allowing you to feel calmer and more present in your daily life.
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What happens in an EMDR session?
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EMDR therapy follows a series of structured phases that include learning grounding skills, processing memories, and checking in on changes over time.
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During processing, you’ll choose a specific memory to process. You’ll notice the image, the feelings and body sensations it brings up, and the negative belief attached to it. While holding this in mind, your therapist guides you through gentle left-right stimulation—such as following their fingers with your eyes, listening to alternating tones, or using light tapping (like the “butterfly hug”).
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This happens in short sets, with pauses in between. During each pause, your therapist will check in with you about what you’re noticing, and encourage you to gently follow where your mind naturally goes. The process continues until the memory feels less distressing. At that point, positive and empowering beliefs can be reinforced using the same gentle stimulation, so they feel stronger and easier to access.
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How EMDR helps
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As old distressing memories are reprocessed, the emotions, sensations, and negative beliefs linked to them lose their intensity. Over time, EMDR helps reduce emotional reactivity, shift unhelpful patterns, and open the door to healthier ways of thinking, feeling, and relating to others.
DBR
DBR gently works at the brainstem level to release deep stress responses,
helping you feel calmer and more present.
Deep Brain Reorienting (DBR) works at a deeper level of the brain than EMDR, where information from the environment is first noticed, assessed for threat or safety, and reacted to. It is an evidence-based therapy designed to help people change how their brain and body respond to stress, trauma, or overwhelming emotions. Many clients describe DBR as a gentle but powerful way of healing patterns that feel “stuck” and problematic.
What happens in a DBR session?
Together, you and your therapist choose a focus—this is usually something in your present life that feels triggering (called an “activating stimulus”). Once that’s chosen, your therapist helps you get grounded by finding the “Where Self” so that you feel as oriented to the present as possible.
From there, you’ll be guided to notice initial physical sensations that arise— namely around the eyes, forehead, or back of the neck. These are natural body signals that arise from orienting to significant stimuli that come from deep in the brainstem. They act as anchors, giving you something steady to return to if the process feels intense.
As the session unfolds, you may notice brief “shock” sensations—your body’s automatic survival response to overwhelming events. For people who have lived through trauma, these sensations can get stuck and show up even when life is now safe. By slowing down and gently staying with these signals, DBR helps your body recognize that things are different now.
How does DBR help?
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DBR creates space for your brain to process and release patterns of vigilance and survival responding. Instead of being swept up in panic/fear, rage, grief/sadness, shame, or shutdown, you can gradually learn to stay present with what’s happening, both inside and outside. Over time, this allows your body and brain to experience and respond in new, healthier ways.
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Clients often notice that they:
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Feel calmer and more grounded in their body
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Think more clearly in stressful moments
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Experience less distress from triggers
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Respond with more choice and less reactivity
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Feel more peaceful, energized, and joyful in daily life
EMDR & DBR: Healing at the Root for Lasting Change
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Sometimes talk alone isn’t enough. EMDR and DBR are evidence-based therapies that help your brain process and release the effects of past experiences—right at their source. By working with the body and the deeper brain systems where trauma is stored, these approaches create real, lasting change so you can feel calmer, more connected, and free to move forward.
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​If you’d like to explore how therapy can help you heal at the root, learn more about our Individual Psychotherapy, Couples Therapy or meet our therapists who specialize in relationships, mental health, and trauma care.