Brainspotting

Brainspotting is an offshoot of EMDR (Eye Movement and Desensitization and Reprocessing) therapy processes and was developed by Dr. David Grand in 2002. It is a specific therapy used to help process and heal trauma and stress, which can overwhelm the brain’s processing capacity, leaving behind pieces of the trauma, frozen in an unprocessed state. Brainspotting uses our field of vision to find where we are holding these traumas, seeking the specific internal spot where the trauma is stored. It then allows deep non-verbal processing to release and resolve the trauma. It is based on the premise that the brain is naturally self-healing and the role of the therapist is to set and hold a frame that promotes the client’s innate self-healing capacities. Brainspotting is a powerful and focused treatment method that works by identifying, processing, and releasing core neuro-physiological sources of emotional/body pain, trauma, dissociation, and a variety of challenging symptoms. Brainspotting has also proven to be an effective treatment for depression, anxiety, chronic pain, creative or performance blocks, phobias and sleep disorders. Treatment is usually brief (2-20 sessions depending on presenting issue/ issues) and can be used as the primary treatment method or in conjunction with talk therapy.