EMDR Therapy in British Columbia
What Might Change if Your Body Became a Part of the Conversation?
What Is EMDR 2.0?
EMDR 2.0, developed by Suzy Matthijssen and Ad de Jongh, is an enhanced approach to EMDR that places greater emphasis on deliberately taxing working memory while traumatic material is activated. It uses distraction and cognitively demanding techniques—with the intention to make it harder for the brain to maintain the memory in its original vivid and emotionally charged form. For some people, the process can even feel surprisingly light or engaging.
This approach can be particularly useful for people who experience dissociation, high levels of anxiety, or difficulty imagining or accessing traumatic material. By working with the memory without requiring someone to fully immerse themselves in it, EMDR 2.0 offers another pathway toward processing experiences that may otherwise feel difficult to approach.
EMDR can be offered effectively through secure online sessions!
In fact, you can even use buzzers remotely if you purchase your own. This allows me to control them during sessions from my couch to yours. Click here to leave this website and browse telehealth buzzers.
What Is EMDR- Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing
EMDR is a somatic, experiential therapy, developed by Francine Shapiro that does not require extensive talking about the details of what happened. Instead, it uses bilateral stimulation and focused attention to support the processing of experiences that may remain emotionally or physically ‘stuck.’ EMDR can be helpful for single traumatic incidents, cumulative or complex trauma, and deeply embedded maladaptive beliefs that have developed from past experiences. It can also be useful for future fears and phobias.
As memories are reprocessed, clients often find that previously triggering topics begin to feel increasingly distant—more like something viewed from far away, rather than something that is still happening now. EMDR can be provided effectively through secure online sessions, making this approach accessible regardless of location. For research on its efficacy, click here.
Sometimes healing means creating enough space between then and now to discover that you are here, and the past is there. From that space, new choices become possible.
Annamarie has training in standard EMDR, EMDR 2.0 and integrating Ego State work and Hypnotherapy with EMDR.
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EMDR is one of the most extensively researched approaches for trauma and PTSD. A meta-analysis of 26 randomized controlled trials found significant reductions in PTSD symptoms, as well as associated anxiety, depression, and psychological distress (Chen et al., 2014).
EMDR is also recommended by NICE, the UK's National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, as a treatment for adults with PTSD following trauma. Current guidelines typically recommend approximately 8–12 sessions, although treatment length varies depending on the individual and the complexity of their experiences (Bates et al., 2026).
“The past affects the present even without our being aware of it.”
— Francine ShapiroEMDR helps bring unresolved experiences into a state where they can be processed differently. By helping people process memories, sensations, and associated beliefs in new ways, experiences that once felt present and threatening can become more connected to the past and may carry less emotional or physiological charge. The goal isn't to erase what happened, but to help you experience the present as the present—and to have more freedom to choose what comes next.
