EMDR Therapy in Lakewood & Longmont

Are you tired of a past that will not stay in the past?

You have done the work. You have talked about it, journaled about it, and maybe tried to just push through it. But the feeling is still there. A tightening in your chest when you hear a certain tone of voice. A wave of panic that seems to come from nowhere. A shame that floods your body before your brain can even catch up. Maybe it was a single event: a car accident, a birth that went wrong, or a moment of violence that changed everything. Or maybe it was slower than that. Years of being told you were not enough. A childhood where you learned to disappear. A relationship that wore you down so gradually you did not realize what was happening until you were already someone you did not recognize. Here is what we want you to know: you are not broken. You are not weak for still feeling this. Your brain has memories that never got fully processed, and those memories are running your nervous system like a program stuck on repeat. EMDR therapy is designed to help your brain finish what it started.

EMDR Therapy Serving Lakewood, Longmont, and All of Colorado

We offer in-person EMDR therapy at our Lakewood office and HIPAA-compliant telehealth EMDR to clients across Colorado. Our Lakewood team includes five EMDRIA-trained clinicians, which makes it one of the larger dedicated EMDR teams on the southwest side of the Denver metro. Lakewood office. Our Lakewood location at 12211 W. Alameda Pkwy, Suite 106, is easy to reach from Belmar, Green Mountain, Solterra, Eiber, and Applewood. We regularly see clients driving in from Golden, Denver, Littleton, Arvada, Wheat Ridge, Morrison, Englewood, and Evergreen, along with the broader Jefferson County and West Denver metro area. The office sits just off the West Alameda Parkway corridor, a short drive from 6th Avenue and the Highway 285 interchange. Longmont office and telehealth. Our Longmont office at 438 Terry St in Old Town serves as a base for our clinical team in Boulder County and the Northern Front Range. For EMDR specifically, Longmont and Boulder-area clients typically work with our Lakewood clinicians via secure telehealth. Research consistently shows that online EMDR is as effective as in-person EMDR when delivered by a trained clinician, and for many of our clients the convenience of skipping a commute is part of what makes the work sustainable.

Why You Cannot Just Get Over It

We hear this all the time from clients walking into our Lakewood office: I should be past this by now. But your brain does not work on a calendar. When you experience something overwhelming, your brain’s natural healing process can get blocked. Instead of the memory being filed away as something that happened, it stays live. So when a current event triggers that memory, you do not just remember what happened. You feel it. Your heart races. Your breath gets shallow. You experience the same shame or fear you felt years ago, as if it is happening right now. This is not a character flaw. It is a physiological response. And it is remarkably common. Research shows that about 70% of adults worldwide have experienced at least one traumatic event, and up to 20% go on to develop PTSD. Many more live with the lingering effects of what clinicians call little t traumas: the persistent messages of not being good enough, the chronic stress of a difficult job, the slow erosion of a painful relationship. The good news is that your brain already knows how to heal from this. It just needs help getting unstuck. That is exactly what EMDR therapy does.

How EMDR Actually Works (Without the Clinical Jargon)

Your brain has a natural system for processing experiences. Think of it like digestion. Just as your body breaks down food to extract nutrients, your brain is designed to break down experiences to extract wisdom. Trauma is what happens when something gets stuck in that process. EMDR uses bilateral stimulation, usually guided eye movements, gentle rhythmic taps, or auditory tones, to jumpstart that natural processing. It is not hypnosis. You are fully awake, fully in control, and fully alert the entire time. It is more like having one foot in the present moment, where you are safe in our office, and one foot in the memory. This allows your brain to finally recognize: that danger is over. I am safe now.

What the EMDR Process Looks Like

We do not dive into your most painful memories on day one. We follow a structured eight-phase approach that prioritizes your safety at every step.

Phase 1: History and Planning

We start with what is happening in your life right now. Together we identify the specific memories or current triggers that are causing you the most distress, and we build a clear plan for the work ahead.

Phase 2: Preparation and Building Your Toolkit

This phase matters more than most people realize. Before we touch any difficult material, we make sure you have solid grounding tools. Techniques like the Safe State exercise or the Container give you a way to set aside difficult emotions if they feel too heavy. You will always leave our sessions feeling stable.

Phases 3-6: The Processing Phases

This is where the shift happens. Using bilateral stimulation, we help your brain reprocess the target memory. You might notice new insights, changes in physical sensations, or a shift in how you see yourself. A belief like I am powerless can naturally move toward I am capable and safe now. It is not magic. It is your brain doing what it was designed to do, with the right support.

Phases 7-8: Closure and Re-evaluation

Every session ends with you grounded in the present. In follow-up sessions, we check in on how your day-to-day stress levels have changed. The goal is not just to feel better in our office. It is to feel different in your actual life.

Why Our Approach Is Different

Our Lakewood EMDR team is made up of EMDRIA-trained therapists. EMDRIA is the EMDR International Association, the professional body that sets the standards for this modality. “EMDRIA-trained” means our clinicians completed a rigorous, formally vetted curriculum that includes coursework, live practicum, and supervised consultation hours. It is not a weekend seminar. You can read more about what the EMDRIA standard actually means here. But credentials alone do not tell the whole story. Three things make our approach distinctive: We integrate EMDR with other modalities when it helps. For complex trauma or memories that feel too intense to approach directly, we often combine EMDR with Internal Family Systems (IFS) or the Flash Technique. Some clients need a gentler entry point, and we know how to provide that without slowing down the work. Our clinicians specialize. One of our therapists focuses on birth trauma and medical trauma. Another on complex trauma and dissociation. Another on relationship and attachment wounds. When you are matched with a therapist who has deep experience in your particular kind of pain, the work moves faster and feels safer. We offer EMDR in person in Lakewood and via secure telehealth statewide. You do not have to live near one of our offices to work with us. Clients in Longmont, Boulder, Denver, and across Colorado regularly do EMDR with our team online.

What EMDR Can Help With

EMDR is most commonly associated with PTSD, but it is effective for a much wider range of concerns. At our Lakewood practice we use EMDR to help clients work through:

• Single-incident trauma: car accidents, assaults, medical emergencies, sudden losses
• Complex and developmental trauma: childhood abuse, neglect, attachment wounds
• Birth trauma: traumatic deliveries, NICU experiences, and postpartum difficulty that will not resolve — read our guide to EMDR for new moms
• Medical trauma: frightening diagnoses, invasive procedures, long hospital stays
• Grief and loss: when grief gets stuck and traditional talk therapy has not moved it
• Anxiety and panic rooted in past experiences
• PTSD and complex PTSD — see our PTSD treatment page for a deeper look
• “Little t” trauma: the accumulated weight of being told you were not enough, of having your reality dismissed, of a slow-motion bad relationship

If you are not sure whether what you are carrying qualifies as trauma, it probably does not matter. What matters is whether it is still affecting your life. If it is, EMDR may help.

Meet Your Lakewood EMDR Specialists

Our Lakewood team includes five EMDRIA-trained clinicians, each with their own clinical focus. All five see clients in person at our Lakewood office and also offer secure telehealth sessions to clients across Colorado.

Therapist	Credentials	Focus Areas
McKenna Mesak, LPCC	EMDRIA-Trained EMDR Therapist	Complex trauma, dissociation
Jenna Gathright, MFTC, LPCC	EMDRIA-Trained EMDR Therapist	Medical trauma, grief, somatic processing
Liz Golden	EMDRIA-Trained EMDR Therapist	Relationship trauma, attachment wounds
Mara Rogers, LPCC	EMDRIA-Trained EMDR Therapist	EMDR and Trauma-Focused CBT
Kelly Yang, LCSW	EMDRIA-Trained EMDR Therapist	PTSD, childhood trauma, anxiety

Not sure which clinician is the right fit? Our Find-Your-Therapist tool will match you based on what you are working on and what kind of approach feels right for you.

EMDR Therapy: Frequently Asked Questions

What does EMDR stand for?

EMDR stands for Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing. It is a structured, evidence-based psychotherapy that helps the brain reprocess traumatic memories so they no longer feel like they are happening in the present.

Is EMDR evidence-based?

Yes. EMDR is recognized as a primary, front-line treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder by the World Health Organization and the American Psychiatric Association. Decades of clinical research support its effectiveness for PTSD, complex trauma, and a range of anxiety and trauma-related conditions.

Will I have to relive my worst memories?

No. EMDR is designed to desensitize and reprocess memories, not force you to relive them. You remain fully awake, oriented, and in control throughout every session. If a memory ever feels too intense to approach directly, we can use techniques like the Flash Technique or EMDR combined with Internal Family Systems to work more gently.

Will EMDR make me lose my memories?

No. You will still remember what happened, but the emotional and physical charge will fade. Clients often describe it as the difference between an open wound and a scar: you know it is there, but touching it no longer hurts.

How long does EMDR therapy take?

It depends on what you are working with. A single-incident trauma, like a car accident or a one-time assault, often resolves in a handful of sessions. Complex trauma, developmental trauma, or PTSD rooted in childhood typically takes longer. We work at the pace your nervous system can handle, not an arbitrary timeline.

What is bilateral stimulation?

Bilateral stimulation is the rhythmic back-and-forth input your therapist uses during processing phases. It usually takes the form of guided eye movements, hand-held tappers, or alternating auditory tones. It mimics the natural processing the brain does during REM sleep.

What if I cannot identify a specific traumatic event?

That is very common, and it does not mean EMDR will not work. EMDR is effective for what clinicians call “little t” trauma: the chronic stress of a difficult job, the persistent message of not being good enough, the slow erosion of a long bad relationship. If it is affecting your quality of life now, it is worth processing.

What is the difference between “EMDRIA-Trained” and “EMDRIA-Approved”?

“EMDRIA-Trained” describes the therapist: a clinician who has completed a full, vetted EMDRIA training program. “EMDRIA-Approved” describes the training program itself: curriculum that has been formally reviewed and approved by EMDRIA. Our Lakewood EMDR team members are EMDRIA-Trained, meaning they completed EMDRIA-Approved training.

Do you offer EMDR online or only in person?

Both. We offer in-person EMDR at our Lakewood office and HIPAA-compliant telehealth EMDR to clients anywhere in Colorado. Online EMDR is clinically as effective as in-person EMDR when delivered by a trained clinician, and many of our Longmont and Boulder-area clients work with us virtually.

How much does EMDR therapy cost?

Our rates range from $100 to $195 per session, depending on the clinician. We accept HSA and FSA cards and provide superbills for out-of-network insurance reimbursement. We also offer a free 20-minute consultation so you can decide if the fit and approach feel right before you commit.

How do I prepare for my first EMDR session?

Most of the preparation happens with your therapist during Phase 1 and Phase 2 of the process. For general guidance on what to expect and how to get ready, see our comprehensive guide to preparing for EMDR therapy.

More EMDR Resources From Our Team

If you want to go deeper on a specific aspect of EMDR before you book a consultation, these guides from our team may help:

• A Comprehensive Guide to Preparing for Your EMDR Therapy
• Why the EMDRIA-Trained Standard Matters for Your Healing
• EMDR Therapy for New Moms: Healing After Birth Trauma
• Trauma Therapy in Lakewood & Longmont — a broader look at how we approach trauma treatment beyond EMDR
• PTSD Treatment in Lakewood & Longmont

You Do Not Have to Keep Living With This

Taking the first step is often the hardest part. But you have already been carrying this long enough. Whether you are dealing with PTSD, anxiety, grief, or the lingering effects of experiences you have never fully processed, our Lakewood EMDR team is here to help. We offer a free 20-minute consultation so you can ask questions, hear about our approach, and see whether the fit feels right before committing to a full session.

• Schedule online: Book a free consultation via JaneApp
• Call or text: 720-551-4553
• Not sure who to book with? Try our Find-Your-Therapist tool