EMDR Therapy
EMDR, and whether it is right for you
You have probably read three contradictory things about it already. One of them said it was a miracle and one of them said it was eye movements and nonsense.
Here is the straight version, including who it does not suit.
The first conversation is free and it lasts 55 minutes.
Open seven days a week.
EMDR therapy in Portland, Tigard and across Oregon
EMDR is Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing. In practice it means working on a memory while doing something that occupies part of your attention, usually following a movement with your eyes or a tapping that alternates left and right.
It sounds implausible written down. It is also one of the most studied trauma treatments there is, and it is on the World Health Organization’s list of recommended treatments for post-traumatic stress.
The part most people care about: you do not have to narrate the event in detail. For a lot of people that is the difference between starting therapy and not starting.
We see EMDR clients in person in Tigard and by video across Oregon, including Portland, Beaverton, Salem, Eugene, Bend and Medford. EMDR works over video. It has been delivered that way for years and the research on remote delivery is good.
Who does it here
EMDR here is delivered by a licensed clinician trained in it. He is the only one.
That is worth knowing before you call, and we would rather say it on the page than on the phone. It means his availability is the constraint on this service rather than the practice’s.
Our other three clinicians work with trauma using other approaches, and several of those approaches are better fits for some presentations than EMDR is. The consultation is where we work that out.
What it is used for
Single-incident trauma is where the evidence is strongest: a crash, an assault, a medical emergency, the moment you found out.
It is also used for complex trauma, medical trauma, moral injury, phobias, and distress that has an identifiable memory sitting underneath it. The full picture of what we treat is on the trauma page.
What actually happens
- The first sessions are not processing. They are working out what is there and making sure you have enough steadiness to do the work without being flooded by it. Skipping that is how EMDR goes badly, and anybody offering to start processing in session one is worth being careful about.
- Processing happens inside the standard session hour. Some clinicians elsewhere run longer processing sessions; we do not.
- Afterwards, most people are tired and some feel raw for a day or two. We tell you that in advance rather than letting you discover it on a Tuesday. It settles.
How long it takes depends enormously on whether there is one event or twenty years of them. A single incident can move in a handful of sessions. Complex trauma is longer, and anybody quoting a number before knowing which you have is guessing.
When EMDR is not the right first move
We would rather tell you this than sell you a method.
When there is no stability to work from yet. If sleep, safety or day-to-day functioning are in serious trouble, that comes first. Processing into an unstable week makes the week worse.
When the difficulty is current rather than historical. An ongoing situation is not a memory to be reprocessed. It is a situation, and it needs different work.
When you would simply rather not. It is one option among several and there is no clinical reason to insist on it.
What this costs
$205 an hour with a licensed clinician. EMDR is delivered by a licensed clinician, so that is the rate.
We are in network with Kaiser, PacificSource, Cigna, Aetna, and United Healthcare and Optum, and with Medicare, both Open Card and in-network Advantage plans. Regence Blue Cross Blue Shield is expected from 1 October 2026 and Moda from 15 October 2026, both for associates as well as licensed clinicians. For the Oregon Health Plan we can bill Open Card, but not the coordinated care organizations, and most OHP members are enrolled with a CCO rather than Open Card. There is no sliding scale.
EMDR is generally covered the same way any other therapy session is, because insurers pay for the session rather than for the method.
Questions people ask
Is EMDR covered by insurance?
Generally yes, on the same terms as any other session with us. Check your specific plan or ask us and we will check it with you before you start.
Does EMDR actually work?
The research says yes, for post-traumatic stress in particular, and it is recommended by the World Health Organization. It does not work for everybody and nobody can honestly promise you it will work for you.
Do I have to describe what happened?
Not in detail. That is one of the main reasons people choose it.
How many sessions will I need?
A single event can move in a handful. Years of it takes longer. You will get an honest estimate once we know which one you are bringing.
Can EMDR be done over video?
Yes, and we do it that way across Oregon regularly.
What if I do not know whether what happened to me counts?
It counts if it is still affecting you. That is the whole test and it is not a competition.
Book a free 55 minute consultation
An hour, at no cost, with a clinician rather than an intake screener.
Book online · In person in Tigard, by video anywhere in Oregon