EMDR Therapy in Oregon
My name is Sean Downes and I’m a Licensed Psychotherapist in Bend, Oregon offering EMDR Therapy to clients who are looking to heal past trauma, overcome anxiety, or resolve PTSD triggers that may be negatively impacting their daily lives. As a certified EMDR therapist, I’ve seen first hand the power of EMDR Therapy to generate healthier relationships, positive life goals and effective choices that turns lives around. EMDR Therapy clients often experience a brand new outlook on life. An increase in self-confidence, self-awareness, happiness and joy.
I am also a Certified Yoga Teacher which enables me to offer a unique and integrative approach that combines talk therapy and mind-body awareness, helping each individual balance their own core energy with their unique brain chemistry.
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What is EMDR Therapy?
EMDR stands for Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing. It's a form of psychotherapy that uses rapid, back-and-forth eye movements (bilateral stimulation) to help make memories of traumatic or stressful events less disturbing.
The goal of EMDR therapy is to reprocess distressing memories. Negative feelings and beliefs associated with these memories are separated and replaced with more positive responses. It's not about reliving trauma. It's about letting your brain naturally process and heal from it.
How does EMDR Therapy work?
Before we start, we'll create a treatment plan together and set clear goals. Then we work through your experiences in a safe, supportive environment.
Here's the key: your brain is naturally wired to recover from difficult experiences. When an event is overwhelming or traumatic, it can disrupt how your brain normally processes memories. Instead of being integrated and resolved, aspects of the experience can remain stuck and continue to trigger emotional distress in the present.
During EMDR, you'll briefly bring the memory, image, feeling, or belief to mind while engaging in bilateral stimulation (eye movements). This does not require reliving the experience or recounting every detail. Rather, you are observing the memory from the safety of the present moment while your brain does the work of processing it.
Over time, the emotional charge associated with the memory decreases, new insights and perspectives often emerge, and your brain can integrate what happened in a healthier and more adaptive way.
Find out if EMDR Therapy is right for you
EMDR Therapy can be a powerful tool to help you heal from the symptoms of emotional distress, trauma and other experiences that may be hindering your personal growth and happiness.
Psychotherapy Fees:
Rates are $200 per 55-minute session.
Out-of-pocket expenses are determined by insurance or if you are self-pay.
All appointments are ONLINE only.
Online EMDR Therapy in Oregon
Insurance Accepted:
I accept PacificSource Commercial, First Choice, PacificSource Community Solutions, OHP and BlueCross / BlueShield. I also do provide Out of Network Billing for other insurance companies. If you are using your insurance benefits, please take the time to understand the nuances of your insurance plan (copays, deductibles, HSA, etc.) on the front end of your psychotherapy treatment.
I have had the pleasure of knowing Sean Downes for more than ten years. He is a dedicated and compassionate professional whose innovative approach to counseling and therapy—blending talk with movement—has positively impacted the lives of many of my patients. He is an excellent resource and a trusted colleague.
Dr. Mark Unverzagt
Who Can Benefit from EMDR Therapy in Oregon?
EMDR Therapy is primarily used to treat people suffering from emotional trauma, but it is also being used for people struggling with other conditions. People with the following conditions may benefit from EMDR therapy:
PTSD
Depression
Anxiety
Panic attacks
Eating disorders
EMDR for PTSD?
EMDR Therapy can help those with PTSD process their traumatic memories and resolve them in order to relieve themselves of the distress and negative arousal that typically comes with the memories. Using EMDR therapy, a psychotherapist can help the brain heal itself in a natural manner.
During EMDR therapy, you will be asked to give attention to your distressing memories, as well as the emotions and bodily sensations attached to them. While this is happening, you are asked to focus on external stimuli in the form of hand motions. Through the process of focusing on both your internal memories and external stimuli, you gradually build new associations throughout the course of the session. These new associations are typically positive, allowing you to move from the processing of negative, traumatic memories into dealing with positive ones, weakening the grip of the negative emotions and kick-starting normal brain processes.
Although the exact way that EMDR affects the neurobiology of the brain is not known, it seems to alter long-lasting, negative memories that drag down the lives of those suffering from PTSD, by allowing the brain to process them in a healthier manner. After therapy is complete, you may no longer be overwhelmed by distressing emotions when traumatic memories are brought to mind—although you will still feel some stress, in the end these memories do not have the same debilitating effect on your emotional state.
One of the biggest advantages of EMDR therapy is its promising effect on recovery time in those with PTSD. Many studies point to EMDR Therapy as being more rapid in its treatment of emotional trauma compared to Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT).
On its own, EMDR Therapy can be extremely effective at helping those with PTSD process their negative memories. However, in combination with other holistic therapies such as yoga and mindfulness meditation, you can create new, positive experiences to help you during the process of coming to terms with your negative emotions and dealing with them in a healthier manner. Other beneficial treatments that can promote positivity and healing during PTSD therapy include yoga, group therapy, and physical fitness classes. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) in combination with the faster-acting EMDR is also a very effective course of treatment.
Living in fear of a traumatic past can eliminate the possibility of a healthy, positive future, and can thrust loved ones into a world of worry and hopelessness. As scary as this can be, understanding that the right treatment can help those suffering from PTSD cope with and eliminate this fear is the first step towards getting them help and loosening the grip that their past has on their present.
How is EMDR Therapy Different from CBT—and Why Might It Help When CBT Isn't Enough?
Both EMDR and CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) are well-established, evidence-based approaches, but they work in different ways.
CBT focuses on the relationship between thoughts, emotions, and behaviors. It helps people identify unhelpful patterns, develop new perspectives, and build practical coping skills.
EMDR focuses on helping the brain process and integrate distressing experiences that may still be influencing how you feel, react, and relate to yourself and others. Rather than primarily relying on analysis, discussion, or cognitive restructuring, EMDR works directly with the underlying memories, emotions, beliefs, and body sensations connected to those experiences.
Many people seek EMDR because they continue to experience anxiety, emotional triggers, relationship difficulties, or recurring patterns that don't seem to change simply through willpower or talking about them. EMDR helps the brain process the experiences that may be contributing to those patterns, allowing lasting change to occur at a deeper level.
For many clients, meaningful change occurs when both insight and emotional processing come together. EMDR often helps resolve the deeper emotional roots of a problem, while cognitive approaches can support new ways of thinking and responding moving forward.
What Makes EMDR Therapy Unique?
While CBT works mostly through talking and thinking things through, EMDR Therapy focuses on how unprocessed memories from past experiences might still be affecting you today—emotionally, physically, and even subconsciously.
EMDR helps you:
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Feel less triggered by old memories
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Release emotional responses that feel “stuck”
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Naturally shift toward more empowering beliefs
How Is It Similar to CBT?
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Like CBT, EMDR Therapy is goal-oriented, evidence-based, and focused on helping you feel better in the present.
It also includes identifying negative beliefs (like “I’m not safe” or “I’m not good enough”) and replacing them with more helpful ones.
But EMDR Goes Deeper
Instead of just talking about the problem, EMDR Therapy helps your brain reprocess the memory itself—so it no longer causes the same emotional pain, body tension, or mental looping.
Think of it as healing the root, not just trimming the branches.
When CBT Isn’t Enough...
If you've already tried talk therapy and still feel like:
You know what’s wrong but can’t stop reacting
Old trauma keeps showing up in new ways
You’re exhausted by overthinking
...then EMDR Therapy might be the next step in your healing journey.
It’s not about reliving trauma. It’s about releasing it—so you can move forward with more calm, clarity, and confidence.