brainspotting therapy in Tacoma wa
“Brainspotting is a body-brain based therapy that promotes rapid, permanent, and deep change through a gentle method.”
You feel overwhelmed.
Emotions overwhelm you. Depression leaves you without motivation to do much of the basics. Or anxiety goes into overdrive and you feel on edge all the time. You don't always understand your feelings as sometimes they pop up out of nowhere, but you wish you felt less up and down and more at ease.
When you get overwhelmed, you tend to numb out, eat, binge Netflix, or doomscroll. You know you’r avoiding something, but you’re not sure what exactly. Other times it’s the opposite—you try have some sort of sense of control, but it leaves you feeling a little neurotic instead. Challenges in life don't bother you, you expect them on occasion, but right now you feel like you are constantly pushing uphill just to get through the day. If only you could turn down the volume of your inner critic and be more kind to yourself.
You’ve tried talk therapy before and learned some tools, but you want deeper change. You have a lot of “head knowledge,” but it hasn’t changed how you feel. You long to feel lighter in your body and heart. You wish you were further along, but the shame still hangs around.
If you relate to this, then brainspotting therapy might be a good fit for you.
brainspotting therapy in tacoma, wa
My name is Kate Hagborg, LMHC, and I provide therapy in Tacoma, WA for women to help you go beyond “head knowledge” and experience lasting change at a deep level.
Brainspotting is a body-and-brain-based therapy that promotes rapid, permanent, and deep change through a gentle method.
Brainspotting therapy can help you:
Heal from trauma
Feel more at peace in your body
Be more present in your day-to-day life
Change relationship patterns
Feel more confident
Overcome creative blocks
Increase your performance
And more!
In brainspotting, we use eye positioning to access the limbic system part of the brain where trauma and negative core beliefs are held. This is the part of the brain that regulates our emotions and nervous system.
Talk therapy, on the other hand, accesses a different part of the brain that is more logical and theoretical—the prefrontal cortex. Talk therapy can be very useful for gaining insights, learning skills, and problem-solving. But when it comes to trauma and core beliefs, talk therapy often doesn’t go deep enough.
With brainspotting, we are tapping into your brain and body’s natural ability to heal itself.
Kind of like computer software that can locate a corrupted file that needs to be debugged, brainspotting can help you get to the source of an issue and allow your brain to reprocess the “corrupted files,” so to speak, so that you can rewrite those neural pathway for the better.
how does a brainspotting session work?
Together we will determine what the issue is you want to work on. Then I will help you find an eye position in your visual field. This is called our brainspot.
I will guide you through thinking about that issue while practicing mindfulness, self-compassion, and curiosity. This allows the brain and body to do that deep reprocessing work that they were designed to do.
By the end of the session, clients often feel that an internal shift has occurred. And what’s really cool is that your brain will continue this processing for hours or even days after the session.
You can read more about how to prepare for a brainspotting session here.
schedule your free consultation with me, a brainspotting therapist in tacoma, wa today
Clients that I have done brainspotting therapy with not only notice that they’re able to experience deep levels of change related to the issues we are working on, but they also learn to embody a deeper level of self-compassion and attunement to their own emotions that transcends into every area of their life.
This therapy is revolutionary in so many ways. If you’d like to learn more about if brainspotting is right for you, give me a call for a free 15-minute phone consultation to see if we’d be a good fit. As a brainspotting therapist in Tacoma, WA, I look forward to connecting with you.
Frequently Asked Questions About brainspotting therapy in Tacoma, WA
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Talk therapy accesses our executive functioning part of our brain which is good at problem-solving, decision making, and storing knowledge. This is useful in many ways, but sometimes doesn't feel like it gives us the changes we came to therapy to feel.
Brainspotting therapy accesses parts of the brain involved in emotional processing, deep-seated core beliefs, and regulation of the nervous system. Through using the visual field and eye-positioning, we can help the brain change at a deeper level. When we combine this with the presence of a trained, present, and attuned therapist, and the practice of mindfully noticing our emotions and being connected to our bodies, we can get to the root of the issue for rapid and profound healing.
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Brainspotting therapy and EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) are related and have many similarities. Brainspotting developed out of EMDR.
EMDR often involves rapid eye movements, while brainspotting therapy uses eye positioning. EMDR follows a protocol, while brainspotting is allows for more of a free-flowing direction using the client's body as the guide.
Brainspotting therapy is gentle, safe, and effective. Though it has many similarities with EMDR, there are some notable differences, and brainspotting can feel like a different experience. It's worth trying, even if you've done EMDR. It's possible you may prefer it or find it more effective.
If someone has recommended that you try EMDR therapy, brainspotting could be an equally effective therapy alternative for you since it is similarly a body-based, somatic therapy.
You can read more about the similarities and differences between brainspotting and EMDR here at this blog.
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Everyone is different, so as a brainspotting therapist in Tacaoma, WA, I can't say for sure how it will take for you notice results. But I do recommend that clients give it 4-6 sessions to really allow their bodies to have time to get used to the therapy and be able to assess for life changes.
Anything that's new can feel awkward at first, but after one or two sessions, you will know what to expect with brainspotting therapy and probably feel yourself get more comfortable with the process.
Some clients experience sudden breakthrough moments with brainspotting therapy, and others experience more subtle and gradual change. As a brainspotting therapist in Tacoma, WA, I will help you reflect on your experience and notice changes in your daily life that may be associated with the therapy.
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There are a few things that help set you up for success for a brainspotting session. If you are able to attend the online session on a computer instead of a phone, that is preferable to have a larger screen. But if you only have a phone or smaller device, that's ok, brainspotting therapy can still work on those, too.
It's also nice to have headphones because your therapist may give you the option to listen to some soothing bilateral stimulation music in the background of your session. Bilateral stimulation music is audio-engineered to move back and forth between the right and left speakers, which can be soothing for the brain and allow for deeper processing. There's a lot of free music like this online and your therapist can tell you more about it. This is optional, however.
Finally, it's always good to have things to make you more comfortable. A private and quiet environment, a blanket, a water bottle, and tissues.
You can read more about preparing for a brainspotting therapy session at this blog.