Safety in therapy is a complex and evolving concept. As therapists and clients, we're constantly learning and adapting our understanding of what creates true safety in the therapeutic process.

This week on the podcast, we explore the nuances of safety in EMDR, Brainspotting and beyond, challenging some common assumptions and opening up new possibilities for healing.

Our perceptions of safety can shift over time, both in immediate situations and in retrospect. My own certainly have. From first hearing about EMDR and Brainspotting (and discounting them), to now specializing in EMDR and training other therapists in the practice.

For therapists, this means constantly reevaluating our approaches and being open to new modalities that may offer deeper healing for our clients like I did. For clients, it involves recognizing and honoring your own experiences of safety and empowerment in the therapeutic journey.

The conversation has recently expanded to include emerging therapies like psychedelic-assisted treatments, despite no mention of so-called “alternative” therapies during therapy training. I invite you to approach these topics with curiosity and critical thinking rather than immediate judgment. We need to discuss the importance of ongoing education and personal experience in forming well-informed opinions about therapeutic approaches.

In fact, I’m so committed to growth as a clinician and as a therapy client that I’ve started a year-long training in psychedelic-assisted treatments so I can speak more on the topic. Something I never would have imagined even just a few years ago.

This episode challenges both therapists and clients to examine their preconceptions about safety in therapy and to remain open to new possibilities for healing. By leaning into a spirit of continuous learning and exploration, we can create more empowering and effective therapeutic experiences.

Whether you're a seasoned EMDR practitioner, a therapy client, or simply interested in the future of mental health treatment, this episode offers valuable insights into creating true safety and facilitating deeper healing in therapy.

The Zero Disturbance podcast is for educational purposes and is not a replacement for a therapeutic relationship or individualized mental health or medical care.

Want to learn more about empowering yourself to experience therapy or coaching on your terms? If you appreciated this episode, you won't want to miss out on The Client Workbook + supporting videos!

We also offer free resources for clients and therapists! Get access to our free client resource library for the most up-to-date tools and resources for your own journey. Therapists, access our favorite free resources for designing high-value offers in The Zero Disturbance Welcome Bundle.

With a Masters in Education from Vanderbilt, Kambria has been creating trainings and teaching adult learners for over 20 years. As the Director of Education and Quality Improvement at Stanford Medical School, she created ease in complex systems, thereby giving medical trainees successful learning experiences. Now, as a dedicated mom, therapist, and EMDR Consultant, Kambria knows what it means to do things efficiently, effectively, and in a learner-centered way. When she isn't podcasting or creating online courses, you can find Kambria playing with her twins on a beach in California.

EMDR therapy is a powerful path to healing, but many misconceptions persist about it—from medical professionals, therapists, and others. As an EMDR consultant with over ten thousand hours of sessions under my belt, I've witnessed firsthand how this brain-based therapy can transform lives when applied thoughtfully.

Traditional talk therapy absolutely has its place, providing a safe space for clients to explore their narratives and build coping skills. However, EMDR takes healing to the next level by directly rewiring neural pathways associated with distressing memories and beliefs. This accelerated approach can lead to faster, more profound changes than talk therapy alone.

One common myth that we need to bust is that EMDR is only suitable for severe trauma or that clients need extensive preparation before beginning. But the reality is that EMDR can be tailored to address a wide range of issues, from minor anxieties to complex PTSD. And by starting with less distressing memories and gradually building up, therapists can help clients experience the benefits of EMDR without overwhelm.

This week on the podcast, I'll break down the various approaches within EMDR therapy, including standard protocol, addiction-focused techniques, and newer innovations. I'll explain how these different methods can be customized to meet each client's unique needs and comfort level.

Whether you're a therapist looking to expand your toolkit or a client seeking more empowering treatment options, this discussion will equip you with the knowledge to make informed decisions about incorporating EMDR into your healing journey. This versatile, brain-based approach truly can accelerate progress and help to create lasting positive change.

The Zero Disturbance podcast is for educational purposes and is not a replacement for a therapeutic relationship or individualized mental health or medical care.

Want to learn more about empowering yourself to experience therapy or coaching on your terms? If you appreciated this episode, you wont want to miss out on The Client Workbook (+ supporting videos)!

We also offer free resources for clients and therapists! Get access to our free client resource library for the most up-to-date tools and resources for your own journey. Therapists, access our favorite free resources for designing high-value offers in The Zero Disturbance Welcome Bundle.

With a Masters in Education from Vanderbilt, Kambria has been creating trainings and teaching adult learners for over 20 years. As the Director of Education and Quality Improvement at Stanford Medical School, she created ease in complex systems, thereby giving medical trainees successful learning experiences. Now, as a dedicated mom, therapist, and EMDR Consultant, Kambria knows what it means to do things efficiently, effectively, and in a learner-centered way. When she isn't podcasting or creating online courses, you can find Kambria playing with her twins on a beach in California.

Changing behavior, especially when it comes to addictive or compulsive patterns, is often misunderstood and oversimplified. Many therapists and rehab programs focus solely on modifying beliefs and behaviors, overlooking vital elements in our neurological programming. This approach can lead to frustration, repeated relapses, and unnecessary shame for those struggling to make lasting changes.

This week on the podcast, we’re taking a look at a more comprehensive, brain-based perspective on behavior change. We'll discuss why traditional methods fall short and how modalities like EMDR can address the root causes of compulsive behaviors by working with our body's programming at a deeper level.

Whether you're someone seeking more effective ways to create positive change in your life or a therapist looking to enhance your practice or, this conversation offers valuable insights into the complexities of human behavior and the potential for true transformation.

Discover how understanding the full "code" behind our actions—including images, emotions, body sensations, urges, positive feeling states, and early life experiences—can lead to more successful and sustainable change. We'll challenge common misconceptions about willpower and addiction, and offer a compassionate, science-based approach to reprogramming unwanted patterns.

This episode provides eye-opening information for both mental health professionals and individuals on their personal growth journey.

Tune in to gain a fresh perspective on behavior change that goes beyond simplistic advice and taps into the power of our neurological wiring.

The Zero Disturbance podcast is for educational purposes and is not a replacement for a therapeutic relationship or individualized mental health or medical care.

Want to learn more about empowering yourself to experience therapy or coaching on your terms? If you appreciated this episode, you won't want to miss out on The Client Workbook (+ supporting videos)!

We also offer free resources for clients and therapists! Get access to our free client resource library for the most up-to-date tools and resources for your own journey.

Therapists, access our favorite free resources for designing high-value offers in The Zero Disturbance Welcome Bundle.

With a Masters in Education from Vanderbilt, Kambria has been creating trainings and teaching adult learners for over 20 years. As the Director of Education and Quality Improvement at Stanford Medical School, she created ease in complex systems, thereby giving medical trainees successful learning experiences. Now, as a dedicated mom, therapist, and EMDR Consultant, Kambria knows what it means to do things efficiently, effectively, and in a learner-centered way. When she isn't podcasting or creating online courses, you can find Kambria playing with her twins on a beach in California.

While many therapists identify as "trauma-informed" or "attachment-informed," these labels should be a given for any effective therapist. How so? Because any therapy work is attachment work.

The reality is that we've all been shaped by our early experiences and relationships, creating programming that influences how we view ourselves and interact with others.

Understanding attachment styles - secure, anxious, avoidant, and disorganized - offers valuable insight into relationship patterns. However, simply labeling someone's attachment style isn't enough. The key is uncovering the specific beliefs, adaptations, and coping mechanisms developed in childhood that still drive behavior today.

This week, we explore creative ways people seek attachment and connection, from "show and tell" behaviors to dramatic outbursts. It also examines how we internalize beliefs about our worth and lovability, and the importance of developing our own secure internal "mirror" rather than constantly seeking validation from others.

By recognizing these attachment dynamics in ourselves and our relationships, we can start to rewire old programming and develop healthier ways of connecting. EMDR offers an effective path for installing positive beliefs at a deep level, allowing true change and growth.

Tune in to learn more about attachment, trauma, and the journey toward secure connection, both as a therapist supporting clients along this path and as a therapy client. This episode provides valuable perspectives for both therapists and clients seeking to create more fulfilling relationships and lives.

The Zero Disturbance podcast is for educational purposes and is not a replacement for a therapeutic relationship or individualized mental health or medical care.

• The Client Workbook (+supporting videos)
• Dumb Things Therapists Say series
• Codependent No More by Melody Beattie

Want to learn more about empowering yourself to experience therapy or coaching on your terms? If you appreciated this episode, you wont want to miss out on The Client Workbook (+supporting videos)!

We also offer free resources for clients and therapists! Get access to our free client resource library for the most up-to-date tools and resources for your own journey. Therapists, access our favorite free resources for designing high-value offers in The Zero Disturbance Welcome Bundle.

With a Masters in Education from Vanderbilt, Kambria has been creating trainings and teaching adult learners for over 20 years. As the Director of Education and Quality Improvement at Stanford Medical School, she created ease in complex systems, thereby giving medical trainees successful learning experiences. Now, as a dedicated mom, therapist, and EMDR Consultant, Kambria knows what it means to do things efficiently, effectively, and in a learner-centered way. When she isn't podcasting or creating online courses, you can find Kambria playing with her twins on a beach in California.

Therapists often make an artificial distinction between addressing trauma in therapy and utilizing coaching for personal growth. Making this separation can limit the full potential of therapy and leave clients feeling prematurely "graduated" before they've had a chance to truly thrive.

In reality, our brains are constantly running multiple "programs," both positive and negative, that shape our experiences and behaviors.

EMDR and Brainspotting recognize this duality, working to desensitize disturbing memories while simultaneously strengthening positive resources and beliefs. These modalities don't just aim for the absence of symptoms, but for genuine expansion and empowerment.

This episode challenges the notion that therapy should focus solely on resolving "mental illness" before handing clients off to coaches. Instead, it advocates for a more holistic approach that helps people not only heal from past traumas, but also build resilience, enhance performance, and create positive future templates.

Listen in to explore how understanding these dual "programs" can shed light on complex relationship dynamics, particularly with narcissistic individuals. By recognizing the conflicting messages we receive and internalize, we can better navigate confusing situations and reclaim our power in the healing process.

Whether you're a therapist looking to expand your toolkit or a client seeking to maximize your therapeutic journey, this episode offers valuable insights into the interconnected nature of trauma work and personal growth.

The Zero Disturbance podcast is for educational purposes and is not a replacement for a therapeutic relationship or individualized mental health or medical care.

Want to learn more about empowering yourself to experience therapy or coaching on your terms? You won't want to miss out on The Client Workbook!

We also offer free resources for clients and therapists! Get access to our free client resource library for the most up-to-date tools and resources for your own journey.

Therapists, access our favorite free resources for designing high-value offers in The Zero Disturbance Welcome Bundle.

With a Masters in Education from Vanderbilt, Kambria has been creating trainings and teaching adult learners for over 20 years. As the Director of Education and Quality Improvement at Stanford Medical School, she created ease in complex systems, thereby giving medical trainees successful learning experiences. Now, as a dedicated mom, therapist, and EMDR Consultant, Kambria knows what it means to do things efficiently, effectively, and in a learner-centered way. When she isn't podcasting or creating online courses, you can find Kambria playing with her twins on a beach in California.

The world of therapy is changing, and it's time to challenge the status quo. And I’m here to share why some of the most common diagnoses in the DSM, such as anxiety, depression, addiction, body dysmorphia, and PTSD, are not only limiting but can actually cause harm to both clients and therapists.

By exploring the concept of "programming" and how our early experiences shape our beliefs, behaviors, and emotional responses, I’m offering a fresh (and maybe a little controversial) perspective on mental health diagnoses. I don’t believe that we’re defined by our diagnoses but that we’re a product of our coding, which starts at birth.

When the collective “we” understand this, therapy clients can break free from limiting labels and reprogram ourselves for a more empowered future. And therapists can truly support their clients in the way they deserve.

This episode provides practical tools for both therapists and clients to enhance their therapeutic journey and move beyond labels. And you’ll gain insights that will help you to understand the complexity of the human experience and how EMDR-informed therapy can create lasting change.

If you've ever felt stuck or defined by your diagnosis, or watched a client struggle, this episode offers a path forward. Discover the power of reprogramming your mind and unlocking your true potential.

The Zero Disturbance podcast is for educational purposes and is not a replacement for a therapeutic relationship or individualized mental health or medical care.

Want to learn more about empowering yourself to experience therapy or coaching on your terms? If you appreciated this episode, you won't want to miss out on The Client Workbook!

We also offer free resources for clients and therapists! Get access to our free client resource library for the most up-to-date tools and resources for your own journey.

Therapists, access our favorite free resources for designing high-value offers in The Zero Disturbance Welcome Bundle.

With a Masters in Education from Vanderbilt, Kambria has been creating trainings and teaching adult learners for over 20 years. As the Director of Education and Quality Improvement at Stanford Medical School, she created ease in complex systems, thereby giving medical trainees successful learning experiences. Now, as a dedicated mom, therapist, and EMDR Consultant, Kambria knows what it means to do things efficiently, effectively, and in a learner-centered way. When she isn't podcasting or creating online courses, you can find Kambria playing with her twins on a beach in California.

The new year is often a time for goal-setting and resolution-making, but so many people struggle with following through over the next 12 months. That’s not true for those who are using EMDR in their treatment. Why? Because the foundation of EMDR is about desensitizing disturbance of what happened in the past, what’s happening in the present, and creating a bridge into the future to feel calmer and more resourced. That’s how true change occurs.

We don’t have to sit in discomfort for too long. EMDR can help us to create the future we want and deserve.

This week on the podcast, I’m walking through the phases of EMDR and what that looks like in rewiring our brains for a fresh start in the new year.

As so many try with resolutions, we can’t just let go of things and stop doing things; we have to desensitize and create new pathways, replacing an unwanted behavior with something else. EMDR is how we can do that.

Listen in this week to hear more.

When something traumatic happens to us, it can be healing to have a therapist listen to and/or validate our horrible experience, especially if no one else has before. However, rehashing the details of that traumatic event can be retraumatizing. Brain-based therapies like EMDR teach us that we don't have to talk about the trauma or the details if we don't want to because the real healing doesn't focus on the traumatic event itself.

The Zero Disturbance podcast is for educational purposes and is not a replacement for a therapeutic relationship or individualized mental health or medical care.

* Laurel Parnell, PhD

* Belief Inventory Guide

Want to learn more about empowering yourself to experience therapy on your terms? Get access to our free client resource library for the most up-to-date tools and resources for your own journey. 

Therapists, access our favorite free resources in The Zero Disturbance Welcome Bundle, full of free videos and downloads to help you develop your clinical reasoning skills, as well as ways to feel like an intentional designer of high-value offerings like intensives and passive income. Use these free resources to make the seemingly impossible feel absolutely accessible!

With a Masters in Education from Vanderbilt, Kambria has been creating trainings and teaching adult learners for over 20 years. As the Director of Education and Quality Improvement at Stanford Medical School, she created ease in complex systems, thereby giving medical trainees successful learning experiences. Now, as a dedicated mom, therapist, and EMDR Consultant, Kambria knows what it means to do things efficiently, effectively, and in a learner-centered way. When she isn't podcasting or creating online courses, you can find Kambria playing with her twins on a beach in California.

Need help with bilateral stimulation? I use TouchPoint for myself, my kids, and in my practice. They’re both affordable and discreet! Shop here and use the coupon code ZERODISTURBANCE for 12% off.

Disclosure: Some of the links provided are affiliate links. If you choose to make a purchase through these links, I may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. This helps support my work.

When there’s a loss like the death of a loved one, there’s a cultural acknowledgement of that loss that gives us the time and space to grieve and to heal. But we experience grief in so many other situations, outside of death.

Grief is something that helps us to process changes, like the death of an idea of the life we thought we’d have. We can never fully imagine how change and grief hits us because of illness, a move, or job loss. Life changes all the time and we often grieve those changes. But we don’t get the same response from the world around us as we do when someone passes away.

This week, I’m sharing how we all go through the traditional grief cycle during times of change. I want to illuminate the grief cycle and help you to feel like what you’re experiencing is totally normal. I get it. I’ve been there.

Let’s embrace EMDR to help process grief, in whatever form it finds us, and help to speed up the process of integration to create neutrality in our bodies.

Listen in this week, and be sure to share the episode with someone who might need it to understand themselves and hear some comforting words of reassurance.

When something traumatic happens to us, it can be healing to have a therapist listen to and/or validate our horrible experience, especially if no one else has before. However, rehashing the details of that traumatic event can be retraumatizing. Brain-based therapies like EMDR teach us that we don't have to talk about the trauma or the details if we don't want to because the real healing doesn't focus on the traumatic event itself.

The Zero Disturbance podcast is for educational purposes and is not a replacement for a therapeutic relationship or individualized mental health or medical care.

* On Death and Dying by Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, MD

* Learn more about Lisa Larson

Want to learn more about empowering yourself to experience therapy on your terms? Get access to our free client resource library for the most up-to-date tools and resources for your own journey. 

Therapists, access our favorite free resources in The Zero Disturbance Welcome Bundle, full of free videos and downloads to help you develop your clinical reasoning skills, as well as ways to feel like an intentional designer of high-value offerings like intensives and passive income. Use these free resources to make the seemingly impossible feel absolutely accessible!

With a Masters in Education from Vanderbilt, Kambria has been creating trainings and teaching adult learners for over 20 years. As the Director of Education and Quality Improvement at Stanford Medical School, she created ease in complex systems, thereby giving medical trainees successful learning experiences. Now, as a dedicated mom, therapist, and EMDR Consultant, Kambria knows what it means to do things efficiently, effectively, and in a learner-centered way. When she isn't podcasting or creating online courses, you can find Kambria playing with her twins on a beach in California.

Need help with bilateral stimulation? I use TouchPoint for myself, my kids, and in my practice. They’re both affordable and discreet! Shop here and use the coupon code ZERODISTURBANCE for 12% off.

Disclosure: Some of the links provided are affiliate links. If you choose to make a purchase through these links, I may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. This helps support my work.