Brainspotting Therapist

Online Therapy in Silver Spring and Throughout Maryland & Virginia

Heal in ways that you never thought you could

You’ve tried traditional talk therapy and felt that you did as much as you could,

but it still just wasn’t enough.

Maybe you've been through years of therapy and feel like you haven't made as much progress as you were hoping for. Perhaps you feel like you're functioning on autopilot and aren't sure what is causing you to feel so low when everything appears to be fine. Brainspotting can help you resolve recurring issues in your present or ones from your past that you can’t seem to “move on” from.

What is Brainspotting?

Brainspotting is a form of therapy that helps our bodies and minds heal themselves through eye positioning. Brainspotting helps target trauma at the root but is also useful for a wide variety of other issues as well. It is a powerful way to do deeper work.

We’re often limited in how much we can heal through talk therapy. Talk therapy only reaches the areas of the brain that use language, the outer cortex of the brain. Brainspotting allows us to tap into deeper parts of our brain, the midbrain, where emotions are processed and stored to allow for more effective and long-lasting healing.

Prefrontal Cortex

Midbrain

Through brainspotting, we gain direct access to the deeper brain and body where emotions and body experiences are held.

Brainspotting Taps Into Our Natural Abilities

Just as our eyes scan our external environment for information, our eye positioning can also be used to scan our internal environment within our brains for information. Brainspotting therapists help clients find a “spot” in their external environment that feels connected to deeply rooted information to be processed.

“By keeping the gaze focused on a specific external spot, we maintain the brain’s focus on the specific internal spot where trauma is stored, in order to promote the deep processing that leads to trauma’s release and resolution.”

— Dr. David Grand, Founder of Brainspotting

How Brainspotting Works

Have you ever caught yourself focusing on a random spot while telling a story or talking about something that evokes a lot of emotion?

This focal point seems to help us  connect with details of the story. Brainspotting harnesses our natural tendencies and capabilities, such as this one, to process our experiences, thoughts, and feelings. 

With Brainspotting therapy, you lead and I follow.

You know yourself better than anyone else. Our bodies and minds know what we need and even how to heal ourselves. Some of these answers may lie in our subconscious, or it may be hiding underneath our negative self-talk, insecurities, fears, etc. Brainspotting helps work through these blockages to get to the root of what’s going on within us. This client lead approach can also be empowering for you especially if you are healing from experiences where your power was taken from you.

You can process more than just traumas with Brainspotting. Including, but not limited to:

  • Fears

  • Stress of life

  • Anxieties

  • Insecurities

  • Difficult experiences and memories

  • Persistent negative thoughts

  • Recurring nightmares

  • Restricting beliefs about ourselves and others

  • Physical pains and sensations. 

  • General feeling of being “stuck”

“What’s in the body is in the brain and what’s in the brain is in the body.”

— Dr. David Grand, Founder of Brainspotting

There is no separation between our minds and our bodies; it’s all intertwined.

Working through difficult or negative thoughts can clear up some physical sensations such as pain, discomfort, or numbness. Similarly, processing physical sensations can help ease our thoughts.

What to expect in a Brainspotting session:

  • We’ll talk through the topic that you would like to process and notice any emotion you may be feeling (getting “activated”). I’ll ask you on a scale of 0 to 10, 0 being no activation and 10 being highly activated, how you’re feeling and where in your body you feel it.

  • There are multiple ways to find your brainspot depending on what you would like to process. Once we find a brainspot, you’ll begin to focus mindfully on the sensations in your body or the thoughts that come to mind. Draw your awareness to it and sit with the thoughts and feelings to begin to process.

  • Processing looks and feels different for everyone. You’ll spend most of the session processing in the way that works best for you. Much of the time may be silent as this can be more of an internal process.

  • After brainspotting, we save some time at the end of the session to check-in and discuss what the experience was like for you and what came of it like in a talk therapy session. Some people like to process through talk therapy afterwards.

  • I will maintain attunement with you by paying attention to your processing and experiencing it from an external perspective. You will feel my support despite not talking. I will check in with you periodically to see how you’re doing. You’re always welcome to ask questions or for support. I’ll be right there with you the entire time.

  • We can have brainspotting sessions as often as you’d like and incorporate talk therapy as well. Many clients I work with like to do brainspotting every other week and have talk therapy sessions in between. We can discuss what works best for you.

Brainspotting can help you:

  • Reregulate your nervous system.

  • Bring your thoughts and feelings about a situation onto the same page.

  • Quit feeling consumed by your thoughts.

  • Feel more comfortable in your body.

  • Quiet your mind and calm your body.

  • Release tension, stress, anxiety, anger, and fear from your body.

  • Gain a deeper understanding of yourself and your lived experiences.

Important Factors to Keep in Mind

  • Embrace this process with curiosity.

    You don’t have to try to make sense of everything. Imagine yourself as a leaf floating down a river, allowing the water to take you where it wills. Don’t stop and try to get off on the river bank to question what’s going on there. Allow yourself to go with the flow!

  • Cognitive vs Emotional Processing

    Sometimes talking through your processing as it’s happening may be helpful. Other times it can “keep you cognitive” and prevent you from “going deeper.” We use parts of our cognitive brains for language, but brainspotting accesses our midbrains brains where our emotions lie.

  • It may feel weird at first.

    Brainspotting is very different from talk therapy. Sometimes it can take you a couple tries to get into it. That’s okay! It’s normal to need some time to adjust to this new technique.

  • Processing looks different for everyone.

    People process in different ways. Some cry, some feel the need to move their bodies around and shake things off, some people take deep breaths in and out. Allow yourself to process in whatever way feels best for you. It’s all normal and it’s all okay!

  • Trust helps you stay open.

    Trust yourself and trust the process. Your mind and your body will know what to do. They know what lies in your subconscious and how to help you heal. Go with it!

  • Give yourself grace.

    Be kind and patient with yourself through this process. There is no right or wrong way to process. And remember I’ll be right there with you along the way!

Brainspotting Clients Shared…

  • Feeling lighter and like a weight was lifted off them after brainspotting sessions.

  • Sometimes they aren’t sure what happened or how it helped, but they can feel a significant difference in themselves. 

  • Their thoughts and feelings are on the same page instead of being split.

  • A deeper understanding of themselves or their situation (the “why”).

  • Finding the answer to a question they have such as making a difficult decision.

  • Experiencing peace within themselves or with a situation.

  • Letting go of whatever was plaguing their mind and not thinking about it as much as they did before.

  • No longer feeling on edge, irritable, easily angered or frustrated

  • Improved sleep.

Brainspotting is what you’ve been looking for without even realizing it.

  • I also offer brainspotting therapy as an adjunct service to those already working with a talk therapist.

  • For more information about brainspotting, watch this video from the founder or schedule a FREE 15-minute consultation call with me!

You’re one decision away from getting unstuck.

FAQs About Brainspotting

  • Yes! I’ve attended four, 3 day long training sessions and undergone brainspotting as part of the training. I’ve experienced real change for myself. I’ve also helped many clients achieve results that they never believed were possible only through brainspotting. Some things clients have shared include:

    • They have been in therapy for years and hadn’t been able to work through concerns like they have through brainspotting.

    • They felt relief even after one Brainspotting session that they haven’t felt after years of talk therapy.

    • They’ve experienced prolonged result that they still feel months even years after Brainspotting.

  • Yes! Brainspotting utilizes your eye positioning which you can do in your own environment at home. My training, some of which were taught by the founder, were completed online during the pandemic. We were informed that brainspotting can be just as effective virtually.

  • Brainspotting can be more effective and help you heal in less time than it would take in talk therapy.

    However, it’s still hard to say how long it takes for brainspotting to work. There are many factors that contribute to how long therapy can take. As people, we're dynamic and it takes time to fully understand the presenting problems you're struggling with, how they impact your life, how your experiences have contributed to the problems. You didn't come to this point overnight. Similarly, it will take time to heal.

    We can always discuss this in sessions and track progress to determine if we are accomplishing your therapeutic goals.

  • EMDR

    • Clinician led

    • Tends to be more structured and there are interruptions in processing

    • Clients stay more activated during processing which causes them to experience their emotions more intensely throughout the process.

    • Results can feel more confined to decreased distress in one area.

    • Setup is more cognitive based so the process stays more cognitive comparatively.

    Brainspotting

    • Client led

    • More flexible and clients are encouraged to go with the flow

    • Can be gentler by processing through resourcing and grounding

    • Results feel more universal in a client’s life rather than confined to one part of the topic they processed

    • Processing can go deeper

    • Clients can experience more of a calm or release after processing

    • More relational, so client feels more of a connection to the clinician and processing feels safer

    • You can process emotions, physical sensations, and even things you don’t even remember.

    Brainspotting is like pulling weeds from the source rather than just cutting them, allowing them to regrow.