How We Work
At Haus of Mental Health Counseling, therapy is not defined by one diagnosis or presenting problem. Our approach is centered around how we work using intentional, experiential methods that help clients move beyond insight alone and actively engage with the memories, emotions, experiences, and patterns that continue to affect them.
EMDR-AF & MEMORY PROCESSING
Work with what still feels emotionally unfinished.
Sometimes an experience is over, but our emotional response to it isn't. EMDR-AF (Attachment-Focused EMDR) is an adaptation of EMDR therapy that places additional attention on attachment experiences, relationships, emotional safety, and developmental needs. When clinically appropriate, EMDR-based interventions can be used to work with distressing memories, experiences, emotions, beliefs, and triggers that continue to have an impact in the present.
This work is not limited to one particular diagnosis. The focus is on identifying experiences that continue to carry emotional significance and determining whether memory-processing work may be appropriate as part of your treatment.
This Work May Include:
• Identifying memories or experiences connected to current emotional patterns
• EMDR-AF and bilateral stimulation when clinically appropriate
• Attachment and developmental experiences
• Emotionally significant relationship experiences
• Negative beliefs connected to past experiences
• Preparation, resourcing, processing, and integration
The Purpose:
To help experiences that still feel emotionally present become integrated as experiences that belong to your past.
Cognitive & Emotional
An experience may continue to influence the way you think about yourself, other people, or what happened. This can look like: “I wasn't good enough.”, “I should have done something differently.”, “I can't trust anyone.” Replaying or overthinking what happened. Shame, guilt, anger, grief, fear, or rejection that continues to feel emotionally charged. Logically knowing something is over while emotionally still feeling connected to it. EMDR may help clients process the memories and beliefs associated with these emotional responses and develop more adaptive ways of understanding the experience.
Physical
Sometimes we understand something logically while our body still reacts as though the experience is happening now. You might notice; tightness in your chest, a pit or heaviness in your stomach, muscle tension, shaking or trembling, increased heart rate, feeling frozen, restless, or physically activated, strong physical reactions when reminded of a person, place, memory, or experience. EMDR incorporates attention to bodily sensations as part of the processing experience, allowing us to notice how distress is being experienced physically as well as emotionally.
Our Approach & What You Can Expect
Target your Experiences: We identify the experiences, memories, emotions, beliefs, and behaviors that continue to influence how you respond in the present.
Prepare to Work: We use mindfulness, grounding, resourcing, and mind–body awareness to strengthen your ability to stay present and engage in deeper therapeutic work.
Process the Experience: We use approaches such as EMDR-AF, guided vivid imagery, and developmental repair to work with experiences that may still feel emotionally unfinished.
Integrate the Change: We connect what happens in therapy to your everyday life strengthening your sense of self and practicing new emotional, cognitive, and behavioral responses outside of the therapy room.
Trauma & Healing by Developmental Repair
We support healing from past experiences by creating a space to understand, organize, and create healthy distance from what happened. Our goal is to help your mind and body recognize that the event did happen but that it no longer needs to live through you in your day-to-day life. Developmental Repair begins with imagining what you needed then to help release what is making you feel stuck in the now.
Sometimes we cannot change what happened but we can work with how that experience continues to live within us.
In developmental repair, guided imagination may be used to help you safely connect with an earlier version of yourself or revisit the emotional needs connected to a past experience. Rather than simply talking about what you wish had been different, imagery allows us to explore what it may feel like to experience support, protection, validation, choice, or connection that may have been missing at the time.
Types of Trauma
We categorize trauma into two forms, though a formal diagnosis is not required to begin therapy:
Big “T” Trauma: Singular, life-threatening, or overwhelming events (e.g., natural disasters, major accidents).
Small “t” Trauma: Distressing experiences that occur more frequently—emotional neglect, indifference, social humiliation, unstable environments, and family conflict (as described by Dr. Francine Shapiro).
Common Types of Trauma
We Address
Childhood trauma
Single-incident trauma
Complex trauma
Sexual trauma
Vicarious or secondary trauma
Common Trauma Symptoms
Trauma shows up differently for each person, but many clients experience a combination of the following:
Emotional & Psychological
Feeling constantly on edge, emotional numbness/dissociation, feeling disconnected from your body, emotional reactivity, shame, guilt, self-blame, rumination, feeling unworthy, difficulty trusting others, people-pleasing, over-explaining.
Cognitive & Memory
Flashbacks, intrusive memories, nightmares, difficulty concentrating, feeling stuck in the past.
Physical
Trouble sleeping, chronic fatigue, unexplained physical pain or somatic symptoms.
Behavioral
Avoiding people, places, or conversations connected to the event, withdrawal or isolating, over-functioning as a survival strategy.
Relationship Trauma Specialty
Relationship trauma can stem from romantic partners, family, caregivers, or friendships. Common signs include:
Constant power struggles or control dynamics.
Chronic feelings of judgment, abandonment, or emotional unsupportiveness.
Humiliation, belittlement, or emotional/verbal neglect.
Dissociation during fights or intimacy.
Being a victim of narcissistic or borderline personality reactivity or abuse.
Relationship trauma often leads to patterns such as people-pleasing, over-explaining, freezing during conflict, or doubting your worth.
Mindfulness Based Practices
We use mindfulness-based practices to help you slow down, become more aware of your internal experience, and notice what is happening within you without immediately reacting to it.
Our thoughts, emotions, physical sensations, and automatic responses can happen quickly sometimes before we even recognize them. Mindfulness creates space to observe these experiences with greater awareness and curiosity.
The goal isn't to stop difficult thoughts or emotions. It's to become more intentional about what you do with them.
Through present-moment awareness, grounding, mind–body observation, and guided mindfulness practices, we help you strengthen your ability to stay connected to yourself even when uncomfortable emotions arise.
Our Support for Grief and Transitions
Our therapists understand that grief has no timeline. It can resurface unexpectedly and in ways that feel confusing or destabilizing. We teach clients the cycle of change, normalize their emotional experience, and help them feel less alone when facing loss, transition, or identity shifts.
Common Adjustment Disorder and Grief Symptoms
Feeling more stress than what would generally be expected for the situation
A shift in how you feel or think about yourself, others, or the world
Crying frequently or unexpectedly
Feeling sad, hopeless, empty, or unable to enjoy things you once did
Irritability, emotional overwhelm, or not knowing where to start
Trouble sleeping
Changes in appetite—undereating or overeating
Difficulty concentrating or making decisions
Struggling with daily tasks, responsibilities, or routines
Withdrawing from friends, family, or social support
Avoiding important obligations such as work or bills
Thoughts of suicide or self-harm