I absolutely ADORE spring! Spring brings a sense of excitement and anticipation as we observe rebirth happening in nature all around us. After months of grey skies and bone deep cold, CHANGE is in the air – blossoms start to appear and nature readies for its next evolution. This season can be a powerful reminder that we too have the opportunity for growth, healing and renewal, and that our patterns of thinking and behaving are open to change.
Now I’m not coming from a lens of toxic positivity! I’m not talking about ‘turning your lemons into lemonade’ or ‘try to enjoy the journey’. Those cliché well-being statements never fly with me! Why? Because for lots of clients I work with, life is REALLY, REALLY hard! There is NO lemonade! Just some nasty pips and lumpy zest no one asked for.
It can feel impossible to change the programming that our brain uses. We all have coping mechanisms developed in our early years that tell us how to respond to life’s challenges. Sometimes these can become unhelpful in later life. For example, if a person grew up with an unwell sibling, they may have compensated for this by being a ‘hard working child’ to try support their family. If this coping strategy does not evolve over time, the adult-self may be overly sacrificial and plagued by guilt when attempting to engage in self-care.
The good news is that the brain is made up of networks of connections that are constantly adapting and reshaping themselves. This is called neuroplasticity.
A therapy that beautifully harnesses this adaptive capacity is Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR). EMDR is a structured, evidence-based approach with extensive peer reviewed studies supporting its effectiveness. EMDR was originally developed to help people recover from traumatic experiences, but is now widely used for anxiety, phobias, and many other mental health challenges.
At its heart, EMDR works with the natural healing ability of the brain. Sometimes when something stressful or traumatic happens, the memory gets “stuck” in the brain. Even long after the event, it can feel as if the body and emotions are still living in that moment— this can lead people to use unhelpful coping strategies to manage these feelings.
EMDR helps “unstick” those memories, so they can be processed in a healthier way. In a session, the therapist guides the client to recall aspects of the troubling memory while also engaging in something called bilateral stimulation—for example, following the therapist’s hand as it moves side to side or the client tapping their own shoulders left to right. This back-and-forth movement helps the brain re-organise the memory. The brains healing kicks in and the memory loses its intensity. The client can still remember what happened, but it no longer feels overwhelming or dictates their present-day coping strategies.
With the right support, the mind can move forward, shaking off the past seasons of life and making space for renewal and healing. Spring is our gentle reminder that change is always possible and our brains have the capacity to evolve into new ways of being.
Feel free to reach out if you’d like more information on trauma recovery, processing past memories or strategies to improve your mental health.
Cassie currently practices at Ranges Integrative Health on Thursdays.
