Brainspotting

Brainspotting was developed in 2003 by David Grand, an EMDR* practitioner who noticed that his clients would often direct their eyes to specific places as they reflected on particular issues. Brainspotting uses a few simple techniques to identify these 'brainspots'. Brainspots link to thoughts, feelings and sensations. As your Brainspotting therapist, I stay close by with you and ‘hold space’ while you explore whatever comes up. You may want to talk it out or you may want to sit there in complete silence. And yet a huge amount is going on in this process. Brainspotting focuses a laser-like power onto intense feelings that hold trauma and gives them what they need to feel safe to let go and melt away. Brainspots can be found that are about safety as well as trauma, so it is possible to manage the level of activation and work gently with this powerful technique. 

 

Brainspotting can easily be incorporated into broader counselling sessions or used on its own. In Brainspotting there is very little need to focus on the story, so it is ideal if you don't feel comfortable going into detail about troubling situations. As we say in the Brainspotting community, "We don't need to know what it is to know that it is."

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*EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing): A technique that uses eye movements to help process trauma.