Melissa is a certified Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapist and practitioner with the EMDR Association of Australia (EMDRAA) and is also a member of the EMDR International Association.
Her training included extensive supervised practice to ensure EMDR is delivered safely, effectively and in line with international clinical standards. Melissa is currently completing the requirements to become an Accredited EMDR Consultant. She has also completed specialised EMDR training for working with children under internationally recognised trainer Ana Gomez, allowing her to adapt EMDR therapy for different ages and developmental needs.
Traumatic or distressing experiences can sometimes become ‘stuck’ in the brain, particularly when they occur during overwhelming or emotionally intense moments. Instead of being processed and stored like ordinary memories, these experiences may continue to influence how we think, feel, and respond long after the event has passed. EMDR Therapy helps the brain reprocess these memories so they can be integrated in a healthier and less distressing way.
In everyday life, unprocessed experiences may show up as anxiety, intrusive memories, strong emotional reactions, negative beliefs about ourselves, or patterns of avoidance. You might notice them in your thoughts, emotions, body sensations, or recurring life difficulties. EMDR Therapy works by helping the brain safely revisit and process these experiences, reducing their emotional intensity and allowing new, more adaptive perspectives to emerge.
With the support of a trained therapist, EMDR Therapy can help people move beyond the impact of past experiences and develop a greater sense of safety, resilience, and wellbeing.
In EMDR Therapy, you are gently guided to bring a memory, feeling, or experience to mind while engaging in bilateral stimulation — such as following hand movements with your eyes, listening to alternating sounds, or feeling gentle taps that move from left to right. This process supports the brain’s natural ability to process and integrate difficult experiences.
The eye movements activate the brain’s natural healing processes, similar to what occurs during rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. When a memory is recalled, it temporarily moves from long-term memory into short-term or ‘working’ memory, where it can be processed in a new way. As the memory is held in mind during this process, many people notice that the intensity of the experience begins to shift. Thoughts, feelings, or body sensations connected to the memory may change, and new perspectives can emerge. Over time, the memory often becomes less distressing and feels more like something from the past rather than something that continues to affect the present.
EMDR can help create new connections between emotional and logical parts of the brain, allowing experiences to be understood and stored in a healthier way. As key memories are processed, many people notice a reduction in trauma symptoms and begin to develop more helpful beliefs about themselves, along with greater emotional flexibility. Changes in responses and behaviours may naturally flow.
Everyone’s therapy journey is different. Some people require more preparation and support before processing memories, while others may experience shifts more quickly. Single-incident events may resolve in a shorter period, while more complex or long-standing experiences can take longer to work through.
Schema Therapy helps you identify and heal deep emotional patterns that developed from unmet needs in childhood, while EMDR Therapy helps you process traumatic or distressing memories that may reinforce those patterns. Used together, EMDR can release the emotional charge of past experiences, and Schema Therapy provides tools to understand, change, and respond differently to long-standing patterns, supporting lasting emotional growth and wellbeing.
