Certified, and consulted on by other therapists
EMDR therapy in Texas
EMDR, Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing, helps the brain finish processing experiences it stored in raw form. Reem Glasco, LPC-S, is EMDR certified and an EMDRIA Approved Consultant, trained in the ASSYST, PRECI and IGTP-OTS protocols, and her emphasis is stabilization first. Sessions are 50 minutes, self-pay, online anywhere in Texas, with Blue Cross Blue Shield accepted.
EMDR in short
- What it stands for
- Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing
- Developed by
- Francine Shapiro, in the late 1980s
- Recognized for
- PTSD, by the World Health Organization and the American Psychological Association
- Structure
- Eight phases, of which the first two are preparation
- Reem's training
- EMDR certified, EMDRIA Approved Consultant, ASSYST, PRECI and IGTP-OTS, IFS-informed EMDR steps one to three
- Format
- Online, anywhere in Texas
- Session
- 50 minutes, $240 self-pay; Blue Cross Blue Shield accepted
- For therapists
- EMDR consultation toward certification, $185 an hour
What EMDR does
Some experiences get stored the way they arrived: raw, out of sequence, still carrying the body state that came with them. A sound, a smell or a tone of voice reaches that storage directly, and you are back in it before you have decided anything. EMDR gives the brain the conditions to file the material properly, so the memory stays and the hijack stops.
The dual attention task, following eye movements or taps while holding the material, is the part everyone has heard of. It is not hypnosis and it is not a trance. You stay awake, aware, and able to stop at any point.
Stabilization comes first
Reem's emphasis is the preparation phases: acute stress, ongoing stress, feeling overwhelmed, loss. Processing before there is footing is the most common reason people arrive here saying EMDR did not work for them, and it is usually a preparation problem rather than a protocol failure.
It tends to fit when
- Specific memories intrude, or certain triggers reliably hijack you.
- You are in an ongoing stressful situation and need footing before insight.
- Talking about it has stopped helping.
- You want the charge out of something, not a better account of it.
On the controversy
Worth stating plainly, since it is the thing people read about. The outcomes are not in dispute: EMDR is recommended for PTSD by major bodies and trials consistently show it helps. The mechanism is. Dismantling studies that strip out the eye movements often find similar results, which suggests the bilateral stimulation may matter less than the structured exposure and reprocessing around it. It works, and the field does not fully agree on why.
The protocols
- ASSYST
- A brief protocol for recent and ongoing stress
- PRECI
- Protocol for recent critical incidents
- IGTP-OTS
- A group protocol, used for ongoing traumatic stress
Related
IFS-informed EMDR
What to do when standard EMDR floods, stalls or goes nowhere. The focus of Reem's work.
Somatic Experiencing
Builds the capacity that makes processing survivable, and often runs first.
Trauma therapy here
Developmental trauma and C-PTSD as a course of therapy, with fees and current openings.
For therapists
EMDR consultation toward certification with an EMDRIA Approved Consultant, $185 an hour online.
Questions about EMDR
What is EMDR therapy?
EMDR stands for Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing. You hold a difficult memory in mind while following a repeating left-right cue, usually eye movements, tapping or alternating sound. Attending to both at once appears to let the memory settle as something that happened rather than something still happening. The facts do not change. The charge on them does.
It is a structured therapy of eight phases rather than a technique used on its own, and most of the work here happens in the first two. In this practice EMDR is almost always IFS-informed, which means the preparation gets more attention than the standard protocol requires.
Can I do EMDR therapy online in Texas?
Yes, and it is the default here. Bilateral stimulation adapts to video using self-administered tapping or on-screen movement, and the preparation work is unaffected. Both you and your therapist must be physically located in Texas during the session, because that is where this practice is licensed.
What are the eight phases of EMDR?
History taking, preparation, assessment, desensitization, installation, body scan, closure and reevaluation. The first two are where this practice spends most of its effort, because insufficient preparation is the usual reason the later phases fail.
Does EMDR make you relive the trauma?
No. You hold the material in mind while attending to something else, which is the opposite of immersion, and the dual attention is what keeps one foot in the present. If you are flooding, the pacing is wrong and that is information rather than failure.
What is an EMDRIA Approved Consultant?
A clinician approved by the EMDR International Association to provide the consultation hours other therapists need for EMDR certification. It is a credential about teaching EMDR, not only practicing it, and it requires certification plus substantial supervised consultation experience.
Is EMDR covered by insurance?
Insurers reimburse by session code rather than by method, so an EMDR session bills as individual psychotherapy. Blue Cross Blue Shield is accepted here; sessions under any other plan are self-pay at $240 for 50 minutes.
How much does EMDR therapy cost?
The same as any other session here: $240 for 50 minutes, self-pay, with Blue Cross Blue Shield accepted. EMDR is not billed as a separate or premium service and there is no package to buy up front. The practice's LPC Associates see clients at lower fees, including sliding scale, and usually sooner. See the roster and each fee.
Therapists seeking EMDRIA-approved consultation hours rather than therapy pay $185 an hour, which is a different arrangement.
Who should not do EMDR?
Nobody is ruled out by diagnosis, but timing matters. Active crisis, an unstable living situation, or having no reliable way to settle yourself afterward are all reasons to build footing first rather than start processing. That judgment is part of what the consult and the preparation phases are for.
How can I learn more?
The frequently asked questions page collects everything that is not specific to one service: fees and insurance, how the methods differ, complex PTSD, what Texas requires of a counselor, and how to start. If the answer is not there either, a free consult is the quickest way to get one.
This practice does not provide emergency care. If you are in immediate danger, call 911. For a mental health crisis, call or text 988 for the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.
Start with a conversation
Therapy consults are fifteen minutes. Supervision and EMDR consultation consults are thirty. Both are free and commit you to nothing.