Dave Saunders, LPC-MHSP, NCC, EMDR
Are you ready to stop feeling anxious and exhausted? Change is possible.
I pick up where talk therapy leaves off.
You’ve tried talk therapy which was helpful, but now you are looking for something that goes deeper with lasting results. Your brain can’t get out of “fight or flight” mode using talk therapy alone.
Most people don’t want to rehash every little detail from their past. They also don’t want me to just help them “reframe” their traumatic experience. They are looking for simple, results oriented therapy.
My training in Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing (EMDR), Brainspotting, and Trauma Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, allows us to draw from a larger toolbox of strategies that can help you tap into your own body and brain’s ability to heal itself.
What’s it like to work with me?
Firstly, I believe you are the expert on you. My clients and I are in a partnership. I believe my job is to walk beside you and act as a guide the same way I’ve walked with hundreds of people. My job is to meet you where you are and move forward at a pace that you find comfortable.
Sometimes, we do have to discuss and confront difficult emotions and experiences. This often involves acknowledging things you have never said out loud to anyone. Don’t worry, I can handle the heavy stuff and so can you.
Individuals with anxiety and trauma often lose touch with their bodies. People don’t want to “stay in” their bodies and feel the anxiety. I’ll teach you how to inhabit your body again and begin to feel “normal.”
EMDR
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is a long-standing evidence-based method that bridges both sides of your brain to reprocess and restore painful memories and other experiences. It helps form new neural pathways that lead to more ease and peace of mind.
Brainspotting
In brainspotting, we can access the areas of your brain where trauma and emotional pain are stored. Once accessed, we can work on coping strategies to address these things and ultimately release them from both your brain and body. This form of therapy often has rapid and long-lasting results.
Trauma Focused CBT
Trauma Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy helps you see the distorted way anxiety and trauma have effected your thought patterns. For example “all or nothing” thoughts don’t allow you to see the complexity or “grey areas” of you life. Once your brain is calm, your thoughts often correct themselves.
Training & Education
Licensed Professional Counselor-Mental Health Service Provider State of Tennessee
MA - Trevecca Nazarene University
BS - University of Tennessee
Nationally Certified Counselor - NCC
Level II trained Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing (EMDR)
Level II trained Brainspotting
Trauma Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy