Brainspotting

Brainspotting is a newer technique developed by David Grand's work with trauma survivors. Brainspotting is designed to help people access, process, and overcome trauma, negative emotions, and pain. The treatment works by identifying, processing and releasing core neurophysiological sources of trauma, body and emotional pain and other mental health issues. Brainspotting is used as a tool to access buried experiences in the subconscious mind. Those experiences are then released and processed which can lead to profound healing. Brainspotting can sometimes provide faster results when compared to EMDR. Often times this is the case due to how adaptable a therapist can be when utilizing brainspotting techniques. Find Portland therapists that specialize in brainspotting below.

Local experts in Brainspotting

Margaret King (She/her)

Licensed Professional Counselor

LPC, NCC

I offer Brainspotting therapy to a variety of clients and continue to see incredible results. To learn more, visit the website: www.brainspotting.com

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Madilyn Long (she/they)

Licensed Clinical Social Worker

LCSW

I am a trained Brainspotting clinician and utilize this modality with many of my current clients to assist in processing traumas, both recent and past, and other emotionally significant events.

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Robin Bodhi (she/her)

Professional Counselor Associate

MA

Completed Phase One and Phase Two in 2022 - now a Brain Spotting practitioner. This technique has proven to be as effective as EMDR in treating trauma. It is a client led approach which allows clients to feel more empowered in their process.

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Christine Finucane (She/her/hers)

Licensed Clinical Social Worker

LCSW, SUDP, LICSW, SEP

I have completed phase 1 of brainspotting and will be taking phase 2 soon. I use brainspotting in conjunction with other forms of therapy to help with repressed traumatic memories. Working with the eyes, places where we may unconsciously gaze to help process emotional material can help to bring repressed memories into awareness and allow them to release. Please see David Grand's work for more information.

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JESSICA VAN DER MERWE (She/Her)

Licensed Professional Counselor

LMHC, LPC

Brainspotting therapy harnesses the body’s natural healing by locating a point of vision that correlates with inner neural, somatic, and emotional experiences. These eye positions, called Brainspots, access the subcortical brain, which is the inner part of our brain that holds emotional, non-verbal, and trauma memory. Accessing these brainspots lead to healing and resolution of issues that are held deeply held in the brain and body.

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Debra Schnack (she/her/hers)

Licensed Marriage Family Therapist

LMFT

Many trauma experts believe that when we are overwhelmed by something traumatic, the emotional “charge” or memory from that event becomes trapped in our body. We’re often unaware this has even occurred, but our brain is altered as a result. It can cause emotional, mental, and physical problems. Brainspotting is designed to discover, dislodge, and ultimately release that trapped energy so it no longer causes problems in our life.

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Korel Ponti-Foss LMFT, ATR (he/him)

Licensed Marriage Family Therapist

LMFT

Brainspotting is a gentle brain-based therapy that offers rapid emotional processing ten times faster then traditional talk therapy. It can be used for many different things such as trauma, anxiety, depression, to performance inhancement and body-pain.

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