Brainspotting is a brain-body therapy developed by Dr. David Grand that works directly with the deeper brain.  The subcortical regions where trauma, stress, and emotional pain are held outside of conscious thought and language. It’s built on a simple but profound observation: where you look affects how you feel.

By finding a specific eye position, termed a “brainspot”, that connects to an activated place in your nervous system, we can access and process experiences that the thinking, talking brain often can’t reach on its own.

This isn’t something you have to figure out or explain your way through. Your brain and body already hold the map. Brainspotting helps us follow it.

I had built a practice grounded in relationship, in curiosity, in meeting people exactly where they are. I had seen real change happen. And still, there were clients, sometimes the ones carrying the complex loads, where talk therapy would take us only so far. We could name the wound. We could understand it. And yet something in the body, something deeper than words, stayed stuck.

That’s what led me to Brainspotting.

Brainspotting sessions can be more quiet, relational, and slow in the best possible way. You won’t be asked to retell your story in detail or follow a rigid structure. Instead, we’ll work together to find a focus, something activated in your system, and locate a brainspot. From there, your job is mostly to notice. My job is to stay present with you while your brain does its own processing.

Bilateral sound (music played through headphones, alternating left and right) is often used to support deeper access. Sessions typically run the same length as a standard therapy appointment, and Brainspotting can be integrated into ongoing therapy or offered as a focused piece of the work.

Brainspotting is a relatively young modality, and the research base is still growing.  Studies have shown meaningful outcomes for trauma, PTSD, and performance anxiety, including longitudinal research with survivors of significant trauma. I’m drawn to approaches grounded in both evidence and clinical experience, and Brainspotting meets both of those standards for me.