EMDR stands for Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing. It’s a therapy that helps people process distressing memories, trauma, or experiences that still feel “stuck” in the body or mind—even when you know they’re in the past.

Instead of just talking through what happened, EMDR helps your brain actually reprocess the experience, so it no longer carries the same emotional charge. You might still remember it, but it won’t feel as heavy, triggering, or overwhelming.

It uses back-and-forth eye movements (or other forms of bilateral stimulation) to help your nervous system do the work it wasn’t able to do at the time of the event. I often describe it as helping your brain “catch up” to what you already know logically.

If you’ve done a lot of thinking or talking in therapy but still feel stuck in the same patterns or reactions, EMDR can be a powerful next step.

CBT stands for Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. It’s a therapy approach that helps you notice the connection between your thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. A lot of times, we get stuck in patterns where our thoughts aren’t entirely true or helpful—but we believe them anyway, and they impact how we feel and act.

CBT helps you catch those patterns, challenge them, and practice new ways of thinking so you can feel more in control. It’s great for things like anxiety, depression, and perfectionism—basically, anything where your thoughts are getting in your way.

DBT stands for Dialectical Behavior Therapy. It builds on CBT, but focuses more on helping people manage really intense emotions, improve relationships, and avoid impulsive or self-destructive behavior.

DBT teaches practical skills in four areas:

Mindfulness (being present)

Distress Tolerance (getting through hard moments without making them worse)

Emotion Regulation (understanding and managing your emotions)

Interpersonal Effectiveness (setting boundaries and communicating clearly)

It’s especially helpful if you feel emotionally overwhelmed, reactive, or tend to shut down or avoid when things get hard.

IFS stands for Internal Family Systems. It’s a way of understanding yourself that sees the mind as made up of different parts—kind of like an inner cast of characters, each with their own voice, role, and emotion.

You might have a part that’s anxious and tries to plan everything, a part that shuts down when things get hard, a part that criticizes you, or even a part that turns to numbing or avoiding. These parts aren’t bad—they’ve just learned certain ways to protect you, especially if you’ve been through hard things.

IFS helps you get curious about these parts, understand where they come from, and learn how to care for them, instead of fighting or ignoring them. At the core of IFS is the idea that you also have a deeper Self—a calm, compassionate inner leader that can help your parts heal.

If you’ve ever said something like “A part of me wants to change, but another part of me is scared,”—you’re already speaking IFS.