EMDR Therapy at Light Counseling
In-person sessions at our Lynchburg and Forest offices, offered through Laura Holmes, MA, LPC, CCTP-II, EMDRIA Certified Therapist™
Some memories don’t stay in the past. They show up as nightmares, as flashbacks, as a body that won’t settle, as an image that replays without warning. For clients dealing with trauma and PTSD at this level, standard counseling often helps — but isn’t always enough on its own. The memory stays active, and the distress stays with it.
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing — EMDR — was developed specifically for situations like this. At Light Counseling, we offer EMDR through Laura Holmes, one of a small number of clinicians in Virginia who holds both the EMDRIA Certified Therapist™ designation and the Certified Clinical Trauma Professional Level II (CCTP-II) credential. Laura carries a waitlist. If you’re ready to start the process, call (888) 808-6050 or submit an intake form below.
Who Light Counseling Sees for EMDR
EMDR is one of the most researched trauma interventions available. At Light Counseling, it’s used for a range of presentations, not only the most obvious ones.
Laura’s primary caseload includes women with histories of sexual, physical, or emotional abuse — including clients with backgrounds involving cults or controlling religious environments.
Signs that EMDR may be worth exploring: nightmares or intrusive images that won’t stop, flashbacks to a specific event, vivid and repetitive daydreams that feel like re-living rather than imagining, or a persistent sense of being stuck in counseling that’s otherwise going well. These are the signals our clinicians listen for when considering a referral to Laura.
She works with military veterans, with grief clients, and with children. She also offers intensive session formats for clients whose clinical situations warrant more than a weekly hour.
One population that frequently surprises families: children presenting as ADHD who actually have complex childhood trauma. When a child bounces between schools, lives through a divorce, or grows up in an emotionally unpredictable home, the behavioral fallout looks like attention problems. The treatment path is fundamentally different. Getting the assessment right first matters.
EMDR is also used for grief where someone is stuck on the moment of loss rather than the relationship that preceded it. Laura tells grief clients directly: the goal isn’t to take away the memory of the person who died. It’s to make it possible to remember them without the image of their worst moment playing on repeat.
Beyond trauma, EMDR is used for anxiety, phobias, and cases where a client has been in counseling for a while and isn’t making traction. When talk therapy keeps addressing the same fires without reaching the source, EMDR is often what breaks the pattern.
What EMDR Does — and Why We Offer It
Most therapy works with how a person thinks and feels about a difficult experience. EMDR works at a different level: how the memory itself is stored in the brain.
After something traumatic happens, the memory can get locked in a way that keeps it feeling present, vivid, and threatening, even years later. This isn't a failure of willpower or a sign that counseling hasn't worked — it's the brain's filing system misfiring.
The brain has a natural mechanism for processing difficult experiences: REM sleep. During deep sleep, the mind consolidates events, softening their emotional charge so you wake up able to move forward. When trauma is severe, that process breaks down. EMDR replicates what healthy sleep does, through bilateral stimulation rather than rest.
Bilateral Stimulation: What Actually Happens in Session
Bilateral stimulation activates both sides of the brain in an alternating pattern. Anything that crosses the body's midline does this — which is why similar cross-body exercises are recommended for older adults to support brain health, and why bilateral stimulation helps integrate fragmented traumatic memories.
Butterfly Tapping & Tactile Tappers
The client crosses their hands across their chest and taps alternately, or holds a pair of handheld tactile tappers that pulse left-right. Most of Laura's clients have histories involving assault or high-alert trauma, and close physical proximity with a provider isn't appropriate or safe for that population — so this is the method used in every session, by default.
Not finger-tracking — the eyes-following-fingers method often shown in films. The neurological effect is identical; the reason for the choice above is clinical safety and client comfort, not effectiveness.
How EMDR Fits Into Care at Light Counseling
EMDR at Light Counseling isn’t a standalone offering — it’s integrated into how we work. Other clinicians on our provider team refer clients to Laura when they start hearing the signals: nightmares, intrusive memories, vivid recurring daydreams, or a sense that counseling isn’t gaining traction despite consistent effort. Sometimes clients return to their original counselor after EMDR work is complete. The referral goes both directions.
No one starts with EMDR. Before Laura works on a specific memory, she takes a full trauma history and uses validated assessment tools to map what she’s working with and where to begin.
She's had clients whose intake changed the clinical picture completely. One example: a client who had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and hospitalized repeatedly over two decades. When Laura got the full trauma history and asked the right questions, a different picture emerged. Three years since, that client hasn't been hospitalized and is stable in the community.
A distinctly Christian, clinically excellent approach to EMDR
What that looks like inside a session depends on the client. There's no single template — Laura meets each person where they actually are.
If faith is something a client wants woven into the process, Laura holds that space.
For those whose trauma is connected to painful experiences in a church or religious community, she works carefully and without assumptions.
A provider on the team refers in — nightmares, intrusive memories, or counseling that's stopped moving
Laura takes a full trauma history and runs validated assessments before touching any memory
Grounding comes first — enough regulation skill to leave every session in a stable state
Reprocessing continues, with homework carrying the work between sessions
Care can flow back to the original counselor once the EMDR work is complete
More at Light Counseling
EMDR is one part of how Light Counseling works with trauma. Related services and resources:
Trauma and PTSD Counseling
For clients whose evaluation surfaces significant trauma alongside other findings.
EMDR Therapy
Available through Laura Holmes, EMDRIA Certified Therapist™, for clients whose trauma history warrants specialized trauma processing.
Anxiety and Depression Counseling
Conditions that frequently overlap with or mimic ADHD and autism presentations.
Addiction Counseling
Trauma and addiction frequently co-present; evaluation can clarify which is primary.
Marriage and Relationship Counseling
When an ADHD or autism diagnosis is affecting a relationship.
Understanding Autism Assessments
Our deeper look at what the evaluation process involves for adults.
Our Full Provider Team
All licensed therapists and psychologists across our Virginia offices.
Forest and Lynchburg Office
Where psychological evaluations are conducted (1075 Light Boulevard, Forest, VA 24551).
Other Virginia Locations
Telehealth
Statewide Virginia availability for counseling (note: psychological evaluations require in-person). Insurance Information · Frequently Asked Questions
Our EMDR Clinician: Laura Holmes, MA, LPC, CCTP-II, EMDRIA Certified Therapist™
Laura Holmes holds two advanced trauma credentials: the EMDRIA Certified Therapist™ designation and the Certified Clinical Trauma Professional Level II (CCTP-II). Both require training, documented clinical hours, and formal approval — they aren’t awarded at the end of a training weekend.
On the EMDR side specifically: completing an EMDR training course earns a clinician a certificate of completion and lets them describe themselves as EMDR-trained.
EMDRIA Certified Therapist™ is a separate credential requiring a formal application, review by EMDRIA, and documented supervised clinical hours working with active EMDR clients. The certification renews every two years, with continuing education required. Laura’s total EMDR training exceeded 50 hours across lecture, practicum, and supervised consultation. She is currently working toward the EMDRIA Approved Consultant™ designation, which would qualify her to provide consultation to other clinicians pursuing their own EMDR certification.
Laura’s specializations include high-acuity trauma, dissociative identity disorder, complex childhood trauma, and grief. She also works with couples and sees clients for intensive session formats. She practices at our Forest and Lynchburg offices.
Due to demand, Laura maintains a waitlist for new EMDR clients. Call (888) 808-6050 to ask about current wait times, or submit an intake form and note EMDR in your response.
Frequently Asked Questions
No. The memory stays intact. What changes is the emotional intensity attached to it. A memory that registers as a 10 on a distress scale can come down to a 1 or 2 through processing. You'll still remember what happened — your nervous system just won't respond to it the way it currently does. For grief clients haunted by the moment of a loved one's death, this distinction matters most: the goal is to be able to remember the person, not lose them to the trauma of losing them.
Regular counseling helps people understand their experiences and build coping strategies. EMDR works at the level of how memories are stored and encoded in the brain. You don't have to talk through a trauma in detail for EMDR to work — which is one reason it's useful when talk therapy has helped but hasn't fully resolved the underlying response. The two approaches work well together. Many of our clients do both.
It depends on the person and the complexity of their history. Some clients see real movement within a couple of months. Others, particularly those with severe or prolonged trauma, spend several months building the grounding and safety needed before active reprocessing begins. There's no universal timeline. Any provider who offers one should be asked how they're measuring progress.
Yes. Due to demand, Laura typically carries a waitlist. Call (888) 808-6050 to ask about current availability. You can also submit an intake form and note EMDR specifically — the office will reach out when Laura has an opening.
Yes, with modifications. Laura works with children and watches specifically for childhood trauma that has been misread as ADHD or behavioral problems. For children who have experienced neglect, repeated moves, family instability, or abuse, EMDR addresses the underlying cause rather than managing surface symptoms. If you're unsure whether your child's situation fits, our FAQ page has additional guidance, or call the office directly.
EMDR training earns a certificate of completion. EMDRIA Certification requires a separate application, documented supervised clinical hours using EMDR with active clients, and formal approval by EMDRIA, the professional association that sets standards for the field. Not everyone who has completed training is certified. Laura holds the EMDRIA Certified Therapist™ credential, which reflects the additional step beyond training.
Trauma is the primary application, but EMDR has clinical evidence for anxiety, grief, phobias, and situations where a specific difficult memory is driving a broader problem. Laura works with grief clients regularly, including those stuck on the circumstances of a death rather than able to access the relationship that came before it.
Trauma and addiction frequently overlap. Unprocessed trauma can drive the behaviors that addiction is trying to manage. EMDR doesn't treat addiction directly, but addressing the underlying trauma can change the landscape of recovery significantly. If addiction is part of the picture, our team will assess the right sequencing of treatment.
No. Bilateral stimulation requires in-person work. Laura sees clients at our Forest and Lynchburg offices. For clients who need telehealth options, we have other clinicians available statewide — call the office and we'll match you appropriately.
Coverage depends on your plan. EMDR sessions are billed as therapy — the relevant codes are the same as standard counseling. Our insurance page outlines what we accept, and the intake team can help you verify your benefits before your first session.