"Mr M" had suffered from a fear of heights for years. As much as he as much as he minimised his distress, it was impacting family life and restricting their activities. Our sessions surprised him in their power, intensity and the flood of seemingly random memories. He is now enjoying ski-lifts and driving over bridges without any panic.

'J' had her first baby after an easy pregnancy. The labour was difficult and she found the early months extremely challenging. She struggled through but her relationship with her partner was suffering. She felt trapped. She couldn't imagine returning to work, but neither did she want to stay home. The thought of another child was overwhelming, but she dearly wanted her child to have a sibling. With EMDR she felt something shift and became happier and more confident. Her relationship improved and the couple began trying for a second baby.

'N' had a fear of flying. They had taken a fear of flying course with an airline, which helped them board a plane but only when absolutely unavoidable. Lockdown had provided the perfect excuse not to travel, but they really wanted to visit family overseas once restrictions had ended. It only took a short course of EMDR and they were able to catch up with family- as well as enjoying weekend city breaks and long haul holidays.

"Mr W" was feeling overworked, excluded and undermined at the office. However long he put into projects was never enough, and others took the credit for his successful projects. He tried talking therapy but felt it wasn't really helping and decided to play squash instead, but had to keep cancelling and it soon dropped off his agenda entirely. With encouragement from a friend, he tried EMDR. He was able to look at some experiences that seemed to him completely unrelated to the work situation. With fresh perspective he saw how unresolved issues had been holding him back. Shortly after our work he switched departments and got a promotion.

a few brief vignettes from recent clients

'A' had enjoyed drama school and taken on challenging roles with enthusiasm and received great feedback. But whenever they got called for an audition, inevitably something unexpected would occur on the way there, so they'd arrive flustered, panic and forget lines. We worked on the underlying issues to enable them to step up with confidence.

Some time after "N" conquered their fear of flying, I got an email requesting further sessions following the death of their father. Although "N" was a confident public speaker, frequently addressing large audiences, the thought of standing up at their father's memorial service was filling them with panic, and they were close to withdrawing from making a eulogy. As we had already worked together we were able to do two short sessions and "N" was composed and able to step up to say the words that they wanted to commemorate their father's memory.

My own journey to overcoming stage fright is what inspired the name "step up EMDR". I had joined a choir but was queasy and sweaty at the mere thought of performing in public, let alone the palpitations on stage and the humiliation of opening my mouth to sing and nothing coming out. Once I had EMDR myself, I took performances in my stride. I've since taken on roles in theatre and dance productions- to step up on stage is now a thrill.