Therapy Tools

Counseling sessions at The WAYStation may include a number of therapy tools rather than offering a menu of appointments utilizing specific therapies. Once assessments are taken and discussed, therapy tools are proposed and mutually agreed upon between counselor and client to form a care plan that meet the client's needs and helps them to reach their goals.

What is EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization & Reprocessing)?

Developed by trauma therapists, EMDR helps your brain process and release traumatic memories in an unusual way — through your eye movements.

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy was developed by Dr. Francine Shapiro in 1987 to treat post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). This therapy uses eye movements (or sometimes rhythmic tapping) to change the way a memory is stored in the brain, allowing you to process it.

This therapy aims to help you work through painful memories with your body’s natural functions to recover from the effects of trauma.

How does EMDR therapy work?

EMDR therapy is considered a new, nontraditional form of psychotherapy. Therapists mostly use it to treat PTSD or trauma responses.

This therapy is based on the theory that traumatic events aren’t properly processed in the brain when they happen. This is why they continue to affect us — with nightmares, flashbacks, and feelings of the trauma happening again — long after the actual trauma is over.

When something reminds you of the trauma, your brain and body react as though it’s happening again. The brain isn’t able to tell the difference between the past and the present.

This is where EMDR comes in. The idea, known as the adaptive information processing model, is that you can “reprocess” a disturbing memory to help you move past it.

This therapy aims to change the way that the traumatic memories are stored in your brain. Once your brain properly processes the memory, you should be able to remember the traumatic events without experiencing the intense, emotional reactions that characterize post-traumatic stress.

During an EMDR therapy session, your therapist will ask you to briefly focus on a trauma memory. Then, they’ll instruct you to perform side-to-side eye movements while thinking of the memory. This engages both sides of your brain and is termed bilateral stimulation. Rapid eye movement (REM) sleep phase replication. Back-and-forth eye movements may help the brain consolidate memories in the same way it does during REM sleep.

If you have visual processing issues, your therapist may use rhythmic tapping on both of your hands or play audio tones directed towards both ears.

Dr. Robertson received her training in EMDR through the Personal Transformation Institute and has been using EMDR successfully in the office and on Telehtealth at The WAYStation since 2020.

Ref. EMDR Therapy: How It Works, Benefits, Uses, and Side Effects (psychcentral.com)

What is Neurofeedback & LENS?

Traditional Neurofeedback is direct training typically provided by licensed healthcare professionals where the brain is observed in action from moment to moment, while “ re-training” the brain with audio and visual operant conditioning. LENS Neurofeedback is considered “non-traditional” neurofeedback, also called EEG Biofeedback, because it is based on electrical brain activity, the electroencephalogram, or EEG without any audio or visual stimulation. LENS Neurofeedback is promoting self-regulation. Self-regulation is a necessary part of optimal brain performance and function, allowing the nervous system to function better.

LENS - Low Energy Neurofeedback System

The concept of Low Energy Neurofeedback (which is a completely unique form of “brain optimization” ) was first introduced by Dr. Len Ochs, Ph.D. in 1990. After introducing his ideas to several national forums, he established Ochs Labs to further develop and hone Low Energy Neurofeedback concepts and the technology fueling its success.

Since then, our LENS Providers and their clients have reported many forms of success using our unique and effective form of neurotherapy. Over 85% of people who have used the LENS have benefited significantly from it. Results can be seen quickly, often beginning within the first session, and are lasting.

The LENS is a specific kind of neurofeedback that operates much more rapidly than “traditional neurofeedback” and has qualities that make it easier to use with people who are unable to sit still. With the LENS, the client doesn’t need to “do” anything, and there is nothing to learn. The typical session with the LENS lasts 3-4 minutes. This means that the LENS works well for people who either cannot pay attention to a computer screen for longer time periods like those used in “traditional neurofeedback.”

We apply sensors to the scalp to capture brainwave activity, processing the signal by our computer software, and extracting information about the client’s brainwave frequencies. Through a patented process, we then bring this information back to the client’s scalp via the sensors. The results are reduction and/or resolution of the symptoms which previously interfered with the client’s quality of life.

Each client’s EEG signals (brain waves) are unique to them and constantly changing. The LENS measures these ever-changing signals of the client and matches the feedback to the client’s own physiological (neurological) fingerprint.

The LENS software identifies the Dominant Frequency at any moment (the frequency associated with the highest amplitude wave) and mirrors this information back to the brain. In other words, the brain is receiving a subset of the information that the brain itself is generating. Regarding wavelength range: the software monitors the EEG at the scalp, and tracks 1-42Hz waves, ignoring any waves above 42 Hz.

The LENS works well with problems of the Central Nervous System, which can be numerous. These include symptoms of anxiety-depression spectrum, attention deficits, behavior disorders, various sleep disorders, headaches and migraines, PMS and emotional disturbances. It is also useful for organic brain conditions such as seizures, the autism spectrum, and cerebral palsy. These are all signs of Central Nervous System dysfunction which result in the body’s difficulty regulating itself.

It may be utilized as the primary modality, or as an adjunct to other therapies. Patients across the lifespan, from young children to older adults, have benefited from LENS; used for over 30 years on infants as young as 3 months of age, and on animals including dogs, cats, goats, chickens, horses, racehorses, chimpanzees, giraffes, and gorillas!

Dr. Robertson has been through 8 sessions of LENS therapy as a test subject as a childhood TBI survivor with a prosthetic skull. It was after receiving LENS treatment for herself, and a the request of numerous clients, that she purchased equipment and trained with Ochs Labs to provide LENS to WAYStation clients. The WAYStation will begin booking appointments for LENS in September 2023.

LENS Benefits

Non invasive
No drugs
Suitable for toddlers to veterans
No pain, and long lasting
No ‘training’ or participation, no ‘caps’
Each treatment last just a few minutes

Fast results
Affordable
95%+ effective
Proven technology with 25 years successful track record

Ref. About – Ochs Labs

What is Trauma Stage Processing & Psychodrama?

Some people love to spend years receiving nothing but talk therapy, but others have found that experiential therapies are more affective, can unearth important forgotten parts of their story that can serve as keys to their healing and, for some, is more enjoyable than traditional talk therapy. Trauma stage processing and psychodrama are both experiential counseling therapies.

Trauma Stage Processing

Trauma Stage Processing is multi-tool therapy that layers in great coping & grounding skills prior to processing troubling memories and trauma so each client has established increased resilience prior to addressing traumatic events or seasons in their life. Trauma Stage Processing uses a variety of tools like timelines, drawing, third person narration, guided imagery, role playing, mirroring, and retelling their story in different ways in order to remove the negative charge out of the traumatic memories, to glean better understanding of what happened and why, etc.

Trauma Stage Processing addresses the following stages of trauma.

1. Before the event/trauma/season occurred.

2. Startle - When "It" happened

3. Fight, flight, freeze - How one reacts to trauma

4. Helplessness - One's sense of aloneness in the event.

5. Altered states - How one is changed after the event.

6. Automatic obedience - A person's response to similar situations each time they occur.

7. Somatic experiences - Pain that lodged in the body when the event occurred.

8. Brilliant resilience - How one copes with the emotional/physical/mental pain once the event/season is over.

Psychodrama

Psychodrama is primarily a group therapy, although it can be used in one-on-one counseling sessions. It is based on the theory of sociometry: a method of facilitating and revealing the positive, negative, and neutral connections within a group or situation.

Psychodrama can accomplish the following goals:

1. To measure connections for a group and a leader.

2. To facilitate connections and establish doubles.

3. To break through isolation and shame and establish safety.

4. To increase spontaneity and lower anxiety.

5. To make choices in the moment, which promotes living in the here and now.

In psychodrama, clients become the protagonist of a narrative they create with props to re-enact an event, interaction with someone in their life, etc. using members of their group or an empty chair to role-play their scenes. The drama is guided by the counselor to prompt the protagonist to consider good questions to ask or bring their attention to cues that can provoke deeper consideration. Psychodrama helps to bring what is going on inside the protagonist (client) to the surface for consideration. Psychodrama collapses time, and helps participants to remain in the here and now. Looking at the past while remaining in the present help keep us close to the resources inside us. Anxiety takes us away from our resources and gifts.

Psychodrama can be a revealing experience about self and others involved in an event or period of our lives. When practiced by a group (which can be others a client chooses to invite into their therapy process as well as a group of clients who are willing to work together whether they know one another or not), psychotherapy helps to build compassion and tolerance for others, connection to others, and is a fun way to approach healing.

Dr. Robertson has been a participant in trauma stage processing and psychotherapy at Onsite Retreat Center and received training in both modalities in 2017.

What is Aroma Freedom Technique?

In the late 1990’s while working in Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), Dr. Benjamin Perkus hit upon a connection between scent and emotion. In developing Aroma Freedom Technique, he has combined 20 years of practical experience as a licensed Clinical Psychologist with 15 years of experience in essential oils to change negative personal experiences into positive reactions.

Our sense of smell can trigger memories. Perhaps you smelled fresh baked biscuits and thought of breakfasts with grandma. Or, you may have smelled smoke that triggered memories of being involved in a fire. Our sense of smell can trigger both good and traumatic memories.

Olfactory sensory neurons, which are the nerve cells that are equipped with the ability to sense incoming chemical stimuli within the environment, are present within the olfactory epithelium that covers the back of the nasal cavity. Once odors are sensed by these neurons, the odor is trasduced into electrical signals that travel through the brain to the limbic system which includes the hippocampus and the amygdala. The amygdala plays a critical role in the processing of emotions. The amygdala reacts to stimuli, such as odor, by evoking a strong emotional response, both negative and positive. These emotions can be attached to memories that are triggered by the entire process.

Essential Oils are powerful aids in healing physical and emotional pain and have been used in a variety of healing arts since ancient times. Over the years, essential oils have been found to take strong, negative emotional charge out of painful memories and to empower humanity to achieve what can otherwise be challenging. So, essential oils combined with Aroma Freedom Technique is a wonderful way to experience a level of healing from painful memories and empowerment in overcoming obstacles to reaching goals, staying positive about life, preparing for a big challenge, etc. Aroma Freedom Technique is simple and safe.

AFT can help with a multitude of issues that wreck our self-confidence and make life hard:

Negative Self-Talk
Emotional Triggers
Distressing Memories
Self-Sabotaging Behaviors
Fear
Self-Doubt
Bad Habits
Cravings
Limiting Beliefs

If you have not visited the webpage on Aromatherapy, it is an interesting dive into the creation story, revealing the source of the power of plants and thus, essential oils.

Dr. Robertson trained participated in Aroma Freedom Technique and trained to use it in practice in 2016.

WAYStep Tools

For several years, Dr. Robertson conducted weekend retreats for the purpose of leading groups through a series of spiritual steps toward inner healing and spiritual freedom. WAYStep tools were developed, over time, out of the consistent needs of the groups that participated in these retreats. These interactive tools were included for participants to experience the following...

* to understand and be healed from father wounds

* to be healed from rejection

* to forgive and release those who have caused harm or pain

* to break unhealthy soul ties

* to break free from demonic strongholds

* to learn to hear God's voice

* to learn how to grow as a disciple of Christ

Now, for clients who want, or have, a relationship with Christ, and want to use tools that include faith principles of the Christian faith, WAYStep tools can be integrated into counseling care plans.

Prayer

Dr. Robertson is a chaplain who ministers to people of different faith backgrounds and seeks to respect and minister to others with love and without judgment.

"Having traveled to numerous countries and educated for years with people of a variety of beliefs, I have yet to find any more than 5 or less people who said no to the offer of prayer."

Dr. Robertson is a Christ follower and one who believes in the power of prayer. She has been the recipient of numerous miracles and has prayed for miracles and seen God move in powerful ways for others. Upon request, she is more than happy to prayer for clients, and anyone who is in need of or desires prayer.

Button