What is childhood trauma therapy?

Childhood trauma therapy is a specialized form of therapy that helps adults process and heal from difficult experiences in childhood — including emotional neglect, abuse, parentification, and loss. At Marlo Drago Therapy, treatment follows a three-phase model: Safety and Stabilization, Processing, and Integration, using EMDR, somatic therapy, and IFS.

How does EMDR help with childhood trauma?

EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) helps the brain reprocess stuck traumatic memories using bilateral stimulation — eye movements, tapping, or sounds. For childhood trauma, EMDR can reduce the emotional intensity of old memories so they no longer drive current behaviour, anxiety, or relationship patterns.

Do I need to remember my childhood trauma to heal from it?

No. Healing from childhood trauma does not require a detailed or clear memory of what happened. Many clients carry the effects of early experiences — anxiety, people-pleasing, difficulty with trust — without having explicit memories. Therapy works with your nervous system and present-day patterns, not just the past.

Is childhood trauma therapy available virtually in Ontario?

Yes. Marlo Drago Therapy offers fully virtual childhood trauma therapy across Ontario, including Toronto, Ottawa, London, Guelph, Mississauga, Hamilton, York Region, and North York. Sessions are delivered via a secure, HIPAA-compliant video platform.

Can therapy help with chronic pain?

Yes. Research consistently shows that chronic pain — including fibromyalgia, migraines, and medically unexplained pain — has strong connections to the nervous system and unprocessed trauma. Therapy using EMDR, somatic approaches, and polyvagal-informed care can reduce pain intensity, improve function, and address the emotional roots of chronic pain.

What is EMDR therapy for chronic pain?

EMDR for chronic pain uses bilateral stimulation to help the brain and nervous system reprocess pain signals and the traumatic experiences often connected to them. Marlo Drago is an EMDR-trained therapist with personal lived experience of fibromyalgia, migraines, and myofascial pain disorder, and her own healing through EMDR.

Is therapy for chronic pain available virtually in Ontario?

Yes. Chronic pain therapy with Marlo Drago is fully virtual and available to clients across Ontario. Sessions are delivered via a secure HIPAA-compliant video platform — accessible by phone, tablet, or computer.

What is therapy for moms?

Therapy for moms is trauma-informed care designed specifically for the challenges mothers face — mom burnout, postpartum anxiety, postpartum depression, birth trauma, mom guilt, identity loss, and childhood wounds surfacing through parenting. Marlo Drago Therapy works with mothers aged 16 and up across Ontario.

Does therapy help with postpartum anxiety and depression?

Yes. Postpartum anxiety and postpartum depression are highly treatable with the right support. Therapy can help you understand what's happening in your nervous system, process the emotional weight of early motherhood, and develop skills to regulate your mood and feel more like yourself again. Marlo Drago has personal experience with postpartum depression and anxiety.

What is birth trauma and can therapy help?

Birth trauma refers to a distressing or frightening experience during labour, delivery, or the early postpartum period. It can leave mothers with flashbacks, anxiety, difficulty bonding, or a sense of numbness. EMDR therapy is particularly effective for birth trauma and is offered at Marlo Drago Therapy virtually across Ontario.

Yes. Mom burnout is a real and recognized state of physical and emotional exhaustion caused by the chronic stress of caregiving with insufficient support. Signs include resentment, emotional numbness, irritability, and a loss of your sense of self. Therapy can help you understand the roots of burnout and rebuild in a sustainable way.

What is polyvagal therapy?

Polyvagal therapy is a nervous system-informed approach to healing that uses the principles of Polyvagal Theory — developed by Dr. Stephen Porges — to help people move out of chronic fight, flight, or freeze states. It focuses on building a felt sense of safety in the body as the foundation for emotional regulation and trauma healing.

How does polyvagal therapy work for trauma?

Polyvagal-informed therapy helps you identify which state your nervous system is in — safe and connected, mobilized (anxious, angry), or shut down (frozen, numb) — and develops skills to move toward regulation. Combined with EMDR and somatic therapy, it addresses trauma at the level of the body, not just the mind.

Is polyvagal therapy available virtually in Ontario?

Yes. Polyvagal-informed therapy with Marlo Drago is available virtually across Ontario. All individual therapy is delivered via a secure, HIPAA-compliant video platform — no app download required.

What Is EMDR Therapy and How Does It Actually Work?

Marlo Drago
6 days ago
2 min read

EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) is a research-backed therapy that helps your brain finish processing memories that got "stuck" — the kind that still feel like they're happening now, even though they're long over. Using bilateral stimulation (guided eye movements, tapping, or sound), EMDR helps a painful memory move from feeling raw and reactive to feeling like something that simply happened.

That's the short answer. Here's what it actually looks like in practice.

Why memories get "stuck" in the first place

When something overwhelming happens, your brain doesn't always file it away the way it files an ordinary memory. Instead, it can stay lodged in a raw, unprocessed state — which is why a smell, a tone of voice, or a passing comment years later can trigger the same flood of feeling as the original moment. This isn't a flaw in you. It's what an overwhelmed nervous system does to survive something it couldn't fully process at the time.

How EMDR Therapy helps

During EMDR, you bring a specific memory to mind while engaging in bilateral stimulation — this could be guided eye movements, alternating taps, or sound. This back-and-forth stimulation appears to help the brain do the processing work it wasn't able to complete in the moment the memory was formed. Over a series of sessions, the memory typically loses its emotional charge. You still remember what happened — you just stop reliving it.

Not all EMDR looks the same

My approach is also Polyvagal-informed, meaning we don't move straight into reprocessing. We build nervous system safety first, and if any protective "parts" of you (see: Internal Family Systems Therapy) aren't ready to approach a memory, we work with that before we work with the memory itself. You can read the full clinical breakdown of this integrated approach on the EMDR Therapy page, or go deeper in the companion post, What Is EMDR Therapy? How It Works for Trauma, Anxiety & PTSD.

FAQ

Does EMDR require medication or hypnosis? No. EMDR doesn't involve medication or hypnosis — you remain fully aware and in control throughout each session.

Is EMDR only for "big T" trauma like accidents or abuse? No. EMDR is used for single-incident trauma as well as smaller, cumulative experiences — like chronic emotional neglect or years of people-pleasing — that still shape how you respond today.

Curious whether EMDR is right for you? Book a free 15-minute consultation.

marlo drago
THERAPY

What Is EMDR Therapy and How Does It Actually Work?

Why memories get "stuck" in the first place

How EMDR Therapy helps

Not all EMDR looks the same

FAQ

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