Therapy with Philipp
PSYCHOTHERAPist IN Prestwich, Manchester & online
EMDR Therapy in Manchester & Online
Helping you process the past so it has less power over your present
Sometimes we understand exactly why we struggle, yet continue to feel affected by experiences that happened years ago.
You may know that what happened wasn't your fault. You may understand where your anxiety, low self-worth or relationship patterns come from. Perhaps you've already spent considerable time talking about your childhood in therapy.
Yet knowing something and feeling it can be very different.
EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing) can help you process difficult experiences that continue to affect how you feel, react and see yourself today.
I am an EMDR Europe Accredited Practitioner and specialise in helping adults experiencing the effects of childhood and complex trauma. I also work with single-event trauma and PTSD.
✓ EMDR Europe Accredited Practitioner
✓ BACP Accredited Psychotherapist
✓ In Person in Prestwich, Manchester & Online Across the UK
Understanding Is Important — But It Isn't Always Enough
Understanding our experiences can be an important part of therapy and can help facilitate change. But understanding alone doesn't necessarily produce healing.
You might understand intellectually that you're good enough, that you're safe now or that you weren't responsible for what happened to you. Yet when something triggers you, you may still feel inadequate, unsafe, ashamed or powerless.
Old beliefs and emotional responses can continue to be activated automatically, even when another part of you knows differently.
This is one of the reasons experiential therapies such as EMDR are central to how I work. Rather than only understanding why you feel the way you do, we can work with what remains emotionally active and create opportunities for deeper processing and change.
The aim isn't to erase the past. It's for the past to have less power over your present.
What Is EMDR ?
EMDR stands for Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing. It is a structured psychological therapy originally developed to help people process traumatic experiences.
EMDR isn't primarily a talking therapy.
Although we'll talk to understand what's affecting you and decide what we need to work on, the processing itself is different from simply discussing or analysing what happened.
During EMDR, you'll briefly bring aspects of an experience to mind while using bilateral stimulation—usually eye movements, alternating tapping or sounds. You don't need to describe everything in detail, and you remain awake and in control throughout.
The aim isn't to forget what happened. Instead, EMDR can help the memories, emotions, bodily responses and beliefs associated with an experience become less distressing and less influential in the present.
We don't yet fully understand exactly how EMDR produces these changes, and I prefer not to oversimplify the neuroscience. What matters is whether the experiences that continue to affect you can be processed in a way that creates meaningful change in your life.
EMDR for Childhood & Complex Trauma
Trauma isn't always one event.
For many of the people I work with, there isn't one particular experience they can point to. Their difficulties developed through experiences repeated over many years—perhaps feeling unsafe, criticised, rejected or emotionally neglected, or growing up without some of the emotional support, acceptance or security they needed.
These experiences can shape how we see ourselves and relate to others long after childhood has ended. They may contribute to shame, low self-worth, anxiety, perfectionism, people-pleasing, difficulties in relationships or a persistent feeling of not being good enough.
With complex trauma, there also isn't always one particular memory that needs to be processed.
We may work with specific childhood memories, but we can also begin with something affecting you today—a trigger, painful belief, emotion or bodily feeling—and explore what earlier experiences it may be connected with.
Sometimes memories and connections emerge naturally during this process. We don't need to find the one “correct” memory before meaningful therapeutic work can happen.
The more complex or longstanding your experiences have been, the more broadly we may need to work with their effects, and therapy may therefore take longer than work focused on a single traumatic event.
My Approach to EMDR
Childhood trauma isn't only about what happened to us. Sometimes it's also about what we needed but didn't receive.
My EMDR work is attachment-informed. This means we pay attention not only to difficult experiences, but also to important relationships, unmet emotional needs and beliefs that may have developed through them—such as I'm not good enough, I'm unlovable, I'm unsafe or my needs don't matter.
EMDR is an important part of my trauma work, but I don't assume that one approach will be right for every person at every stage.
Sometimes one part of you may want to move forward while another feels frightened or protective. At other times, we may need to access an emotion more fully or work with something that was never expressed or resolved within an important relationship.
When helpful, I may integrate EMDR with Internal Family Systems (IFS), parts work and experiential techniques such as chair work. These approaches can help us work compassionately with protective responses, attachment wounds and unmet emotional needs.
This doesn't mean complex trauma always requires several different therapies. Sometimes EMDR itself provides the framework we need.
The aim isn't to use lots of different techniques. It's to understand what you need and respond thoughtfully to it.
You Remain in Control
Your sense of choice and control is a priority throughout therapy.
An important part of EMDR is being able to engage with difficult material while remaining connected to the present. You can pause or stop at any point, and you don't have to tell me every detail of what you're processing.
If something becomes overwhelming, we can slow down, pause, use emotional regulation strategies or change the way we're working.
I don't believe good trauma therapy means simply pushing through protective responses. Sometimes we need to understand and work compassionately with them first.
Good trauma therapy shouldn't take your control away. It should help you develop more of it.
What Can Change Through EMDR?
The changes that matter aren't simply about making a memory less upsetting. They're the changes you begin to notice in your life.
You may find that you can remember what happened without becoming overwhelmed by it. Present-day triggers may have less power. You may respond differently in relationships, or find that patterns such as people-pleasing, perfectionism, avoidance or shutting down no longer feel quite so necessary.
And sometimes something you previously only knew intellectually begins to feel emotionally true:
I wasn't responsible.
I'm good enough.
I'm safe now.
I have choices.
My needs matter.
Healing isn't about changing what happened. It's about changing how much what happened continues to determine your present.
EMDR for Single-Event Trauma & PTSD
Although much of my work focuses on childhood and complex trauma, I also work with single-event trauma and PTSD.
This might include an accident, assault, frightening medical experience, traumatic loss or another event that continues to affect you through flashbacks, nightmares, avoidance, anxiety or strong emotional or physical reactions.
Where there is a clearly identifiable traumatic experience, EMDR can provide a focused way of processing the memory and the triggers, emotions and beliefs associated with it.
EMDR and OCD
I also integrate EMDR into my specialist work with OCD, particularly where OCD is connected with painful experiences, shame, feeling unsafe, low self-worth, excessive responsibility or fears about what intrusive thoughts might mean about you.
Depending on your individual formulation, I may integrate EMDR with approaches including ERP, I-CBT and ACT.
Professional Accreditation
I am an EMDR Europe Accredited Practitioner and BACP Accredited Psychotherapist.
EMDR Europe Practitioner accreditation involves additional supervised clinical experience and assessment beyond completing initial EMDR training. I continue to receive regular supervision and consultation from experienced practitioners, including EMDR Europe Accredited Consultants, alongside ongoing specialist training and professional development.
Frequently Asked Questions About EMDR
Yes. EMDR has a substantial evidence base for treating PTSD and is recommended by NICE as a treatment for PTSD in adults in relevant circumstances.
That said, I completely understand why it can sound strange at first. Moving your eyes or using alternating tapping while thinking about difficult experiences isn't what most people imagine when they think of therapy. Most people get used to the process quite quickly.
I've used EMDR in my clinical practice for many years and have also experienced it personally. Some people describe the changes they experience as almost feeling like “magic”. I don't see it that way—EMDR is a structured psychological therapy, and while there are several theories about how it works, we still don't fully understand all of its mechanisms.
Like any therapy, it doesn't work for everyone, which is why I'll consider your individual needs rather than assuming EMDR is automatically right for you.
Yes. EMDR can be used when difficulties relate to repeated or longstanding adverse childhood experiences as well as single traumatic events.
With complex trauma, the work is often broader. Rather than one event, we may be working with interconnected experiences, relationships, unmet emotional needs, negative beliefs and patterns that developed over many years.
Depending on your needs, I may use EMDR itself or integrate it with attachment-informed, parts-based or experiential approaches.
That's okay. You don't need to remember your entire childhood or identify one particular traumatic memory for us to begin working together.
We can often begin with what's affecting you now. A present-day situation might trigger shame, fear, helplessness or a feeling of not being good enough, even when you're unsure where it comes from.
We can gently explore what these reactions may be connected with. Sometimes memories and associations emerge naturally as therapy progresses, but there's no pressure to remember something that isn't there and we don't need to go searching for memories.
No. You don't have to describe every detail of an experience for us to work therapeutically with it.
During EMDR, you can keep aspects of what you're processing private if you wish. You decide what you want to share
Yes. Agency is a priority in the way I work.
You're awake and aware throughout EMDR and can pause or stop at any point. I'll also help you remain connected to the present while processing difficult material.
If the work becomes overwhelming, we can slow down, pause, use emotional regulation strategies or change how we're working.
Working with painful experiences can sometimes temporarily bring difficult emotions, memories or dreams closer to the surface during or between sessions.
We'll pay attention to how you're responding and adjust the pace or way we're working when necessary. You don't simply have to endure becoming increasingly distressed for therapy to work.
No. EMDR can also use other forms of bilateral stimulation, including alternating tapping or sounds.
Different methods work better for different people, and we can find an approach that feels comfortable and workable for you.
Yes. I offer EMDR online throughout the UK as well as in person in Prestwich, Manchester.
For online EMDR, I use specialist bilateral-stimulation software that allows us to use eye movements, as well as alternatives such as tapping or alternating sounds.
Online EMDR can work well for many people. We'll consider whether it's appropriate for you, including factors such as privacy, having a suitable space without interruptions and being able to remain connected and regulated during processing.
There isn't one number that applies to everyone.
Work with a relatively contained single traumatic event can sometimes be more focused. Complex childhood trauma may require broader work across experiences and patterns that developed over many years and can therefore take longer.
Rather than promising a particular number of sessions, we'll agree goals together, review your progress and regularly consider what you still want from therapy.
No therapeutic approach works for everyone.
If EMDR doesn't seem to be helping, I won't simply continue doing the same thing and hope something changes. We'll review our understanding of your difficulties and consider what might be getting in the way.
Sometimes that means adapting the EMDR work. At other times, we may use another approach, such as IFS, experiential work or cognitive and behavioural therapies.
I regularly receive supervision and consultation from experienced practitioners, including EMDR Europe Accredited Consultants. I also recognise the limits of my competence. If I believe you need something outside my expertise, I'll be open with you and, wherever possible, help you find a more appropriate therapist or service.
Get in touch
Reaching out for therapy can feel like a big step. If you feel ready, I invite you to book a free 15-minute Zoom consultation. We can briefly talk about what you’re looking for help with, answer any questions you have, and see whether I might be the right therapist for you. If you’d prefer a phone call, that’s absolutely fine too.
Practical Information
- 55-minute sessions
- £75 per session
- Adults 18+
- In person in Prestwich, Manchester, or online across the UK
- Private health insurance: AXA, Aviva and Allianz
- I aim to respond to enquiries within 24 hours
Confidentiality
Your enquiry will be treated confidentially. Please avoid including highly sensitive personal information in the initial contact form.
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