If you’re considering EMDR therapy, there’s a good chance you’ve already done a lot of surviving. You may be functioning well on the outside - holding a job, caring for your family, showing up for others - but inside, something still feels unsettled. Maybe past experiences continue to surface through anxiety, emotional overwhelm, hypervigilance, or a constant sense of being “on edge.” You might have tried talk therapy before and found it helpful, but not quite enough to reach the deeper root of what you’re carrying.

Trauma for first responders rarely arrives as a single, isolated event. Unlike civilians, who may encounter one or two major crises in a lifetime, firefighters, police officers, EMTs, and dispatchers face repeated exposure to emergencies, sometimes multiple times a day. Over time, these experiences don’t just fade away. They stack, accumulating in the nervous system and shaping emotional, physical, and relational wellbeing. This long-term buildup is known as cumulative trauma, and it is one of the most significant, yet most overlooked, mental health challenges first responders face.