Asato Maehata

About Asato Maehata

I am licensed in Virginia with 3~4 years of professional work experience and am an EMDRIA certified therapist in EMDR. I have experience in helping clients with stress, anxiety, trauma, abuse, motivation, & self esteem by applying EMDR therapy. Also, I work with clients who want to change their beliefs about money - called Money Script - with interventions like journaling and Mandala art, and using EMDR technique. I work with my clients to create an open and safe environment where thoughts and feelings can be shared without fear of judgment. Taking the first step to sign up for therapy can take courage and I am proud of you for getting started! (Note: briefly to explain the theory of EMDR therapy - "Often, when something traumatic happens, it seems to get locked in the nervous system with the original picture, sounds, thoughts, feelings, and so on. Since the experience is locked in, it continues to be triggered whenever a reminder comes up. It can be the basis for a lot of discomfort and sometimes a lot of negative emotions, such as fear and helplessness that we cannot seem to control. These are really the emotions connected with the old experience that are being triggered. The eye movements we use in EMDR therapy seem to unlock the nervous system and allow your brain to process the experience. It is similar to what is thought to happen in REM, or dream sleep: The bilateral stimulation in every movements may be involved in processing the unconscious material. The important thing to remember is that it is your own brain that will be doing the healing and that you are the one in control" (Boynton, H., LCSW, from the training material, 2019).