Northern Therapy Practice

03/23/2026

🧠 Understanding Emotional Injuries – Educational Series
Northern Therapy Practice

Part 9 of 10 – How EMDR Helps the Brain Heal

EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) is a therapy approach that helps the brain complete the processing of traumatic experiences.

Through guided bilateral stimulation, the brain activates its natural information-processing systems.

Over time, the memory begins to shift from:

⚠️ “This is still happening.”
➡️
🕊️ “This happened in the past.”

As the memory becomes integrated, the nervous system begins to calm, and the emotional intensity connected to the experience can start to decrease.

Healing doesn’t erase what happened —
but it allows the brain and body to stop reliving it.

📚 Reference:
Shapiro (2018) – Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)

🌐 www.northerntherapypractice.ca
📲 705-282-7198

03/21/2026

🧠 Understanding Emotional Injuries – Educational Series
Northern Therapy Practice

Part 8 of 10 – The Brain Needs to Reprocess the Experience

Some emotional injuries remain painful because the brain never fully processed what happened.

Traumatic experiences can become stored in memory networks that keep the nervous system reacting as if the event is still occurring.

Even when the danger is long over, the brain may continue to respond with:

⚠️ Stress
💓 Fear
🧠 Emotional overwhelm

Healing often involves helping the brain safely revisit and update the memory.

This process is called reprocessing.

Through reprocessing, the brain can begin to recognize that the event is in the past, allowing the nervous system to gradually move out of survival mode.

📚 Reference:
Shapiro (2018) – Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)

🌐 www.northerntherapypractice.ca
📲 705-282-7198

03/20/2026

🧠 Understanding Emotional Injuries – Educational Series
Northern Therapy Practice

Part 7 of 10 – Emotional Pain Affects the Body

When emotional injuries remain unresolved, the nervous system can stay in a prolonged stress state.

Over time, this ongoing stress may begin to influence the body’s immune and inflammatory systems.

People may experience:

😴 Fatigue
💪 Muscle tension
🌙 Sleep problems
🧠 Brain fog
📉 Lowered mood

The brain and body are deeply connected.

Emotional pain doesn’t only live in our thoughts — it can also show up in physical symptoms.

Understanding this connection can help people recognize that their body may be responding to unresolved stress or emotional injury.

📚 Reference:
Slavich & Irwin (2014) – From stress to inflammation and depression

🌐 www.northerntherapypractice.ca
📲 705-282-7198

03/18/2026

🧠 Understanding Emotional Injuries – Educational Series
Northern Therapy Practice

Part 6 of 10 – Wanting Others to Fully Understand the Pain

Another common healing trap is believing recovery will happen once others fully understand the pain.

People may find themselves repeatedly explaining their story, hoping someone will finally say:

💬 “I understand exactly how you feel.”

Humans are naturally wired to want their suffering seen and witnessed.

But the reality is:

No one can fully experience another person’s emotional injury.

Even the most compassionate people can only understand from the outside.

Healing often begins to shift when the focus moves from:

👥 Being fully understood by others
➡️ to
🧠 Integrating the experience within yourself

Your story deserves to be heard.
And your healing does not depend on others fully grasping every part of your pain.

🌐 www.northerntherapypractice.ca
📲 705-282-7198

03/16/2026

🧠 Understanding Emotional Injuries – Educational Series
Northern Therapy Practice

Part 5 of 10 – Looking to the Person Who Hurt Us for Healing

After an emotional injury, it is common to look to the person who caused the harm for healing.

People often want:

❓ Explanations
🤝 Empathy
🧾 Accountability
🛟 Reassurance it won’t happen again

These needs are completely human.

However, the person who caused the injury may not be capable of providing the repair that is needed.

This can create a painful cycle:

🔍 Searching for answers
🙏 Hoping for change
💔 Feeling disappointed

Over time, this cycle can keep people emotionally tied to the source of the injury, even when the healing they need cannot come from there.

Understanding this pattern can be an important step toward redirecting healing back to yourself.

📚 Reference:
Freyd (1996) – Betrayal Trauma

🌐 www.northerntherapypractice.ca
📲 705-282-7198

03/15/2026

5517 likes, 587 comments. “We deal with street drugs every day in the ER. Lots of them are reversible and although they take up services, usually they wear often we can get people home. This drug is causing people to need resuscitation until it wears off. We do not have enough beds for these peopl...

03/14/2026

🧠 Understanding Emotional Injuries – Educational Series

Part 4 of 10 – Protective Parts Form

When emotional pain becomes overwhelming, the mind often organizes itself into protective parts.

Some parts carry the pain.
Other parts protect you from feeling it.

You may notice:

🧊 A part that shuts down
😟 A part that constantly worries
💼 A part that overworks
🚪 A part that avoids people
🎯 A part that tries to control situations

These parts didn’t appear randomly.

They formed to protect you.

Understanding these protective responses can help you begin to relate to them with curiosity instead of judgment — an important step in healing.

📚 Reference:
Schwartz (1995) – Internal Family Systems Therapy

🌐 www.northerntherapypractice.ca
📲 705-282-7198

03/12/2026

🧠 Understanding Emotional Injuries – Educational Series
Northern Therapy Practice

Part 3 of 10 – When the Alarm Stays On

After an emotional injury, the brain can remain in threat detection mode.

The nervous system may repeat the same cycle:

🔍 Scan →
⚠️ Brace →
💥 React →
😔 Crash →
🔁 Repeat

People may experience:

😟 Anxiety
😤 Irritability
😶 Emotional numbness
👀 Hypervigilance
😴 Exhaustion

Your nervous system is trying to protect you by preventing the injury from happening again.

But when the alarm system stays activated for too long, it can leave the body feeling stuck in survival mode.

Understanding these patterns is an important step toward regulation and healing.

📚 Reference:
van der Kolk (2014) – The Body Keeps the Score

🌐 www.northerntherapypractice.ca
📲 705-282-7198

03/11/2026

🌳 Introducing Northern Roots 🎨

📍 REGISTER NOW IN CHAPLEAU

A Holistic Arts-Based Group Therapy Program for Children & Youth designed to help young people build confidence, emotional awareness, and resilience in a supportive environment.

Through creative art activities, mindfulness practices, and guided group discussions, participants will learn healthy coping strategies, emotional regulation, and positive ways to connect with others.

This program can support children and youth who may be experiencing:
• Anxiety or stress
• Low confidence
• Emotional regulation challenges
• Difficulty connecting with peers

✨ 12-Week Program
🧒 Age groups: 7–8, 9–11, 12–14 & 14–17
👥 Small groups (8 participants)
🎨 All art materials and workbooks included

📅 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡 𝟐𝟑, 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟔
📍 33 Birch St. Unit 7 – Chapleau

Spots are limited.

To register or learn more:
🌐 Website: www.northerntherapypractice.ca
📲 Call: 705-282-7198
✉️ Email: intake@northerntherapypractice.ca

03/10/2026

NTP is happy to sponsor the kids in enjoying their lives. Therapy comes in various ways and sports can really help improve mental health!

Thank You to our U11 Division Sponsor: Northern Therapy Practice

03/10/2026

🧠 Understanding Emotional Injuries – Educational Series
Northern Therapy Practice

Part 2 of 10 – The Nervous System Alarm

When emotional injury occurs, the central nervous system activates survival pathways.

Your brain signals your body to prepare for danger, which may trigger:

⚔️ Fight
🏃 Flight
🧊 Freeze
🤝 Fawn

When this happens, your body may respond by:

💓 Increased heart rate
💪 Muscles tightening
🌬️ Shallow or rapid breathing

Even when the event is over, the body can continue reacting as if danger is still present.

This is your nervous system trying to protect you.

Understanding how the nervous system responds to emotional injury is an important step toward regulation and healing.

📚 Reference:
Porges (2011) – The Polyvagal Theory

🌐 www.northerntherapypractice.ca
📲 705-282-7198

03/08/2026

🧠 Understanding Emotional Injuries – Educational Series
Northern Therapy Practice

Part 1 of 10 – Emotional Injuries Are Real Injuries

Most people think emotional pain is “just psychological.”

Neuroscience shows something very different.

When someone experiences emotional injuries such as:

💔 Betrayal or infidelity
🚪 Abandonment
🗣️ Emotional abuse
⚠️ Chronic criticism or humiliation
❌ Rejection
🕊️ Sudden loss or grief
👁️ Witnessing violence
🏠 Growing up in an unsafe or unpredictable environment

…the brain activates the same neural pain network used for physical injury.

Your brain does not clearly distinguish between a broken bone and a broken heart.

This is why emotional injuries can feel physical.

Your central nervous system (CNS) immediately shifts into protection mode and begins scanning for danger.

Understanding emotional injury is the first step toward healing.

📚 Reference:
Eisenberger & Lieberman (2004) – Why rejection hurts: A common neural alarm system for physical and social pain.

🌐 www.northerntherapypractice.ca
📲 705-282-7198