CompassionWorks

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Plano, TX
CompassionWorks

CompassionWorks was founded in 1998 by Jordan Shafer, MS, LPC. Through EMDR we can let your brain change the way emotional information is linked.

CompassionWorks offers EMDR & Mindfulness Distance Counseling to individuals, EMDR training & Continuing Education courses to mental health professionals. EMDR is a type of therapy that helps people move past difficulties, so they can be more present and enjoy their daily lives. Similar to other psychotherapies, we talk about what is happening in your life and explore practical solutions. However, we take it another step further by leveraging EMDR processing to work directly with your ‘limbic’ brain. This process allows neural networks, old and new, to link-up allowing the mind to become more open in its ability to find creative solutions. As a result, anxiety will lessen and life can begin to ‘feel’ more manageable; even better. We offer EMDR International Association (EMDRIA) approved EMDR Basic Training to Mental Health Professionals such as psychiatrists, psychiatric nurses, professional counselors and graduate students in the field of mental health (completing their internships). Partnering with the Advanced Education Institute, we teach the EMDR training program developed by DaLene Forester, PhD, LMFT. For EMDR trained therapists and mental health professionals, we also offer an EMDR Boot Camp. This is for professionals who have completed the basic training (previously EMDR L1 & L2) from an EMDRIA approved training or the EMDR Institute. This two day EMDR skills refresher course is specifically designed for professionals that have not had the opportunity to practice EMDR. This is the perfect course for professionals that would like hands on practice to their build technical competence. Continuing Education credits for EMDR trained professionals are also available. For more information, visit us at www.CompassionWorks.com or call (972) 342 - 2448.

11/27/2025

Today we’re feeling deeply grateful—for the clinicians who show up with compassion, the clients who trust the process, and the community that continues to grow around this work.

Thank you for being part of CompassionWorks.
Wishing you rest, connection, and warmth this Thanksgiving. 🍂🧡

11/26/2025

Every therapist starts somewhere.

With the right trainer, the learning curve becomes a path forward—steady, supportive, transformative. ✨

Heather Dunn’s recent group in Houston felt that shift firsthand.

You can too. Explore our upcoming EMDR trainings and workshops and keep growing in the work that heals. 💙

11/21/2025

Why We Do This Work 🌿

Holding Space for Grief
Grief doesn’t ask to be fixed—it asks to be met with presence.

In this month’s feature, our trainers share how they accompany clients through the tender terrain of loss.

Their reflections remind us that healing isn’t about rushing past pain, but creating room for it to unfold safely, honestly, and without judgment.

It’s in that steady presence—therapist and client together—that grief softens, meaning emerges, and a quiet kind of strength begins to take shape.

This is why we do this work. 💙

11/19/2025

🚀 Fall II Online EMDR Cohort, we see you!

This group has been showing up with heart, dedication, and so much openness each training day. Online doesn’t mean disconnected—this cohort has been proof that learning, community, and transformation can happen from anywhere.

And the best part? The support doesn’t stop when the training ends. CompassionWorks stays with you through consultation, workshops, and continued growth every step of the way. 💛

Know someone who should be in the next cohort?
👉 Tag them below!

11/18/2025

When we talk about stress, we often think of deadlines, noise, or constant demands.

But lately, stress has taken on a quieter form—disconnection. ⛓️‍💥

📊 According to the APA’s latest Stress in America™ survey, 62% of U.S. adults say societal division is a major source of stress. More than half report feeling isolated or emotionally disconnected.

This kind of stress doesn’t just live in the mind—it lives in the body.
When the nervous system stays in a constant state of alert, rest starts to feel out of reach.

✨ The good news: our bodies remember how to find balance.
EMDR therapy helps restore that rhythm, guiding the nervous system back toward safety, connection, and ease.

11/12/2025

Stress doesn’t only live in your thoughts—it lives in your breath, your pulse, your pace.

It shows up when you can’t slow down even though the day is over.
When rest feels like work.
When the body stays ready even when nothing’s wrong.

⚡ The nervous system was built to protect us, not to perform.
But in a world that keeps us in constant motion, that protection can get stuck in overdrive.

There’s a space between doing and being—the place where the body remembers balance 🌿.
That’s where regulation begins: not in control, but in awareness.

EMDR helps the nervous system find that space again 🌀.
Not by pushing for calm, but by making room for it to return naturally.

✨ Curious to explore this connection more deeply?

Read the full post: “Stress, the Nervous System, and the Space Between Doing and Being” — now on our blog: www.compassionworks.com/stress-nervous-system/

11/10/2025

We all know the feeling: that rush to act, to fix, to make something happen.

The nervous system tightens, the mind starts strategizing—and in an instant, Presence is replaced by pressure.

In the last blog post from Founder’s Corner, Jordan Shafer explores a quieter way of moving through the world: action that arises naturally, not from force, but from clarity.

At CompassionWorks, we call that acting from Presence, not pressure.

🌿 Here are three ways to begin:

1️⃣ Feel before you fix. Pause long enough to notice what’s driving the urgency.
2️⃣ Ask what’s required, not what’s right. The body often knows before the mind does.
3️⃣ Act, then let go. Awareness itself can guide the next step.

When we act from awareness, even small actions carry integrity—and a kind of ease that control can’t create.

✨ How do you recognize when you’re acting from Presence rather than pressure?

What helps you pause before reacting?

11/06/2025

🪞 As It Is: Taking Action Without the “I”

Sometimes acceptance gets mistaken for passivity. But what if real acceptance isn’t about doing nothing—it’s about seeing clearly, and letting the next step reveal itself?

In this month’s Founder’s Corner, Jordan Shafer explores what happens when action arises without the push of the “I.”

When we stop trying to force life into shape—and simply meet it as it is—something shifts. The doing gets lighter. The struggle eases. What’s required becomes clear.

💭 Read the full reflection: As It Is: Taking Action Without the “I”
👉 www.compassionworks.com/as-it-is-nondual-wisdom/

11/01/2025

✨ A little peek behind the scenes in Pearland!

Every EMDR training has its own heartbeat. Between sessions, you’ll find laughter echoing down the hallway, quiet moments of reflection, and those little “aha” sparks when something just clicks.

What we love most? Watching strangers walk in on Friday morning—and leave Sunday as colleagues, cheerleaders, and friends.

Because at CompassionWorks, it’s never just about teaching EMDR. It’s about creating a space where learning feels human, supportive, and real.

And here’s the best part: the connection doesn’t stop when the training ends. We stay in touch—through consultation calls, new workshops, and those late-night emails that start with “Hey, I just had my first EMDR session with a client…”

💛 To everyone who joined us in Pearland—thank you for bringing your heart to the room.

👥 Know someone who should be in the next one? Tag them below.

10/29/2025

Honoring a Voice of Healing in EMDR 🏆

Some recognitions go beyond an award—they speak to a lifetime of showing up for others.

Congratulations to Dr. Jose Carbajal, EMDRIA-approved trainer, consultant, and a steady force in the EMDR community, for receiving the 2025 EMDR International Association Ambassador Award.

Through his research, teaching, and mentorship, Dr. Carbajal has helped shape how clinicians approach trauma. His work doesn’t just expand EMDR’s reach—it deepens its heart. From university classrooms to international conferences, he keeps one question alive: How can we meet pain with presence?

✨ “We need healers who can walk alongside others in their pain and bear witness to the transformation that EMDR therapy can bring.” — Dr. Jose Carbajal

A reminder that healing isn’t a theory—it’s something we practice, together.

Read the full story via Stephen F. Austin State University → sfasu.edu/about-sfa/newsroom

10/25/2025

🚪 Safety isn’t something we give—it’s something we uncover, together.

In trauma-informed care, safety isn’t a checklist or protocol. It’s a felt experience that emerges through trust, presence, and attunement.

Rather than deciding what safety “should” look like, our role as therapists is to open the door—and let the client show us what safety feels like to them.

✨ Invitation, not direction.
✨ Collaboration, not prescription.
✨ Discovery, not demand.

Address

1709 Savage Drive
Plano, TX
75023

Telephone

(972) 342-2448

Website

https://compassionworks.com/

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