Trauma Therapy & EMDR in Salt Lake City
You can find peace after pain.
Does this sound like you?
You find yourself “bracing” for the next shoe to drop, but you’re not quite sure what it is? Falling asleep takes longer, and even when you do, your mind keeps checking for the next thing—an email, a noise, a what-if. You feel jumpier than you used to, quicker to withdraw, and it’s hard to shake off small stressors. By evening, you’re tired but not settled.
Certain thoughts pop in when you wish they wouldn’t—during a drive, at work, in a conversation—and it’s hard to nudge them out. Concentration slips. You choose the quieter seat, skip a plan, or keep extra space with people. You wonder why your body reacts so strongly, and why it’s so hard to just “move on.”
Together we’ll build safety, calm your nervous system, and help you feel like yourself again.
What Is Trauma, Really?
Trauma isn't only about combat, accidents, or the events that make headlines. It's whatever your body wasn't able to fully process at the time, a frightening moment, a betrayal, years of walking on eggshells, a childhood where you had to grow up too fast. Big or small, sudden or slow: if it left your nervous system on alert, it counts.
You don't need a diagnosis to benefit from trauma therapy. Many clients aren't sure whether what they went through "counts." It does, if it's still affecting you now.
Signs You May Be Experiencing Unresolved Trauma
Unresolved trauma doesn't always look like flashbacks or nightmares. It can show up in patterns you've learned to live with:
Feeling like you're bracing for something bad to happen, even when things are fine
Trouble falling or staying asleep, or waking up already on edge
Getting startled easily, or feeling irritable over small things
Withdrawing from people, or keeping everyone at arm's length
Trouble concentrating, or intrusive thoughts that interrupt your day
Physical symptoms, tight chest, clenched jaw, stomach knots, with no clear cause
Numbing out, overworking, or staying busy so you don't have to feel it
If a few of these sound familiar, trauma therapy can help, whether or not you've ever used the word "trauma" to describe what happened to you.
What should you look for in a trauma therapist?
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Certified through EMDRIA — beyond basic training, requires consultation and demonstrated clinical proficiency
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8 years practicing EMDR; provides consultation to other clinicians on trauma case staffing
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You may be eager to resolve your trauma; I’ll pace our work so we don’t flood your system. I create a nonjudgmental, gentle, supportive, and safe therapeutic environment for healing.
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I hold clear boundaries in session to pace healing and maintain professional integrity. To create space to treat trauma, I prioritize self-care, receive regular consultation support, and actively guard against provider burnout. A healthy clinician helps trauma therapy be its most effective.
What Is EMDR Therapy?
EMDR isn't about talking your trauma to death. It's about helping your brain finally finish something it got stuck on.
When something overwhelming happens, your brain doesn't always file it away like an ordinary memory. It gets stuck, half-processed, still sending off alarms years later. That's why something from ten years ago can still make your chest tighten like it happened yesterday.
EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) uses guided eye movements to help your brain do what it couldn't do on its own: process the memory and file it where it belongs. In the past, without the charge.
You don't have to narrate every detail. You don't have to relive it in slow motion for me to understand it. EMDR works with your nervous system directly, which means healing doesn't always require you to talk yourself in circles first.
Most people notice the memory stops feeling like a live wire. It's still there. It just doesn't run the show anymore.
If you've done years of talk therapy and still feel weirdly tethered to something specific, EMDR might be worth trying next.
How We'll Work Together
In our work, you’ll learn practical regulation tools, rebuild trust in your nervous system, and gently loosen trauma’s grip on your thoughts, sleep, and relationships. I integrate EMDR with skills-based approaches so you get both depth and day-to-day strategies that actually help.
We’ll start with stabilization—grounding, breath, and body cues—so your system has more capacity. When appropriate, we can use EMDR to reprocess stuck material without re-traumatizing detail, always with clear pacing and after-care. You’ll leave sessions with simple practices to try at home and a plan to measure what’s changing between appointments.
Healing is possible. With a safe, nonjudgmental frame and evidence-based methods, you can move from constant alert to calm, from avoidance to choice, and from self-blame to self-respect. I am EMDR-certified and bring years of focused trauma experience to this work.
Here’s what we’ll do together:
01. Stabilize first: Before we touch anything difficult, we build your capacity to handle it: grounding tools, sleep support, and ways to calm your body when it's in overdrive, so you have more room to work with.
02. Process safely: When you're ready, not before, we use EMDR to help your brain finish processing what got stuck. You set the pace. You don't have to narrate every detail for it to work
03. Reclaim yourself: As the charge comes off old memories, we turn toward what's next: untangling shame, rebuilding trust in relationships, and tracking real progress so you can see the shift in daily life, not just talk about it..
Meet Nicole Herway, LCSW
I'm an EMDRIA-certified trauma therapist with 8 years of experience, and I also provide consultation to other clinicians on complex trauma cases. My approach blends EMDR with practical, skills-based tools, so you get both depth and day-to-day strategies that help
FAQS
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No, trauma can show up as depression, anxiety, irritability, or various other symptoms. I will assess if trauma therapy is a good fit for you during your intake evaluation.
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It doesn’t matter how “big” or “little” the event was. If your body stored the event in the body as traumatic, trauma therapy may be a good fit for you.
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Many trauma therapies do not need you to share the details of the trauma. We focus on the body’s processing of the pain and I will follow your pace.
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Many people worry that revisiting painful memories will make things harder before they get better. EMDR doesn't require you to relive every detail in order to work; we go at whatever pace keeps you within your window of tolerance.
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Some clients feel meaningful relief in a handful of sessions; others, especially with longstanding or complex trauma, work with me longer. We'll set goals early so you can track progress rather than wonder if it's working.
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Yes. I see clients in person in Murray and offer telehealth across Utah for anyone who prefers, or needs, to meet from home.
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Yes, I’m paneled with, BlueCross and BlueShield, EMI Health, HMHI-BHN, and University of Utah Health Plans.
More questions? Check out my FAQs page.
Trauma Therapy in Murray, Salt Lake City & Across Utah
I see clients in person at my Murray office, just minutes from Salt Lake City, Holladay, and Cottonwood Heights, and offer telehealth trauma therapy across Utah for anyone who prefers to meet from home.