Dr Colette Lord: Trauma Therapist

05/25/2026

In watching a session from the recent EMDRIA Summit, the presenter, Dr. Paul Miller shared an excellent quote from Karl Menninger that really resonated with me and is at the core of how I approach trauma work.

“An individual having unusual difficulties in coping with his environment struggles and kicks up the dust, as it were. I have used the figure of a fish caught on a hook: his gyrations must look peculiar to other fish that don’t understand the circumstances; they are his effort to get rid of his affliction and as every fisherman knows these efforts may succeed.”

In order to help our client heal, we must first understand the reason, purpose or function of their symptoms in their lives. Why did they develop this particular symptom, what is it an adaptation to? What are they trying to manage, consciously or unconsciously.

Our client have good reasons for thinking, feeling and behaving in the way we do. If we start from this place of compassionate, client centered, understanding is in itself healing and validating.

05/23/2026

May is Mental Health Awareness month. As psychologist I don’t feel the need to highlight this as it’s something I am always talking about here.

What I do want to point out is the profound impact that our social circumstances have on our mental health as well as our access to mental health help and resources. These social circumstances include poverty, housing insecurity, systemic racism (all the -isms), immigration status, chronic illness/disability, etc.

As an example, here is another quote from the excellent book Inflamed: Deep Medicine and the Anatomy of Injustice by Rupa Marya & Raj Patel, “Poverty is a cognitive burden. Working in poverty so that you and your family may eat every day takes a neurological toll. Poverty is associated with lower attention, and lower working memory capacity. Rallying talk from the wealthy to pull oneself up by one’s bootstraps rings particularly hollow when one’s mental faculties are consumed by the demands of survival.”

My message to you if you find yourself experiencing one or more of these burdensome social circumstances, is that it is not a personal failure on your part that you are struggling. You deserve access to mental health supports and you are doing an amazing job with the resources you have.

05/22/2026

Sadie sitting pretty and enjoying the weather.

05/21/2026

Trans rights are human rights 🩷🤍🩵

05/20/2026

I’m currently listening to the book The Pain We Carry: Healing from Complex PTSD for People of Color by Natalie Y. Gutiérrez. In it, she writes something that really resonates with me in my work with those who have Dissociative Identity organization:

“If you carry a diagnosis of Dissociative Identity Disorder, I want you to know this doesn’t mean you are damaged. It says you’ve lived through so much pain growing up that splitting and turning off were the only options to help protect you and to survive it all. And I am so thankful that you did all that you could and knew for survival. I have so much appreciation for the parts of you and within me that jump in to shut us down when we’re feeling cues of danger.”

This expresses the same profound respect and honoring of dissociative responses that are often lacking in the wider mental health field and society in general. She also goes on to discuss the added layer and impact of systems of oppression and day to day racism on the need for this type of response that is often missing from the dissociative literature.

05/19/2026

05/18/2026

I recently read the book Inflamed: Deep Medicine and the Anatomy of Injustice by Rupa Marya & Raj Patel and found it really thought provoking. It wove together a lot of what I’ve been learning in my decolonization journey.

“The modern individual has been made through centuries of disconnection, from the world around us, from others, and even from our own bodies. While wellness trends can help us reconnect on some level, they incorrectly focus on the power of an individual to improve their own health, while ignoring, or worse, diffusing another power - our ability to collectively dismantle the hierarchies that cause those disconnections, and consequently a large share of the illnesses that we face. Holistic medicine would be a good thing, if it did what it promises, but absence an analysis of power and historical perspective on colonial cosmology, it is shallow.”

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05/13/2026

As an EMDR therapist it is not uncommon for a client to ask me why we are going back to their childhood when we are taking a history or identifying target memories to reprocess.

This is a valid question, especially if they are coming into therapy with a more present focused issue (perhaps depression or relational problems). And as an EMDR therapist I have to have a solid understanding of why I am asking them to do this and be able to explain it to my client so they understand and can make an informed choice.

We want to take a history that includes childhood and the attachments our clients had in childhood, because, As Ana Gomez explained in her talk at the recent EMDRIA Summit, “These early relational patterns influence how experiences are organized, how experiences are remembered, and how they are narrated....Attachment does not only influence what is remembered, but how memory is structured, how memory is accessed, how memory is experienced.”

In addition, I explain to clients that those early experiences lay the template, or the foundation for how our clients see themselves, others, and the world. So even if these early experiences don’t feel super disturbing in the present, they shaped how present day triggers are responded to and shaped what adaptations have been developed to manage distress.

I often find that explaining this to my clients is enough for them to buy in and consent to going back to their past, the root of their current patterns.

05/11/2026

EMDR Basic training is just that, it’s your basic starting point. If you’ve one through Basic training and now feel like you’re not quite sure how to keep going, that’s normal. I strongly encourage you to get more training, reading, and consultation. Don’t stop your EMDR journey!

There are great advanced trainings out there, as part of Precision EMDR Academy I would of course recommend our trainings and consultants, but there are many great trainers and consultants out there.

And next month Precision EMDR Academy will kick off another round of Basic EMDR training. It’s virtual, so you can join us from anywhere.

This training is for anyone who is looking to learn EMDR Therapy for the first time.

It’s for those who really want to learn how to do EMDR therapy safely and effectively with complex trauma and clients with attachment trauma, you know, the ones who actually walk through our doors? And the training includes actual client videos with complex clients.

Our training also integrates a focus on identity/race/culture throughout our curriculum. You will get more than a passing encouragement to consider race/culture.

If you are interested in getting trained in EMDR therapy click the link in my bio or go directly to www.Precision-EMDR.com.

05/09/2026

Sadie and I are here to offer these Mother’s Day reminders:

🐾It is not your business if someone does not want to spend Mother’s Day with their mother.

🐾It is not your business if someone does not have a relationship with their mother.

🐾It is not your business if someone does not have good things to say about their mother.

🐾You don’t know anyone else’s history or experience, so let’s not judge.

🐾All people who identify as mothers are mothers, it’s not your job to police the term, all mothers are welcome to partake in this day.

05/08/2026

To all those who don’t feel seen or represented on Mother’s Day – you & your experience are valid!

This message goes out to:

💕Non-binary & trans moms

💕Those who wanted to be moms but aren’t, by choice or circumstance

💕Those who feel they didn’t have a mom

💕Those who had to estrange themselves from their moms to heal

💕Those who’ve lost a mom

💕Those who don’t know their moms