This is not talk therapy.
You shouldn’t have to wait years for something to shift. EMDR-focused trauma therapy in Ottawa. Sessions available in-person and online.
You’ve tried it all… but nothing’s worked.
This is what unresolved trauma looks like: You keep showing up, performing, fixing, pushing through, but you still feel “off” or “stuck.” There may even be a sense that you’re “broken” and doing everything wrong. The reality is, you just haven’t had the right kind of help.
Here, we go straight to the source:
This isn’t surface-level therapy, and it isn’t for everyone. But if you’re ready to overcome the pain, fear, anxiety, or depression that’s holding you back, you’re in the right place.
Intrusive memories you don’t talk about
Pain you’ve intellectualized but never felt through
Unshakeable anxiety that shows up in your body
The old story that says “I’m not lovable,” “I’m not safe,” “I’m not good enough,” and “I don’t matter”
This is work that moves.
I’m Brian Powell, MSW, RSW
Trauma therapist. EMDR expert. Former child protection social worker, mediator. Someone who can handle what most can’t.
I’ve spent decades sitting with the kinds of emotional pain many people turn away from or bury deep inside—disturbing images, jarring memories, unbearable feelings, and deep, negative beliefs about self…I’ve worked with people whose wounds were hidden behind high achievement, and others whose trauma was written all over their lives. I’ve heard it all, seen it all, and I welcome it all.
I bring that kind of unique experience into our work in a direct, warm, and unflinching way. Using integrative methods with deep roots in the transformative power of EMDR, I help you target the memories, sensations, beliefs, and patterns that keep you stuck so that real change can happen. This is so much more than nodding with a notebook. I’m here to help change the course of your life.
Trauma
Both big “T” or small “t” traumas live in your body and shape how you see yourself. EMDR helps us target the root—not just the symptoms—so you can finally clear what talk therapy couldn’t touch.
Anxiety & Depression
When your mind won’t slow down, your energy’s gone, or you feel disconnected from yourself and others, something deeper is usually at play. We go beyond simple coping strategies and focus on resolving what’s underneath.
Intensives
This is for clients who want change fast. EMDR intensives offer focused, high-impact work in a condensed time frame—so you can get relief in days, not months or years. Intensives are ideal for busy professionals and those carrying long-term patterns from extensive trauma.
Renew hope, energy, & resilience.
What is EMDR?
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing is an evidence-based trauma therapy that helps your brain finally process experiences it couldn’t handle at the time. When something overwhelming and traumatic happens, your system can freeze that moment in place. You may move on (or tune it out), but your body doesn’t.
EMDR uses bilateral stimulation—eye movements, taps, or sound—to activate the brain’s natural healing process. Instead of circling the problem over and over again in talk therapy, we go directly to the memories, sensations, and beliefs that keep you stuck. As your brain reprocesses what was overwhelming, the charge fades, and the old story loses power.
In short: EMDR helps your internal system resolve what talk therapy alone can’t touch.
How we can work together
You don’t need years of therapy. Most clients work with me for just 4 to 9 hours—or over the course of a few powerful days—because what I do with EMDR is that effective.
1. Weekly Sessions
Ideal for those needing steady, short-term support.
2. Intensives
2–5 day deep dives designed to clear trauma efficiently. This option is ideal for people who are stuck, burned out, or want to move fast. Learn more here.
3. Adjunct EMDR Therapy
Many clients are already working with their own therapist. I provide adjunct therapy as needed to support trauma processing alongside your current care.
Break free from the grip of past trauma and reclaim your life.
Offering in-person sessions in Ottawa and telehealth sessions worldwide.
My clients are saying…
My experience with Brian and the process of trauma healing through EMDR was truly life-changing. He was there for me at my lowest—he showed up when nobody else did.
J.s.
As someone who has suffered from debilitating trauma, traditional forms of behavioral therapy were a frustratingly ill fit. The practice of EMDR, as administered by Brian, a thoughtful and holistic practitioner, feels comparatively like a miracle.
R.A.
Feels like I’ve truly woken up from being brainwashed. I can start to live MY life now.
h.h.
Working with Brian was fantastic! I had strong hesitations about working with a male therapist, but he far exceeded my expectations.
P.R.
I don't know that I've ever felt more seen by anyone than I did with Brian. Through working with him, I felt truly strong and able to live my life fully for possibly the first time. I feel like all my pieces have been put back together into a shape that feels good to inhabit.
a.j.