Alex Ertl, Psy.D. Licensed Psychologist
Specialties
- trauma
- relationship trauma
- negative experiences with men
- OCD
- EMDR Intensives
Education & Experience
- Received a Psy.D. from the University of Indianapolis in 2016
- I have served as a clinical director and a director for a trauma-focused therapy program
- I am trained in EMDR and can, when appropriate, provide EMDR intensives
- Broad generalist training with specialty in treating various forms of trauma
As a therapist, I see it as my place to help you discover what powerful but often invisible barriers are holding you back. Together, we can knock them down and build a life grounded in your values. Within this partnership between us, my role will shift at times. Sometimes I take an active role, offering you ways to break through those walls. Other times, I’m there to honor and witness your growth as the process unfolds. Throughout it all, I take the work seriously, but not myself too seriously, and I aim to bring warmth, honesty, and a bit of humor into the process of meaningful change.
Therapy style
The world can feel like it’s working against us at times. Demands pile up, we’re often isolated from community and connection, our bodies are sacrificed to desk jobs or manual labor, and nourishing food is harder to come by than the alternative. In school, we learn information but aren’t taught how to understand ourselves. Then, in a grand final kick in the pants, we may feel shame for not living up to our “potential” or what we think we should be doing with our lives.
I see therapy as one way to begin waking up to a fuller picture. We can make space for compassion toward ourselves for the ways our needs haven’t been met by the world around us, while also holding ourselves accountable for the areas where change is possible. Personal liberation becomes possible as we recognize how we’ve internalized messages from the outside world and begin to decide which of those messages serve us. Then we get to choose what we want to do next. Maybe it’s a choice to reconnect with people or nature in a more meaningful way. Maybe it’s a choice to trust in ourselves and speak our voice. Whatever it is, I will be here for it all. And on that ride, I can be the one to hold hope, compassion, and gratitude, even if those feel out of reach for you.
What is trauma?
As a therapist, I define trauma as the pattern we get stuck in where our nervous system responds to danger that may have been there in the past, but is not in the present. This danger may be large and obvious, like a threat to our lives, or it may be more subtle, like the repeated danger of a parent withholding their love if we don’t do as they command. Though these dangers may be in the past, trauma is what keeps us responding as if the danger is in front of us. This may look obvious, like feeling our heart race when thinking about the past or shutting down if we are forced to confront reminders of what happened. Or it may be subtle and permeate our relationships. Perhaps we push partners away so they don’t get the chance to hurt us, or we accept when partners treat us poorly because that is what is familiar to us.
What is an EMDR Intensive?
An EMDR Intensive is a session of EMDR that is condensed into a shorter period of time. Traditionally, EMDR takes place about once per week over a period of weeks or months. An EMDR Intensive takes the basic principles of that work and applies them to one or more longer sessions. So instead of doing four hours of EMDR over a month in traditional weekly therapy, an EMDR Intensive would do that same process but in a four-hour period within one day. There’s no one right way to structure an EMDR Intensive. Sometimes people do it as a half day, a full day, or a series of half days or full days over the course of the week. The bottom line is about getting someone back to flourishing over a period of days instead of a period of months. Sometimes people do the bulk of their therapy in an intensive format. For others, it’s a useful “add-on” to traditional weekly therapy when a little more time is needed to address something that is otherwise stuck.
What are the benefits of an EMDR Intensive?
EMDR Intensives have several notable benefits. Primarily, the course of treatment tends to happen much more quickly. This allows people to reduce the amount of time they may be stuck in a place of pain and suffering. Some people may also see it as more accessible to condense their process into a shorter period of time; some may have easier access to taking several days to dedicate to therapy than to finding weekly routine time. Also, EMDR Intensives have the potential to reduce the total number of hours, and subsequently costs, associated with EMDR. In traditional weekly EMDR, a portion of the session is typically spent checking in and getting started, as well as time spent wrapping up and helping someone transition out of the material they were just working through in EMDR. This opening/closing on repeat ends up being a significant portion of time spent in therapy. With EMDR Intensives, one is able to move into and stay with the therapeutic process without the start/stop of a weekly rhythm.
Beyond the time component, EMDR Intensives can be particularly helpful for addressing traumatic material that is too challenging to address within the confines of the usual therapy hour. When several hours are set aside for an Intensive, there is enough room to potentially move all the way through the healing process; if one falls apart, there are enough resources on hand to put one back together in a new way. This extra space often can allow for people to be more willing to approach things that are especially challenging for them, knowing that there is enough space and support at hand to do that hard work.
What are the risks of an EMDR Intensive?
There are some risks involved with EMDR Intensives. For one, the structure of them requires a larger investment from oneself upfront, not just financially, as people need to set aside time, potentially taking off work for a day or so, and making arrangements in their lives to support this process. This makes missing an appointment due to illness or a change of heart more challenging. And with all EMDR, results are not guaranteed. With a weekly EMDR rhythm, one gets the chance to “try it on” and see how it works for them in smaller increments. The process and its effects become more predictable. In EMDR Intensives, if the desired outcome is not achieved, then it can feel like a bigger letdown. As with any trauma treatment, there is risk that we open something that the person does not actually feel ready to address, and sometimes this can cause more of a disruption in one’s self and well-being.
Are EMDR Intensives too… intense?
When I introduce the idea of intensives to others, it’s not uncommon for people to respond with something along the lines of, “Holy moly, four hours of EMDR sounds like way too much for everyone involved.” Healing takes work, and often people do feel tired even after a traditional hour-long session of EMDR. So, during an intensive, we make sure to take care of our bodies and pace ourselves as needed. Breaks are scheduled, with encouragement to move and nourish your body. There’s also time set aside for open conversation around the material that is coming up. We use multiple ways of applying bilateral stimulation, such as holding tactile buzzers, so we don’t tire our eyes. These things and more help keep us able to have a longer day. And while often tiring, if things go well, then the tiredness can be accompanied by a sense of relief, of accomplishment, of completeness.
