Violeta Donawa, LMSW-C, MA

- Audre Lorde At Notice That! Therapy of Michigan, I support clients in reclaiming their power through the use of EMDR. EMDR can be used to support clients struggling with any form of trauma, however I specialize in treating race-related stress and trauma that disrupt individuals' relationships to their own bodies, hearts, and minds. EMDR is an evidence-based theoretical framework that shifts the way our nervous systems store trauma. It assists the brain in properly integrating memories that often keep us stuck and rigid in our efforts for change and healthy coping. Keep in mind that EMDR does not ask you to change your mindset or reframe your thinking. It also cannot change the past. But it can teach you at times, "how to carry what can't be fixed" (Devine 2021). It is slow and deeply transformational work. Our definition of trauma borrows from Resmaa Menakem, Clinical Social Worker and Trauma Expert. He says, "Trauma is the body's protective response to an event - or a series of events - that it perceives as potentially dangerous . . . We can have a trauma response to anything we perceive as a threat, not only to our physical safety, but to what we do, say, think, care about, believe in, or yearn for." Individuals may notice racialized stressors and triggers for trauma within the workplace, hospitals, familial relationships, and/ or any number of environments. Decades of research also suggest that sustained race-related stress and trauma overtime have an increased potential to negatively impact quality of life intergenerationally. Through a lens of cultural humility, I support you in noticing and reclaiming your body, heart, and mind through the specialized healing-centered trauma therapy of EMDR for Racial Trauma and Repair. To learn more about Violeta's work a part from Notice That! Therapy, visit www.violetadonawa.com/about.