Therapist in East Lansing, Michigan Emily Brundage, Therapist

I am a Licensed Clinical Social Worker who graduated from MIchigan State University in 2017. I started my social work career back in 2014 through an adolescent service center that specialized in substance use disorders and have over 10 years’ experience working in this area. The most important thing I learned was that children are often not given the chance to be children, and this has a huge impact on our lives that affects us as adults.

Throughout my time working in Substance Use, I have obtained my Certified Alcohol and Drug Counselor Certificate (CAADC), and it became apparent that Substance Use and trauma were related. Through this realization, I developed more of a trauma lens as trauma can affect the brain and body in many ways. There are reasons for why we react the way we do, and I am here to help you understand those reasons why. I am trained in Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) to help people desensitize from certain memories and reprocess them in healthier ways. EMDR can be used for different things other than trauma! Many times, troubling memories and trauma stay in the body and through EMDR and other modalities, we can release these tensions.

I use many different modalities, mainly a Strength -based, person-center approach. I continue to work in Substance use, along with trauma, depression, anxiety, life stressors, LGBTQ+ friendly and many other different areas. My biggest focus in therapy is validating feelings and setting boundaries. These are important things to use in our daily life! I do this by using Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT,) Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing (EMDR), Motivational Interviewing and Soultion focused approaches.

When I am not working, I love spending time with my family and my dogs, and reading or playing video games.