Therapist Stephanie Henderson, owner of Whole Heart Brainspotting, a coaching practice in Citrus Heights, offers helpful coaching that works by identifying, processing and releasing core neurophysiological sources of emotional/body pain many people suffer from.

She offers hour-long brainspotting sessions in her Auburn Oaks Plaza upstairs office on 8421 Auburn Blvd. in Suite 262 to her clients by appointment only.

Brainspotting is a growing form-focused therapeutic treatment which is being taught to physicians, psychologists and psychotherapists to treat multiple forms of PTSD but have also been shown to help with stress, illness, anxiety, ADHD, phobias, chronic pain and chronic fatigue and substance abuse.

Henderson opened her office in 2022 and shares her office space with Sacramento Healing Tree, which offers metaphysical healing. Henderson utilizes both brainspotting and HeartMath, a set of tools and techniques which can be used in between sessions to strengthen her client’s mental and physical systems to help bring healing.

Henderson acknowledges the human brain often has an amazing way of healing itself.

The techniques of brainspotting tend to work differently for different people requiring a flexible and more personalized approach with each client towards their healing journey.

The cost per individual session which she offers is flexible, Henderson said.

“My heart hurts for those who haven’t had access to trauma support. I’ve chosen to offer my clients payment on a sliding scale for those with limited resources,” Henderson said.

In a sample brainspotting session, you would watch Henderson gently hold a pointer, slowly guiding her client’s eyes across their field of vision, asking leading questions about a particular traumatic event which they might seek to examine.

“Brainspotting relies on the therapist’s ability to closely observe and then accurately pick up on clients’ reflexive cues,” Henderson said. “Certain eye positions relate to retained emotions or deep traumatic memories.”

An equal component in a brainspotting session involves “bilateral stimulation,” the stimulation of the left, then right (and alternating) sides of the brain repeatedly using special music played through headphones, which are called bilateral sounds.

The combined approach aids in her client’s concentration during a typical session.

Her client, who is seated comfortably on a couch, sits across from her while the lights of her office are dimmed.

Henderson holds the pointer on the specific spot the client expresses, asking her client to focus on it. Henderson tracks her client’s individual physical responses and eye movements, to her questions.

Her job, Henderson explained, is “not to guide the healing but rather to hold the space which is being explored by the client at that moment.

“Where do you feel it?” “What emotion do you feel?” “What do you feel now?” are just some of the questions Henderson will ask as the session unfolds.

In this session, the client recalls the seconds on a late Friday afternoon in August 2014 leading up to the traumatic moment he was unexpectedly struck by a car while walking in a marked pedestrian crosswalk that failed to stop for him and then describes what memories he holds of its aftermath which he survived without major injury.

He tells Henderson he has since had anxiety looking to his lower left, which correlates to the alignment of the passenger side mirror which struck him.

“When you look at that spot, observe where your mind goes. Where it goes may make sense to you or not but it doesn’t matter. Your deeper brain knows what to do. It’s like breathing. Thoughts, memories, feelings or body sensations may suddenly come or go,” she said.

Henderson, who is Cherokee, finds her professional skills as a therapist have grown as she continues to focus on trauma-sensitive people in her practice.

“I definitely continue to do my own personal growth work,” Henderson said. “I believe to be a great life coach and brainspotter, that it’s absolutely necessary.”

“The more we ourselves heal, the more we can offer help.”

Her own journey of healing is one that should be accessible to everyone, Henderson said.

“I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to journey with so many as they breakthrough into the life they truly want. My clients are really the experts. I just get the honor to be a supportive presence in their journey,” Henderson said.

Whole Heart Brainspotting with Henderson is located in the Twin Oaks Plaza at 8421 Auburn Blvd., Suite 262 in Citrus Heights. Call 916-778-8560 or email [email protected] for more information or to schedule an appointment. Learn more about her practice of brainspotting at www.wholeheartbrainspotting.org/.