Issuu

SHARE CANCER SUPPORT

E D U C AT I O N A L S E S S I O N

Processing the Shock Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) for Breast Cancer Survivors and BRCA+ Individuals Medical trauma, scanxiety, and the wait between scans

Sarah Kourouma, LCSW Certified EMDR Therapist

HOUSEKEEPING

Before we begin

This is education, not therapy

Take care of yourself in here

I won't be putting anyone on the spot, and nothing here replaces care with your own clinician.

Some of this may stir things up. Camera off, step away,

come back — you don't owe anyone an explanation.

WHO THIS IS FOR

Wherever you are in this

Newly diagnosed

In active treatment

In surveillance

Years into survivorship

Living with metastatic disease

BRCA+ and previvor experience runs alongside every one of these — sometimes without a diagnosis at all. And if you're here as a partner, parent, child or friend — these effects turn up in family members too. For some of you there is no "after." The scans don't stop, and the language of survivorship doesn't fit. This hour is for you too — and where something applies differently to you, I'll say so.

“

The most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out of the depths. These persons have an appreciation, a sensitivity, and an understanding of life that fills them with compassion, gentleness, and a deep loving concern. Beautiful people do not just happen.

Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Death: The Final Stage of Growth, 1975

A CHECK-IN

Where is your body right now? Think of this as a reading of your alarm — how loud is it right now? Let's get a baseline. Take twenty seconds and notice — there is nothing to report and no right answer.

Activated

Where to look

Tight, braced, buzzing. Hard to settle.

Your jaw, and the space between your shoulders

Somewhere in between Aware of something, but not alarmed.

Settled Soft, easy, here in the room.

Your chest — is the breath shallow or easy? Your stomach Your hands: open, or holding something?

Wherever you land is information, not a verdict. Most of us don't notice the body until it gets loud — this is practice at noticing it sooner. We'll check in again at the end. © 2026 Sarah Kourouma Counseling PLLC · sarahkcounseling.com

THE LIVED EXPERIENCE

CHECK IN

Does any of this sound familiar?

Where are you now, picturing that?

Now think back through your own journey — the diagnosis, the treatment, the waiting for results.

An unknown number on the caller ID

The portal notification that lands before the call does

The week before a scan, when you're already somewhere else

The smell of alcohol swabs, or the parking garage

Every ache interrogated: is this it, again?

When the phone rings, or that notification from the portal comes through — where are you on the thermometer? None of this means you're coping badly. It means your body learned something, and it is still doing its job.

Trauma, and what EMDR is What this is, why it applies to you, and what EMDR does about it.

OPTIONAL · 3 MINUTES

“What is EMDR Therapy?” A plain-language overview made for the public by EMDRIA, and cleared for use with clients. youtube.com/watch?v=Pkfln-ZtWeY

DEFINITIONS

What we mean by trauma Trauma isn't limited to a single violent event. It is any ongoing situation that leaves you feeling deeply unsafe and helpless. Why cancer and inherited risk do that: Sudden shock

A diagnosis breaks your sense of safety and puts mortality in front of you without warning.

A result on a page

Learning you carry a mutation changes your relationship with your body overnight — without anything happening to it.

Loss of control

Decisions about your body and your time move to medical teams, insurers and test results.

Physical invasion

Surgery, biopsies, needles, side effects. The nervous system starts reading medical care as threat.

Ongoing uncertainty

Unlike an accident, this points forward. Waiting for scans keeps the alarm switched on for years.

THE PROTECTIVE SYSTEM

Your body is built to protect you This is your nervous system doing its job — not a body malfunctioning.

Alarm first, thought second The threat-detection part of the brain reacts in milliseconds — well before the thinking part has weighed anything.

The body mobilizes Heart rate and breathing speed up, muscles tense, attention narrows hard onto the threat.

Everything non-urgent pauses Digestion, appetite, sleep, concentration — all deprioritized for right now.

S TA R T H E R E

What EMDR is A structured, evidence-based psychotherapy for treating memories that are still causing distress in the present day. How it works: What gets stuck

Most difficult experiences fade over time. Sometimes one doesn't get filed, and stays raw.

What EMDR does

You hold the memory in mind while your attention is split — eye movements or tapping — in short sets. Unlike talk therapy, the work is on the body's response rather than on telling the story.

What changes

The memory doesn't disappear. It stops feeling like it's happening now.

Not hypnosis. No detailed retelling required. You are awake, in control, and can stop at any point. Developed by Dr Francine Shapiro in 1987. First randomized trial 1989; more than 30 controlled outcome studies since. © 2026 Sarah Kourouma Counseling PLLC · sarahkcounseling.com

TA R G E T S

What EMDR actually works on Four kinds of thing, and all of them are treatable. The events themselves

The moment you were told. A painful procedure. A night in hospital. The inside of an MRI.

The beliefs they left behind

“My body is a ticking time bomb.” “I am helpless.” These can move toward “I can handle this” and “I am doing what I can to protect myself.”

Grief, and who you are now

The life you had before the diagnosis. A body that changed. The weight of deciding about preventive surgery.

Grief that runs in the family

Watching a mother, sister or aunt go through this. Losses that stack up across one family line. Guilt about what you may have passed on — or about being the one who tested negative.

You don't have to describe any of it in detail out loud — which matters when you are already exhausted from explaining your medical history to everyone who asks. © 2026 Sarah Kourouma Counseling PLLC · sarahkcounseling.com

02 How EMDR helps people impacted by cancer and genetic risk Joining the two halves — what EMDR does, and what this experience does to you.

W H AT T H I S B U Y S Y O U

CHECK IN

What changes when the alarm comes down

This is the shift EMDR works toward.

Nothing about your diagnosis changes. What changes is the state you meet it in. You can be present

At appointments, with your people — instead of somewhere three weeks ahead.

Decisions get made with thought

Choosing while flooded is a materially worse position to be in.

Clearer signal, less static

Calming the alarm is not lowering your guard. It clears the panic so you can tell a real symptom from a frightened body — and still call your team when something genuinely changes.

Showing up gets easier

Fewer appointments dreaded for a week beforehand. Fewer scans quietly postponed.

What you believe can shift

“I'm not safe.” “I should have caught it sooner.” Those beliefs get stored with the memory — and they can change too.

Your body gets to rest

Sleep that holds, appetite back, the stress systems finally coming down.

Lowering psychological distress lowers overall body stress — which supports emotional well-being and your capacity to cope, during treatment and after it. This is about regulation, not cure. It is not a claim about your cancer. © 2026 Sarah Kourouma Counseling PLLC · sarahkcounseling.com

LOOK IN G F ORWARD

The focus isn't only on the past We can work on what's ahead of you too — so you meet it calmer, less anxious, and more present. Things we can prepare for: Scans and results

We rehearse the wait and the phone call, until your body stops bracing for it.

Procedures and appointments

Surgery, infusions, anything you are already dreading weeks in advance.

Decisions ahead

So you can meet a real choice without the old reactions arriving first.

This is ordinary EMDR, not an add-on — it has a name, the “future template”. And if the threat hasn't ended for you, there are protocols built for that too. © 2026 Sarah Kourouma Counseling PLLC · sarahkcounseling.com

CHECK IN AGAIN

Where are you now? Take twenty seconds. Compare it with the baseline you gave yourself at the start of the hour.

Activated Tight, braced, buzzing.

Somewhere in between Aware of it, but not alarmed.

Settled Soft, easy, here in the room.

CLOSING EXERCISE

The Container We'll finish with this together. It comes from EMDR's preparation phase, and it is not avoidance — it's deciding when, rather than being decided for.

1 Choose the image Something strong enough to hold what you'll put in it. A safe, a chest, a vault. Yours, and specific.

2 Give it a closure you control A lid, a lock, a seal, a latch. You are the only one who opens it.

3 Place the worry inside Not to erase it. To hold it — so it isn't riding along in your chest all afternoon.

4 Decide when you'll open it In session, after the appointment, Thursday at four. Without this step it becomes suppression.

Try this on an ordinary day before you need it — it works better with practice. Then use it the night before a scan, and again in the waiting room.

NEXT STEPS

Finding an EMDR therapist Where to look • •

The EMDRIA directory — emdria.org — filters by specialty and location “Trained” means completed basic training; “certified” means additional hours and consultation

•

A free consultation call is standard — use it

•

Telehealth EMDR is well established, and expands who you can see

•

It can also be delivered intensively — daily or twice daily — and in group, couple or family formats

What to ask •

How much experience do you have with medical trauma or oncology?

•

How do you approach resourcing before we start processing?

•

How do you handle a session that lands right before a scan?

•

Can we work around my treatment cycle, fatigue and energy levels?

•

Can the tapping or seating be adapted for neuropathy, pain or surgery?

•

What are your fees, and do you offer a sliding scale?

If the first consultation doesn't feel right, that is information — not a reason to give up on the modality.

BEFORE WE OPEN IT UP

Three things to take with you 1

What you're carrying has a name. This is trauma — common after cancer and with inherited risk, and not a sign you have handled it badly.

You don't have to wait until it's over. Even in the middle of treatment, or while the risk is still there, the alarm can come down.

A body that isn't braced gets to rest. Turning the alarm down means sleep, energy, and the capacity to be present and decide clearly.

Your container is closed. Feet flat on the floor, five things you can see, the temperature of the room — you're here, and it's today.

Questions Nothing is too basic, and you're welcome to ask anonymously in the chat.

WORK WITH ME

Sarah Kourouma, LCSW Certified EMDR Therapist Sarah Kourouma Counseling PLLC EMDR for people affected by cancer and hereditary

Find an EMDR clinician: emdria.org

cancer risk. Licensed in Texas and New York — telehealth available.

sarahkcounseling.com skouroumalcsw@gmail.com

This presentation and its contents are the original work of Sarah Kourouma Counseling PLLC. Please do not reproduce, adapt or present this material without written permission.