Good Neighbor Podcast: Frisco

EP 285: Trauma Recovery and EMDR Therapy: A Conversation with Danielle Stam

• Sophia Yvette

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What Makes Danielle Stam with Belong Inc. a Good Neighbor?

What happens when therapeutic relationships become the cornerstone of healing from trauma? Danielle Stam, founder of Belong Inc. Counseling and Consulting, reveals the transformative power of connection in psychotherapy.

Drawing from 20 years of experience as a social worker and psychotherapist, Danielle shares how her own life journey inspired her mission to support others through trauma recovery. Based in Ancaster, Ontario, her practice embodies a profound belief: every person, regardless of their past, has the inherent ability to rewrite their difficult stories when provided with a safe, connected relationship.

As an EMDR certified therapist and approved consultant, Danielle demystifies this powerful therapeutic approach. She explains how Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing works simultaneously with the thinking brain, emotional heart, and physical body to process traumatic memories. Rather than forcing clients to fit a specific modality, she adapts her approach to meet individual needs, making healing accessible across the lifespan—from seven-year-olds to octogenarians.

Danielle's diverse clientele includes children navigating foster care, adoptees of all ages, first responders, military personnel, and individuals struggling with PTSD, anxiety, OCD, and phobias. What unites her approach is an unwavering focus on relationship as the context for healing. Beyond the clinical evidence supporting her methods lies something equally powerful: the human connection that makes transformation possible.

To learn more about Danielle Stam and Belong Inc. Counseling and Consulting, go to: www.belonginctherapy.ca

Belong Inc. Counseling and Consulting
204-720-5883

Speaker 1:

This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Sophia Yvette.

Speaker 2:

Welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast. Are you in need of a social worker and psychotherapist? Well, one may be closer than you think. Today I have the pleasure of introducing your good neighbor, daniel Stamm. Belong Inc. Counseling and Consulting. Danielle, how are you today? I'm good. How are you? I'm also doing good and we're excited to learn all about you and your business. Can you start off by telling our listeners a little bit about your company?

Speaker 3:

Absolutely yeah. So my business, belong Inc Counseling and Consulting, is a social work and psychotherapy practice and we are located in Ancaster, ontario, canada, growth. I'm a social worker and psychotherapist with 20 years of experience working in direct practice with children, adults and families, and also I'm an EMDR certified therapist and an EMDR approved consultant. So I provide social work and psychotherapeutic support to individuals across the lifespan who are working to heal from adverse experiences, and also I provide teaching and mentorship and support through consultation to EMDR clinicians, through individual and through group consultation. My consultation, in addition to psychotherapy, focuses on relationship and connection as the context for self-exploration and growth.

Speaker 2:

Wow, danielle. It sounds like you do quite a few things within your business. How did you originally get started in this industry?

Speaker 3:

Yeah. So, like many mental health clinicians, my own life experiences brought me to my passion of supporting others through trauma recovery. After working with children and families within the public sector for many years, I was looking to give back to people in a deeper way. I had seen so many who needed help that surpassed the confines of the role I was working in, and my experiences working with people affected by trauma really shaped my belief in the ability of my clients to choose their own path, regardless of their experiences. This was so powerful for me to see and so really resulted in me feeling the need to launch my own practice, and this practice being rooted in the belief that every person is uniquely valued and that relationships provide the context for healing and the opportunity to rewrite hard stories.

Speaker 2:

Wow, well, amen to that. And on another note, what is the most common misconception you get in your industry?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, many people still don't believe that therapy can help them or that they can feel differently about their experiences or that they can heal from any particular mental or physical health diagnosis. This leads to a lot of misconceptions about psychotherapy, how it can help and what we do as clinicians. When it comes to EMDR therapy specifically, many who have not experienced this type of therapy are familiar with the name, perhaps the evidence supporting it, but are maybe not so familiar with the unique relational aspects that make this type of therapy so powerful. Like all forms of psychotherapy, emdr is most effective within the context of a safe and connected relationship.

Speaker 2:

Now, who are your target customers and, in terms of marketing, how do you currently attract them?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, so I work with individuals across the lifespan, so from age six or seven up until I see clients as old as 80, 85. At times I work with couples. Also, I work with children and teens, many whom have experienced disruptions in life and have navigated the foster care system.

Speaker 3:

I also work a lot with adopted children teens and adults and as well with adult survivors of adverse childhood experiences. I work with first responders members of the Canadian Armed Forces and I work with those suffering from PTSD of the Canadian Armed Forces and I work with those suffering from PTSD, complex PTSD, anxiety, ocd, panic and phobias. Really, anybody can benefit from having someone to talk to. You can find me on Psychology Today. I often receive referrals through Psychology Today or on my website, wwwbelonginktherapyca.

Speaker 2:

Now, are you online also, or only in person?

Speaker 3:

I'm also online, so I provide virtual care as well as in person.

Speaker 2:

Amazing, amazing. Now quick question for you have you ever thought of having your very own podcast?

Speaker 3:

I have absolutely and outside of what do you like yeah, so when I'm not working on my business or with clients, my primary focus is my family. Um, I have three growing kids and 17 nieces and nephews, and so we enjoy doing a lot of things together. I'm a free spirit and I try to soak up every adventure I can. I enjoy camping in new places across Canada and the US and also appreciate opportunities to connect with others and find ways to get back to my community in whatever way that I can and find ways to get back to my community in whatever way that I can.

Speaker 2:

So, danielle, can you please tell our listeners one thing they should remember about Belong Inc counseling and consulting.

Speaker 3:

Yes, yes. So relationships are very important to me and a big part of the reason why I started Belong Inc is sort of that focus on relationships as being, in my view, the context for healing and an opportunity for us to rewrite hard stories.

Speaker 2:

Most definitely, and touching base on the EMDR therapy a little bit, can you explain to our listeners a bit more of what that is?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, so EMDR therapy is eye movement, desensitization and reprocessing, and so there's many different ways to explain EMDR therapy, but it's most well known as a modality to treat trauma, but through the use of bilateral stimulation, it is considered both a top-down and a bottom-up approach to treating trauma, because we are working with the thinking part of the brain as well as we're working with the brainstem, and so we're working to clear traumatic and adverse experiences from the entire system, so from the thinking brain, the feeling heart and the body all at the same time, and so we do that through the use of bilateral stimulation and providing people with what's called a disconfirming experience of the original experience that caused the difficult memory to cause distress for them.

Speaker 2:

So it sounds like rewiring of the brain, if you will right, yeah, for sure, for sure. And is that safe for everyone to do, or is it only good for certain clients?

Speaker 3:

It. There used to be a belief that there were people who could not benefit from EMDR therapy, and now we are finding more and more that most people can do EMDR therapy, that most people can do EMDR therapy. We tend to try and fit the modality to our clients rather than trying to fit the clients to the modality, and so there's adjustments that can be made to to make it useful for for everyone. Really.

Speaker 2:

Anything else that makes your counseling and consulting center unique?

Speaker 3:

Yes, I think that it is the focus on relationships and connections above all else, and so many people have heard of EMDR therapy and they may have heard about the evidence that supports this type of therapy, but they may not be so familiar with the unique relational aspects that make this type of therapy so powerful. Like all forms of psychotherapy, emdr is most effective within the context of a safe and connected relationship.

Speaker 2:

Now where can our listeners go to learn more about Belong Inc. Counseling and consulting?

Speaker 3:

Yes, so they could go on my website, wwwbelonginctherapyca.

Speaker 2:

Well, Danielle, I really appreciate you being on the show. We wish you and your business the best moving forward. Thank you so much.

Speaker 1:

Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to GNPFriscocom. That's GNPFriscocom, or call 469-221-9345.