You've done the work. Read the books. Spent years in therapy reflecting on your childhood, learning about attachment, building real insight into your patterns and why you respond the way you do.
And yet the conversations still replay in your head hours later. You still say yes when you mean no. Things that seem to come easily to other people still leave you overwhelmed. Your body still reacts before your mind has caught up.
Maybe you're an ADHD or autistic adult who has spent years masking and adapting just to keep up in environments that were never built with your nervous system in mind. Maybe you've found yourself thinking: if I understand why I do this, why does it still feel so hard?
If that sounds familiar, you're not doing therapy wrong. Insight matters, and understanding yourself matters too. But healing sometimes asks for more than working with thoughts and beliefs. It asks for a way of working directly with the protective responses held in the brain and body. That's where Deep Brain Reorienting comes in.
What Is Deep Brain Reorienting?
Deep Brain Reorienting (DBR) is an evidence-informed trauma therapy developed by psychiatrist Dr. Frank Corrigan, based on research into how the nervous system responds during moments of threat, shock, or overwhelm.
When something distressing happens, the body responds almost instantly: attention narrows, muscles brace, breathing shifts, and the nervous system organizes itself around protection. None of that is a malfunction. It's an intelligent survival response doing exactly what it evolved to do.
Sometimes those responses settle on their own once the danger has passed. Other times they stay switched on long after the original circumstances have changed, showing up later as anxiety, hypervigilance, shame, emotional overwhelm, or ingrained patterns of self-protection.
DBR works gently with these early protective responses, helping the brain and body finish processing experiences that never fully resolved. Many people find it creates more choice and ease in how they respond to life, rather than reacting the same way on autopilot.
Why Insight Isn't Always Enough
One of the most common things I hear in session is some version of "I know where this comes from."
And often, people genuinely do. Many of my clients are deeply insightful. They understand their history, their patterns, and the experiences that shaped them, and that understanding can bring real compassion for themselves. But insight alone doesn't always change an automatic response.
You can know your current relationship is safe and still feel activated the moment conflict starts. You can know you're capable and still feel flooded by a new challenge. You can know you're allowed to rest and still feel a wave of guilt the second you slow down.
That gap isn't a sign you haven't tried hard enough. It usually means your brain and body learned protective strategies that once served a real purpose, and DBR works alongside your existing insight to reach those deeper responses in a different way.
Trauma Isn't Always One Big Event
When people hear the word "trauma," they usually picture a single overwhelming event: an accident, a loss, an assault, something clearly identifiable. And sometimes trauma does look exactly like that.
But trauma isn't only about what happened. It's also about how your nervous system experienced it, which means plenty of people carry the weight of things that were never one dramatic moment at all: growing up feeling unseen, walking on eggshells, absorbing repeated criticism, feeling responsible for everyone else's emotions, learning to hide parts of yourself just to fit in, living with chronic unpredictability, having your needs quietly dismissed.
For many neurodivergent adults, years of masking, burnout, rejection, or feeling like they were somehow "too much" and "not enough" at the same time leave a similar kind of mark.
There doesn't need to be one moment you can point to and call the cause. Often it's the accumulation. The nervous system remembers patterns, not just events, and healing was never about deciding whether your experiences were "bad enough" to count. It's about understanding how your brain and body adapted to help you get through it, and building the possibility of something different now.
What Is a DBR Therapy Session Like?
A question I get asked before starting DBR almost every time: will I have to relive my trauma?
No. DBR isn't about forcing you to revisit painful memories or narrate every detail of your history. It's a paced, collaborative process built around noticing subtle things happening in the present moment: a sensation in the body, a shift in breathing, an emotion rising, a change in attention, a moment of tension easing or building.
Small shifts like these carry a surprising amount of information. We move at whatever pace respects your capacity and your sense of safety in the room. Healing isn't about pushing harder; it's about creating the conditions where something different becomes possible.
Who Is DBR Therapy For?
DBR can be helpful for adults dealing with anxiety, chronic stress, burnout, complex trauma, shame, hypervigilance, people-pleasing, emotional overwhelm, or attachment-related struggles, and more broadly for anyone still carrying the lasting impact of difficult experiences.
It's also a supportive approach for many neurodivergent adults who've spent years masking, being misunderstood, or living with chronic overwhelm. To be clear, DBR isn't a treatment for ADHD or autism themselves. What it can help with is processing the painful experiences that often build up from living in environments where your needs, differences, or ways of being weren't fully understood or supported.
Deep Brain Reorienting vs. Brainspotting
DBR and Brainspotting are both body-based trauma therapies that work with more than thoughts and talking, and they overlap in some ways while differing in others.
Brainspotting typically uses eye positions to access and process experiences held in the nervous system. DBR focuses specifically on the earliest moments of a threat response, working with the protective reactions that happen before conscious thought even kicks in.
Some clients respond better to one than the other. Some benefit from combining both. I offer both approaches, and the right fit really depends on your history, your goals, and what feels supportive for your particular nervous system.
Is Deep Brain Reorienting Evidence-Based?
DBR is a newer therapeutic approach, and the research base is still growing. What we currently understand about it draws on neuroscience, trauma research, and clinical practice. As with any therapy, outcomes depend on a mix of factors: the therapeutic relationship, your goals, your readiness, and the context of your experiences.
I approach DBR with curiosity and respect, both for the emerging research and for what clients actually experience in the room.
Frequently Asked Questions About DBR
Do I need to remember my trauma for DBR to work?
No. Plenty of people were shaped by experiences they don't have a clear memory of. DBR doesn't require a complete narrative of what happened.
Is DBR similar to EMDR?
Both are trauma therapies that work with the brain and body, but the actual process looks different between the two. A consultation is usually the best way to figure out which approach fits your needs.
How many sessions does DBR usually take?
That depends entirely on your goals, your history, and what you're hoping to work through. Some clients do a short, focused round of DBR; others fold it into longer-term therapy.
Is DBR safe?
Yes. It's designed to be gentle and paced, and a core part of the process is making sure we never move faster than your nervous system can actually handle.
Deep Brain Reorienting Therapy Online, Across Canada
DBR is still a relatively new approach, which can make it hard to find a trained therapist nearby. I offer online Deep Brain Reorienting therapy for adults across Canada, including Manitoba, Ontario, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Labrador, and PEI.
Based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, my work brings DBR together with more than 20 years of experience in counselling, trauma therapy, supervision, and training. My approach is neuroaffirming and somatic, grounded in the belief that your responses make sense given what you've actually lived through.
Exploring Whether DBR Is Right for You
Healing was never about becoming a different person. It's about building enough safety and support that the parts of you working overtime to protect you don't have to carry everything alone anymore.
If you're curious whether Deep Brain Reorienting might be a good fit for you, I'd be glad to talk it through. Learn more about Deep Brain Reorienting therapy or reach out to schedule a consultation.
About Shari Lee Block
Shari Lee Block is a nature-led somatic psychotherapist and nervous system practitioner with over 20 years of experience in counselling, supervision, consultation, and training. She supports neurodivergent adults, including those navigating ADHD, autistic burnout, anxiety, perfectionism, and trauma. Her work integrates evidence-based psychology with body-based approaches, including Brainspotting and Deep Brain Reorienting, to help clients move from survival patterns toward greater safety, connection, and relief.
