What Is Observed Experiential Integration (OEI) Trauma Therapy?

Observed Experiential Integration (OEI) trauma therapy is a body-based, brain-informed approach that helps people process trauma without requiring them to talk about it in detail, like in other therapies such as Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing EMDR.

OEI therapy was evolved from EMDR and developed in Vancouver by Audrey Cook and my mentor, Dr. Rick Bradshaw to work with how trauma lives in the brain and body. OEI uses eye position, visual field techniques, and somatic awareness to resolve trauma memories that may not respond to traditional talk therapy.

OEI therapy is especially effective for people who feel stuck, triggered AF, or unable to access their feelings and memories through words.

How OEI Trauma Therapy Works

Observed Experiential Integration (OEI) trauma therapy helps people process painful memories by working with how the brain and body store trauma. Instead of relying on verbal processing, OEI uses structured eye movements and somatic awareness to reach the parts of the brain affected by traumatic experiences. This method supports trauma healing by gently reducing the fight, flight, or freeze response.

Why OEI Uses Eye Movements

During trauma, the nervous system becomes overwhelmed and doesn’t process the experience like other memories. The brain drops the ball and the experience shatters into fragments. These fragments pop into consciousness through intrusive thoughts and feelings like you’re re-experience the trauma in the present moment.

This is how trauma doesn’t process like other experiences and why you feel stuck and triggered AF. OEI helps shift those trauma responses by using specific eye movement techniques. These movements help the brain reprocess trauma and access emotional material, that can’t be access through verbal processing.

Many clients say it feels like OEI is finally able to access something they couldn’t before through other therapies. Traditional talk therapy can’t always resolve the emotional aspect of persistent issues, even though it is what often keeps individuals in therapy for years. Talking about trauma often makes it worse by revivifying the experience, like you’re re-living it through trying to remember. This is called an Iatrogenic effect, when therapy is trying to help but unintentionally retraumatizes you.

Because understanding and logic can’t fix emotions.

The whole problem with trauma is that you’re trying to forget, trying to escape intrusive thoughts and feelings in your body that make it feel like you’re re-experiencing the trauma.

Why It’s Different From Talk Therapy

Trauma bypasses logical, narrative processing of memories. Traditional talk therapy doesn’t resolve trauma because traumatic experiences are stored in parts of the brain that are non-verbal. OEI helps bypass that block by using the visual field, and helps the brain finish processing the fragments. When individuals feel stuck, OEI can help them feel relief, even if they haven’t been able to talk about the trauma.

OEI and the Visual Field

OEI works by guiding your eyes to look at different parts of your visual field. Your therapist watches for small “glitches” in your eye movements—these are signs that a trauma response is active. By working with those areas, OEI supports trauma processing without reactivating overwhelm. It also engages the occipital nerve and calms the body’s stress response.

Tools Used in OEI Trauma Therapy

OEI integrates several elements:

Eye movement therapy to connect fragmented parts of the brain
Somatic processing to help the body release stored trauma
Mindfulness to build awareness and safety
Experiential techniques to support emotional resolution when words aren’t enough

This mind-body approach makes OEI effective for people with complex trauma, including childhood trauma or betrayal trauma.

What OEI Can Help With

OEI is used for many trauma-related symptoms, including:

PTSD
anxiety
insomnia
dissociation
emotional flashbacks
relationship trauma
not feeling safe
feeling triggered AF

OEI helps regulate the nervous system and shift out of long-term survival states.

What to Expect in a Observed & Experiential Integration Session

OEI sessions are collaborative, gentle, and paced carefully to avoid overwhelm.

Observed: In a session, your therapist observes subtle changes in your eye movements, facial expressions, and body responses to track where trauma may be held and when it starts to release.

Experiential: The experiential part of OEI means you’re not just talking about what happened—you’re feeling it, noticing it, and working with it in the moment.

Integration: Integration means helping the brain connect fragmented parts of a traumatic experience so it can be processed as a past event rather than a current threat. The right and left brain also integrate to allow the nervous system to settle and creates a sense of completion, like the experience is in the past, which makes space for a whole new future. Clients often say they feel lighter, more grounded, or like something has finally shifted.

Is OEI Trauma Therapy Right for You?

If you’ve tried traditional therapies and still feel stuck, OEI can help. My clients find me after they’ve tried everything but nothing has worked.

OEI therapy is gentle, effective, and works especially well for deep-seated, complex trauma. Whether it’s from childhood, betrayal, or an traumatic experience, OEI therapy helps your system complete what it couldn’t at the time—and move toward more safety and possibility.

Lets’ connect.