Something happened- or a series of things happened- and even though time has passed, part of you is still living there. It shows up in how you respond to your partner, how you feel in your body, how quickly you shut down or flood, how hard it is to trust- yourself or anyone else.
You may not even connect it to the past. You just know that something keeps happening, an emotion you can't seem to shake or move beyond, and you can't seem to change it no matter how much you understand it.
This is often where EMDR can be helpful.
What EMDR Is & What It Does
EMDR- Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing was developed by Dr. Francine Shapiro in the late 1980s and is now one of the most extensively researched therapies available. As of 2024, it is recognized as a recommended treatment for trauma and PTSD by the World Health Organization, the American Psychological Association, and the American Psychiatric Association. A 2024 review published in the Journal of Traumatic Stress confirmed its effectiveness across more than 30 randomized controlled trials, making it one of the most evidence-supported treatments in the field.
What EMDR addresses is not the story of what happened- it is how the nervous system stored it. When an experience is overwhelming, the brain doesn't process and file it the way it does ordinary memories. It stays activated- unresolved, emotionally charged, and alive in a way that influences present functioning long after the event itself has passed.
EMDR uses bilateral stimulation to help the brain complete that processing. The goal is not to erase memory. It is integration- helping the memory become something that happened, rather than something that continues to feel present.
What Brings Women to EMDR
EMDR is not only for single, identifiable traumatic events. Women come to this work carrying many things- often things they haven't fully named as trauma, because they happened slowly, or because they were never given language for what it cost them.
What often brings women here includes:
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A childhood that left wounds around safety, worth, or belonging
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Relationships- past or present, that have left something in the body that won't settle
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An experience that keeps replaying, intruding, or shaping how they show up now
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A pattern as a mother, partner, or professional that doesn't match who they know themselves to be
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Anxiety, shame, or reactivity that feels disproportionate to the present moment
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A felt sense that something happened- even without clear memory or words for it
When the Past Shows Up in the Present
For many women, the clearest signal that something needs to be processed isn't a memory- it's a pattern. The way a certain tone of voice from a partner sends the nervous system somewhere it doesn't need to go. The way being criticized at work lands with a weight that doesn't match the moment. The way you become someone slightly different as a mother than you want to be, and can't understand why despite how much you try.
These are not character flaws or failures of will. They are the past showing up in the present- the nervous system responding to now as if it were then, because something was never fully processed.
EMDR works precisely here. Not by revisiting the past for its own sake, but by supporting the nervous system in completing what it started- creating more space for the present to feel like the present.
How This Work Is Different
EMDR at Hardtwell is embedded within an emotionally focused, attachment-based framework. This means the work begins with safety- with building genuine trust and attunement before any processing begins. The relationship between therapist and client is not incidental to EMDR. It is foundational to it.
This approach matters because trauma lives in the body's learned beliefs about safety and connection. Processing a memory in a cold, clinical environment moves something different than processing it within a warm, attuned relational field. The EFT-informed framework that holds the EMDR work here creates the conditions in which the nervous system can actually let go- not just in session, but lastingly.
The pace of this work is always collaborative- guided by what feels safe and workable for you.
Who I Work With
I work with adult women in Los Angeles and Pasadena, in-person, who are curious about working with what may be held in the body and the nervous system, not just talked about. Many of my clients are high-functioning women who have carried their history quietly, often without fully recognizing its weight, until something in their present life- a relationship, a transition, a season of change- brings it to the surface.
EMDR sessions are available in-person.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need a trauma diagnosis to do EMDR?
No. What matters is that something specific is affecting your present functioning, not whether it meets a clinical threshold. Many women who benefit most from EMDR would never describe themselves as trauma survivors.
How is EMDR different from talk therapy?
Talk therapy works primarily through insight and narrative. EMDR works directly with how the nervous system has stored an experience. Many clients find that EMDR shifts things that years of talking about them did not.
How many sessions does EMDR take?
This varies. Some experiences show meaningful improvement in a focused number of sessions. Complex or relational trauma typically takes longer. Sessions are always paced collaboratively- nothing moves faster than you are ready for.
Is EMDR available virtually?
No. EMDR at Hardtwell is offered in person only- in Pasadena and Los Angeles. Individual therapy and other modalities are available virtually throughout California.
Do you combine EMDR with other approaches?
Yes. EMDR here is embedded within an emotionally focused, attachment-based framework and integrated with somatic therapy and mindfulness throughout. This combination is designed to address the stored experience and the relational and nervous system patterns surrounding it.