EMDR Therapy
You don't have to tell the whole story to put it down.
EMDR is a structured therapy for memories the body is still holding. Maria is EMDR certified and has practiced for thirty years, in person in Weston, FL, or by secure video anywhere in Florida, in English or Spanish.
In plain language
What EMDR actually is.
EMDR stands for Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing. The idea underneath it is simple: most experiences get filed away over time and stop feeling urgent, but some do not. Those stay stored the way they happened, with the same images, the same body sensations, the same conclusion you drew about yourself in that moment. Years later something small brushes against them and your body reacts as though no time has passed.
EMDR gives that memory the chance to finish filing. While you hold the image, the sensation, and the belief in mind, you follow a repeated left-right cue, eye movements, alternating tones, or light taps. The brain does the reorganizing; the therapist's job is to keep the process moving and keep you inside a tolerable range.
What changes is not your history. What changes is the charge. Clients usually describe the memory afterward as something that happened rather than something happening, still true, still theirs, no longer loaded.
A session
What it's like.
Nothing about EMDR is mysterious once you have sat through it. You stay awake, you stay in charge, and you can stop a set at any point.
We choose a target
One specific moment, image, or body sensation, not your entire history at once.
We check your footing
A settling resource comes first: breath, a calm place, a physical anchor you can return to.
Short sets, then a pause
Thirty seconds or so of the back-and-forth cue, then a brief check: what came up? Then the next set.
It moves on its own
Images, sensations, and thoughts shift set to set. You don't have to narrate them or explain them.
We close the session
Every session ends with grounding. Nothing is left cracked open on the drive home.
Stabilization first
Why we don't start with the worst thing.
Processing before your body has anywhere steady to land is how therapy becomes something people quit. So the first phase of EMDR is not processing at all. It is building capacity: sleep, regulation, a way to come back from an activated state, and enough trust in the room that stopping is genuinely allowed.
For some people that takes two sessions. For others, long-standing experiences, ongoing stress, no support at home, it takes considerably longer, and that time is the treatment, not a wait for it. Thirty years has made Maria faster at recognizing which one is in front of her. It has not made her more willing to rush it.
What it's used for
More than one kind of injury.
- Single-incident trauma, accident, assault, medical event
- Childhood experiences that shaped how you see yourself
- Birth trauma and pregnancy loss
- Grief that stayed stuck at the moment of loss
- Betrayal and affair injury inside a relationship
- Panic and phobias with a clear starting point
- Anxiety that has an older memory underneath it
- Things witnessed, including before arriving in this country
Questions
Before you start.
Do I have to describe everything that happened?
No. EMDR works with the memory as it is stored in your body and nervous system, not with a narrative you deliver out loud. Some people say very little about the content and still process it. You choose what you put into words.
What actually happens in an EMDR session?
You hold a specific image, body sensation, and belief in mind while following a repeated back-and-forth cue, eye movements, tones, or gentle taps. It runs in short sets. After each set Maria asks what came up, and you keep going or pause. You stay awake, aware, and in control the whole time.
Is EMDR hypnosis?
No. You are fully conscious and can stop at any moment. Nothing is suggested to you and nothing is implanted.
How many sessions does EMDR take?
It depends on how much there is and how much stability you have to work from. A single recent incident may process in a handful of sessions; long-standing or repeated experiences take longer. No responsible therapist can promise a number or an outcome.
Who is EMDR not a good fit for right now?
If you are in an unsafe situation, in active crisis, or without any way to settle your body, processing comes later. Stabilization first is not a delay tactic, it is the part that makes the rest safe.
Are you certified in EMDR?
Yes. Maria is EMDR certified and has practiced as a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in Florida for thirty years. Sessions are available in English or Spanish.