EMDR Therapy in Goodyear, AZ

Is this you?

• A memory keeps replaying, or you get pulled back into it by a sound, a smell, or a place.
• You feel on edge most of the time and cannot fully relax, even when nothing is wrong.
• You have nightmares, or you avoid sleep because of them.
• You go numb, or you feel far away from your own life.
• You have talked about what happened, maybe in therapy before, and it still has the same charge.

If some of that sounds familiar, you are in the right place. None of it means something is wrong with you. It means a memory got stuck, and that is exactly what EMDR is for.

What EMDR is

EMDR stands for Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing. It is a structured therapy that helps the brain finish processing a painful memory so it stops feeling raw.

EMDR is not hypnosis, and you stay fully aware the whole time. It is also not something to try on your own or from a video. It should only ever be done with a therapist who has been trained in it. I completed my EMDR training through PESI.

How I pace it

Going into the hard memories is a common worry, and it is not where we start. EMDR has eight phases, and the first two are about your history and your steadiness. We talk about what brought you in and make a plan together. Then you learn skills to calm and ground yourself, and we practice them until they feel reliable. We do not move on until you feel ready, and you can stop or slow down at any point.

Only then do we pick a memory to work on. As we work, I check in often and you tell me what came up. Sessions end with time to settle, so you leave the office feeling steady enough to drive home.

EMDR is one of three approaches I use. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) works on the loop between thoughts, feelings, and actions, and dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) builds skills for handling strong feelings. For some people the right order is a few weeks of CBT or DBT skills first, then EMDR. I will tell you on the free call which one I would start with for you.

Who EMDR tends to help

EMDR is best known for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), the name for when trauma symptoms last more than a month and get in the way of your life. But you do not need that diagnosis to benefit. People come to me for EMDR after car accidents, assaults, and crimes, after a hard birth or a medical emergency, after years in a home or a relationship that never felt safe, and for memories that feel small from the outside and huge from the inside. It can also help with anxiety and panic when there is a memory underneath them.

The Goodyear office

My office is in the Mindful Therapy Group suite on Litchfield Road, just north of the I-10 in Goodyear. There is free parking right outside, and the waiting room is quiet. I see clients in person on Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays, with afternoon and evening openings, so a session can fit after work or after school pickup.

From Litchfield Park the drive is usually under ten minutes, and from Avondale it is ten to fifteen. From Estrella and the south side of Goodyear it is about fifteen minutes up Estrella Parkway. From Verrado and Buckeye you come east on the I-10 and exit at Litchfield Road, which takes fifteen to twenty-five minutes depending on the time of day. From Surprise, Loop 303 south to the I-10 is the quickest route, usually twenty to thirty minutes.

If the drive is hard some weeks, or you live farther out, we can talk about video sessions. I meet clients online from anywhere in Arizona on Tuesdays through Fridays. For EMDR specifically, some people do the preparation phases by video and come in for the memory work, and some do all of it in person. We will figure out what fits you.

Fees and insurance

Sessions are 50–55 minutes and cost $100 without insurance. I am in-network with Aetna/Banner, Cigna, Curative, and United Healthcare, and I take Cigna and United Healthcare employee assistance program (EAP) sessions, which are the free sessions some employers cover. The full details are on the insurance and fees page, and if your plan is not listed, ask me on the free call and I will tell you what your options are.

Questions people ask