EMDR THERAPY INTENSIVES IN CALIFORNIA
You've done the work. So why does your body still feel like it's bracing?
Online therapy for women across California carrying attachment trauma. Choose focused time through a half-day or multi-day EMDR intensive, or ongoing support through weekly EMDR therapy.. The same depth of care, at a pace that fits your needs.
You’ve spent years making sense of the past. You want more ease in the present.
You can name every pattern. So why is it still hard to respond differently?
You strive to get everything right, achieve more, and put others’ needs before your own. Sometimes, that effort is driven by a desire to avoid criticism and the guilt or shame it can bring. When someone is disappointed or pulls away, you may replay conversations wondering what you did wrong. Trying to keep everyone happy can leave you exhausted, resentful, and disconnected from your own needs.
These moments can show up physically: a lump in your throat, a tense jaw, a heavy heart, or a hollow feeling in your stomach. You may know that someone else’s reaction doesn’t define your worth… yet still feel your nervous system reacts as if you’ve done something wrong.
Therapy, books, or podcasts may have helped you make sense of these patterns. Still, when familiar reactions return, you may think, “I thought I had healed this.” Through EMDR therapy or intensives, we’ll build on that understanding and work through the experiences connected to those reactions, with the goal of helping you feel more grounded in your worth and respond with greater choice.
THIS WORK IS FOR YOU IF
You recognize yourself in what you want to change.
You want to make a mistake without feeling like you failed as a person.
You want to say no without spending the rest of the day feeling guilty or second-guessing yourself.
You want to handle someone’s disappointment without making it your responsibility to fix.
You want to enjoy what you’ve accomplished without immediately deciding it’s not enough.
You want to rest and ask for help without feeling you have to earn it
You want the progress you’ve made in understanding yourself to show up in how you feel and respond.
If any of that lands, you're in the right place.
MEET YOUR THERAPIST
Hi, I'm Olivia
I'm Olivia Lavelle, LCSW. I'm an EMDR-Certified therapist specializing in online intensives for women healing attachment trauma and complex relational patterns.
I work with women who are tired of being misunderstood by therapists who weren't trained for the depth of what they're carrying. Women who've been told they're "too sensitive," "too much," or "doing fine," when none of that matches what's happening inside them.
You don't have to explain why you shut down, stay busy, or struggle to soften. I already understand the function.
MY SPECIALTIES
What I help women work through
I specialize in attachment trauma and childhood emotional neglect in women. Our work may focus on anxiety, hyper-independence, people-pleasing, or feeling stuck despite previous therapy. These are the specific patterns I see most often, and the doors most clients walk through, whether they arrive for an online EMDR therapy intensive or weekly therapy.
-
Anxiety Therapy
The persistent low-grade alarm that doesn't match what's happening in your actual life. The chest tightness, the racing thoughts, the inability to land in your own body.
-
Hyper-Independence
Hyper-independence, over-functioning, the inability to ask for help or to rest. The exhaustion of being the person everyone counts on, including yourself.
-
Feeling Stuck After Previous Therapy
You understand your patterns. You can map your childhood onto your reactions in real time. And the patterns still won't move.
-
Childhood Trauma & Emotional Neglect
Emotional neglect, attachment wounds in families that didn't look broken. The trauma that's hard to name because it didn't look like the obvious kind.
-
People-Pleasing & Boundaries
The dissolution of your own preferences, needs, and feelings underneath layers of accommodating other people. The slow disappearance of you.
TWO WAYS TO WORK WITH ME
Weekly therapy or an EMDR intensive. Both are the depth work. Different rhythms.
Some women arrive knowing they want the concentrated depth of an EMDR intensive. Others want the sustained rhythm of weekly work with a specialist. Both are legitimate paths. The right one is the one that matches your life right now.
ONGOING RHYTHYM
Weekly Therapy
Ongoing weekly sessions with a specialist in attachment trauma. For women who want the work to unfold over time, or whose life doesn't currently allow for the calendar commitment of an intensive.
CONCENTRATED DEPTH
EMDR Intensives
Multi-day trauma processing built for concentrated depth. For women whose life allows for a bounded time commitment, and whose nervous system needs sustained processing rather than weekly increments.
Not sure which one fits? The free consultation is where we figure it out together.
THE WORK
Online EMDR therapy intensives for women who can do anything except rest
You may understand your patterns and still feel on edge, shut down, or overwhelmed. Together, we’ll build on what you already know, make sense of what still feels confusing, and work toward changes you can feel in everyday life.
Whether we do this through weekly rhythm or through an EMDR therapy intensive, the clinical lens is the same: attachment-focused, EMDR-informed, calibrated for the specific shape of what hyper-independent women carry.
I work entirely online across California, using a HIPAA-compliant platform designed for virtual EMDR work. You don't have to live near an office. You don't have to fit your healing into a template that isn't built for what you're actually carrying.
ONLINE EMDR, FROM YOUR OWN SPACE
Prefer in-person therapy? Let’s talk about working online.
It’s understandable to wonder whether therapy through a screen will feel personal. I listen closely, check in about what you’re experiencing, and make room for pauses and support. Together, we’ll explore whether online EMDR fits your needs.
From a private, comfortable space, you can settle in with your blanket and water nearby. Without a commute, you have more room to prepare beforehand and decompress afterward.
Your own space. Dedicated time. Support along the way.
A 2023 study comparing online and in-person EMDR for PTSD found no evidence of differences in treatment completion, dropout rates, or reported adverse events. The findings offer encouraging support for online EMDR as a treatment option. Strelchuk et al. (2023)
COMMON QUESTIONS
What women ask before booking EMDR therapy
How do I know if weekly therapy or an intensive is right for me?
The free 20-minute consultation is where we figure this out. Some women arrive knowing they want intensive work. Others arrive wanting weekly. Some aren't sure. All three are valid starting points and we'll talk through what fits your life right now.
Is online therapy as effective as in-person?
Yes. Research on virtual therapy, including EMDR, shows outcomes comparable to in-person work when delivered by a trained clinician. For many women, doing this work from their own space supports the nervous system rather than competing with it.
How do I know if I have attachment trauma?
Attachment trauma doesn't always look like the obvious kind. It can show up as chronic hyper-independence, difficulty resting, perfectionism, people-pleasing, or the inability to feel safe in close relationships even when nothing is wrong.
Do I have to live in California?
You have to be physically located in California during our sessions. I'm licensed in California, which means I can work with anyone present in the state, even if you live elsewhere most of the time.
THE NEXT SMALL STEP
A twenty-minute call. We map your next step together.
If you've been carrying this for a long time, a twenty-minute conversation isn't a big ask. Most women tell me after that they wish they'd done it sooner.