FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT EMDR THERAPY

The things women want to know before they reach out.

You don't need to have all the answers or a clear diagnosis before you contact me. But if you're doing your research first, this is for you. If your specific question isn't here, the free consultation is a good place to ask it.

01 About Olivia & this practice

I work with hyper-independent women in California who are carrying attachment trauma, complex PTSD, or the kind of stuck-ness that shows up after years of therapeutic work. Most of my clients are between 32 and 45, have done real therapy already, and are looking for the format that will finally move something. I do not treat couples, families, teens, or clients in active substance use.
I'm a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) in California with a Master of Social Work from the University of Southern California. I'm a Certified EMDR Therapist with additional advanced training in EMDR Intensives, Internal Family Systems-Informed EMDR, EMDR for Complex PTSD and Dissociation, and healing emotional neglect. The full credential list is on my About page.
My style is direct, warm, and practical. I'm not going to hand you a binder of techniques and send you home to implement them alone. We build things together, at your pace, around how your brain actually works.
My practice is fully online across California. I do not have a physical office. All intensives are delivered through a HIPAA-compliant video platform designed for virtual EMDR. I most often work with women in Santa Monica, Long Beach, Culver City, and greater Los Angeles, but I see clients from anywhere in California.
Availability shifts throughout the year. The best way to find out is to book a free 20-minute consultation. If I don't have current availability, I'll tell you honestly and refer you to trusted colleagues if that's useful.

02 Getting started & the free consultation

The consultation is a 20-minute video call. You tell me what you're working with, I tell you honestly whether an intensive is the right fit, and we figure out together what a next step could look like. There is no pressure to commit and no obligation to book anything after the call. Some women book an intensive on the call. Others take a week or a month to decide. Both are fine.
The free 20-minute consultation is where we figure this out together. If you've done years of weekly therapy, understand your patterns, and your body still reacts the same way, an intensive is likely a good fit. If you want ongoing therapeutic work with a specialist, or if your life doesn't currently allow for the calendar commitment of an intensive, weekly therapy is the right format. If you're in active crisis, actively using substances, or looking for general mental health support without a specialist focus, another therapist is usually the better starting point.
Intensives are not usually the best starting point for someone new to therapy. Weekly therapy with me is a legitimate first step if you want to work with a specialist from the start. If you're new to therapy in general, I'd also recommend considering a weekly therapist for foundational work before deciding whether an intensive is right for you.
Many of my clients continue seeing their weekly therapist during and after the intensive. You don't need to end an existing therapeutic relationship. The intensive gives you focused, sustained work you can then bring back to your weekly therapist with different material to work with. If you'd like, I can talk directly with your existing therapist to coordinate care.
For weekly therapy, most clients start within 1 to 2 weeks after the consultation. For an intensive, most start 4 to 8 weeks out, giving space for 2 to 3 preparation sessions before the intensive processing days. If your schedule requires more advance planning, sessions can be scheduled months out.

03 EMDR intensives specifically

EMDR stands for Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing. It's a research-backed trauma therapy that helps the nervous system process and integrate distressing material at the body level, not just the cognitive level. EMDR was originally developed for post-traumatic stress and has decades of research supporting its use for complex, attachment-rooted trauma.
An EMDR intensive is multi-day trauma processing that concentrates the work into a few consecutive days instead of spreading it across weekly sessions. My intensives include preparation sessions before, multi-hour processing days across 3 to 5 consecutive days, and integration sessions after. The format was developed for clients whose nervous systems need sustained time to actually process what they're carrying.
My style is direct, warm, and practical. I'm not going to hand you a binder of techniques and send you home to implement them alone. We build things together, at your pace, around how your brain actually works.
Weekly EMDR uses 50-minute sessions once a week. An EMDR intensive uses 5-to-6-hour sessions across consecutive days. For attachment trauma and complex PTSD specifically, the intensive format allows the work to open, move, and integrate in the same held space, instead of asking you to carry the work alone between weekly sessions.
A typical processing day is 5 to 6 hours with structured breaks. We work through the EMDR protocol together, alternating between focused processing time and grounding or resourcing time. You're not in constant intensity for 6 hours. The day is paced so your nervous system stays in a workable state throughout, and you leave each day complete rather than in the middle of something.
The most common reason weekly EMDR doesn't fully move complex trauma is that the fifty-minute weekly model is too small to hold the depth of what you're working with. Weekly EMDR can interrupt the very momentum complex attachment work requires. The intensive format was developed specifically for clients in your situation. Many of my clients came to intensives after weekly EMDR didn't fully land.
Most clients complete one intensive and integrate the work over the following months. Some return for a second intensive 6 to 12 months later to work on additional material. A small number of clients with complex or layered trauma benefit from a series of intensives across a year. We'll discuss what makes sense for your situation during the consultation.

04 Weekly therapy specifically

It's specialized. I work exclusively with women carrying attachment trauma and complex PTSD, using an EMDR-informed clinical lens rather than general talk therapy. My weekly work is not a lesser version of my intensive work. It's the same clinical approach delivered in a different rhythm.
Sessions are 60 minutes and delivered online through a HIPAA-compliant platform. Depending on what your material calls for, sessions may include EMDR processing, Internal Family Systems (IFS)-informed work, somatic tracking, or attachment-focused conversation. The specific mix depends on you and shifts over time. Not every session uses EMDR, but the clinical lens stays consistent throughout.
There's no fixed timeline. Some clients work with me for a season of specific work. Others work with me for years across multiple life chapters. The right length depends on what you're carrying and what feels supportive.
Two ways. First, specialization. I work exclusively with attachment trauma and complex PTSD, which most general insurance-paneled therapists don't. Second, session length and pacing. My sessions are 60 minutes, not 50, and I have the clinical capacity to work at the depth complex material requires.
Yes. Some clients start with weekly work and eventually move into an intensive when their life allows for the concentrated commitment. Others start with an intensive and continue with weekly work afterward for integration and ongoing support. There's no fixed sequence.
A limited number of reduced-fee weekly slots open up throughout the year. If the standard $250 rate isn't workable, mention it during the consultation and we'll talk about what's possible.

READY TO TALK?

A twenty-minute call. No pressure.

If you've read through the intensive questions and want to know whether this work is the right fit for what you're carrying, this is the next step.

Book your free consultation

05 Attachment trauma & complex trauma

Attachment trauma refers to the psychological and nervous-system wounds that come from disruptions in early caregiving relationships. This includes overt experiences like abuse or abandonment and quieter experiences like emotional neglect, chronic misattunement, or growing up in a family where your inner life wasn't seen. Attachment trauma often shows up in adulthood as hyper-independence, chronic anxiety, difficulty receiving care, and patterns you can name but can't seem to change.
Yes. EMDR is one of the most effective modalities for treating adult trauma that originated in childhood, including attachment wounds, emotional neglect, and complex PTSD. The intensive format is particularly well-suited for this kind of trauma because it gives the nervous system the sustained time it needs to actually process what it's been holding.
My style is direct, warm, and practical. I'm not going to hand you a binder of techniques and send you home to implement them alone. We build things together, at your pace, around how your brain actually works.
The honest answer is that this is the wrong question. The right question is whether you're carrying something that's getting in the way of your adult life. If you are, the cause matters less than the pattern. Emotional neglect, chronic misattunement, and the quiet wounds of families that looked fine from the outside are real and treatable. You don't have to prove anything happened to deserve the work.
Yes. I have advanced training in EMDR for Complex PTSD and Dissociation. The intensive format is often better suited to complex presentations than weekly EMDR because it allows the sustained pacing that complex trauma requires. During the consultation, we'll discuss whether an intensive is the right fit for your specific presentation.
EMDR does not require event memories. It can work with the felt sense your body is carrying, with somatic patterns, and with implicit material that doesn't have a clean story attached. Many clients with attachment trauma histories don't have specific scenes to process. The work still moves.

05 Rates, payment, and reimbursement

The 15-hour intensive is $3,750. The 30-hour intensive is $6,750. Weekly therapy sessions are $250 per 60-minute session. All prices include email support between sessions. A limited number of reduced-fee weekly slots are available on a case-by-case basis.
I am an out-of-network provider and do not bill insurance directly. I do provide superbills for out-of-network reimbursement, which many clients submit to their insurance for partial reimbursement. Reimbursement rates vary widely by plan, typically between 50 and 80 percent of the session fee for clients with out-of-network benefits.
A superbill is a detailed receipt with the diagnostic and procedure codes your insurance needs to process an out-of-network reimbursement claim. Mentaya submits the superbill on your behalf and follows up with your insurance so you don't have to. Your insurance then reimburses you directly, based on your specific out-of-network benefits.
A superbill is a detailed receipt with the diagnostic and procedure codes your insurance needs to process an out-of-network reimbursement claim. After your intensive, I provide the superbill and you submit it to your insurance. Your insurance then reimburses you directly, based on your specific out-of-network benefits.
Yes. Payment plans are available on request for EMDR intensives. The most common structure is splitting the intensive fee across two or three payments over the preparation and processing timeline. I can also refer you to CareCredit, a healthcare financing option that lets you break the cost into monthly payments with promotional 0% APR periods for qualified applicants.
For weekly therapy, payment is due at the time of service.
The full cancellation policy is included in your intake paperwork. For intensives, deposits are non-refundable once processing days are scheduled because the intensive time is reserved specifically for you. Rescheduling is usually possible with enough advance notice. For weekly therapy, the standard 24-hour cancellation notice applies. Specific details will be reviewed during the intake process.

06 Online delivery and logistics

Yes. Research on virtual EMDR consistently shows outcomes comparable to in-person work when delivered by a trained clinician using a clinically validated platform. For attachment trauma specifically, doing the work from your own home often supports the nervous system in a way an unfamiliar office cannot.
All sessions are delivered through a HIPAA-compliant video platform designed for virtual therapy. The platform meets the security and privacy standards required for confidential mental health care. You'll receive setup instructions before your first session.
My style is direct, warm, and practical. I'm not going to hand you a binder of techniques and send you home to implement them alone. We build things together, at your pace, around how your brain actually works.
For weekly therapy, you need a reliable internet connection, a laptop or desktop with a webcam and microphone, and a private space where you can do the work without being interrupted for 60 minutes. For intensives, you need the same setup plus a private space where you can do the work without being interrupted for 5 to 6 hours at a time. A phone is not sufficient for the intensive format because the visual bilateral stimulation requires a larger screen.
Yes, as long as you are physically located in California during the sessions. California licensure requires that clients be in California at the time of the session. If you travel frequently, you can plan the intensive around your California time.
Emergencies happen. If you need to reschedule during a scheduled intensive, we will work together to find a solution. In most cases, the intensive days can be rescheduled with enough advance notice. The specifics depend on the situation and get discussed during intake.

STILL HAVE A QUESTION?

The consultation is free and there's no pressure to commit.

Reach out with your specific question and we'll figure out the rest together on a twenty-minute call.