EMDR for grief and loss in Santa Monica and throughout California
EMDR Therapy Intensives for Abandonment & Emotional Neglect in Santa Monica
Healing the impact of a parent leaving in your body, relationships, and sense of self
You’re in the Right Place If…A parent left and it still lives inside you
As an adult, this often shows up as:
A deep fear of being left again even when nothing is “wrong”
Overreacting to distance, silence, or changes in tone
Feeling emotionally alone, even in relationships
Struggling to trust that people will stay
Becoming hyper-independent because depending on others never felt safe
Achieving, helping, or performing to feel worthy of love
Feeling empty or unsettled after success or closeness
A constant sense of bracing for loss
If this resonates, nothing is “wrong” with you.
Your nervous system adapted to a real rupture in attachment.
What Abandonment Does to The Nervous System
When a parent leaves, a child doesn’t just grieve the loss —their nervous system learns that connection can disappear without warning.
Research shows that physical abandonment often leads to:
Chronic hypervigilance
Difficulty regulating emotions
Strong reactions to perceived rejection
Attachment anxiety or avoidance
A heightened stress response in relationships
A lifelong pattern of scanning for signs someone will leave
This isn’t about memory alone. It’s about how your body learned to survive. And that’s why insight alone doesn’t fix it.
Imagine waking up without your mood being hijacked by someone else’s distance.
Imagine not spiraling when someone pulls back, gets quiet, or disappoints you.
Imagine feeling steadier inside even when relationships feel uncertain.
Healing physical abandonment doesn’t mean forgetting what happened.
It means your body no longer reacts as if it’s happening again.
What Healing Can Begin to Feel Like
EMDR works by helping the brain and body reprocess experiences that were too overwhelming to integrate at the time…like a parent leaving.
In an intensive format, we don’t reopen this wound slowly and repeatedly over months. We work with continuity, safety, and momentum.
This allows:
Less time spent re-orienting or re-triggering between sessions
Deeper processing without interruption
The nervous system to complete responses that were frozen in childhood
A felt sense of resolution and not just insight
For adults who grew up too fast, intensives provide what was never available then:
consistent presence and containment.
Why EMDR Therapy Intensives are especially effective for abandonment
What is an EMDR Therapy Intensive?
An EMDR intensive is a focused block of therapy time spread over one or multiple days, dedicated entirely to healing specific experiences and patterns.
Instead of meeting weekly for months while life keeps pulling you back into survival mode, we create a protected space where your system can finally slow down and process.
This is especially helpful for:
Long-standing abandonment wounds
Attachment trauma
Emotional reactions that feel bigger than the present moment
People who are tired of “understanding” their trauma but still feeling it
I specialize in EMDR intensives for adults carrying the long-term impact of childhood abandonment, emotional neglect, and attachment trauma.
My work is grounded, relational, and deeply trauma-informed without being overwhelming or clinical.
You won’t be asked to relive your story endlessly. You won’t be pushed to “move on.”
We focus on helping your body understand that the abandonment is no longer happening, so your life no longer has to revolve around protecting against it.
Working With Me
Next Steps
If this page feels like it’s describing your internal world, you don’t need to convince yourself to “try harder.”
Your nervous system adapted brilliantly to survive something real.
EMDR intensives offer a way to finally release what you’ve been carrying
Imagine waking up and not feeling emotionally undone by someone else’s distance, silence, or mood because your body finally knows the difference between past abandonment and present reality.
FAQs Abandonment, Attachment & Relationship Trauma Therapy Across California
Are You Considering an EMDR Therapy Intensive in California?
Here are answers to common questions about my approach, what to expect in your first session, and how EMDR can support healing from anxiety, trauma, and grief.
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Abandonment trauma doesn’t always come from someone physically leaving. It often shows up as emotional neglect, inconsistency, or caregivers who were overwhelmed or unavailable. As an adult, this can look like overreacting to distance or tone, fear of rejection, people-pleasing, hyper-independence, anxiety in relationships, or feeling emotionally alone even when you’re not.
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Yes. EMDR helps your nervous system process early attachment wounds that talk therapy alone often can’t reach. Instead of just understanding why you react the way you do, EMDR helps your body learn that it’s safe now — reducing emotional reactivity, fear of abandonment, and chronic relationship anxiety.
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Absolutely. Many people with abandonment and emotional neglect histories are high-achieving, capable, and successful on the outside. Trauma isn’t about how your life looks — it’s about how your nervous system learned to survive. You don’t have to be falling apart to deserve deep healing.
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You don’t need clear memories for EMDR to work. Attachment trauma often lives in emotional patterns, body responses, and relationship dynamics rather than single events. We work with what shows up now such as your reactions, beliefs, sensations, and triggers and not just memories.
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EMDR intensives offer longer, focused sessions that allow your nervous system to stay engaged without stopping and restarting each week. This can be especially helpful for attachment wounds, where consistency and emotional momentum matter. Intensives often lead to deeper shifts in a shorter period of time.
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No. EMDR does not require retelling your story over and over. We move at your pace, focusing on what your body and nervous system are ready to process. You stay in control throughout the process.
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Healing isn’t linear, and there’s no one-size-fits-all timeline. Some clients notice meaningful shifts after a few intensive sessions, while others benefit from ongoing work. During your consultation, we’ll talk about what approach makes the most sense for you.
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Healing isn’t linear, and there’s no one-size-fits-all timeline. Some clients notice meaningful shifts after a few intensive sessions, while others benefit from ongoing work. During your consultation, we’ll talk about what approach makes the most sense for you.