EMDR therapy | ConnecticuT
Therapy with Laura.
Where insight becomes embodied.
Your mind gets it.
The rest of you is waiting for permission to follow.
You may have spent years gathering insight. You can name the pattern. You know the why behind your patterns. You’ve probably had moments of thinking,
“Why am I still reacting this way if I understand it?”
“Why am I still in a panic when I know I should be pausing and taking a breath?”
That’s where the work moves beyond understanding alone.
I don’t see the symptoms you bring into therapy as flaws. I see them as strategies. Often we talk about these strategies as different “parts” of you that developed to help you cope, stay safe, or stay connected.
At some point, these patterns kept you safe. They were intelligent adaptations. Now they may feel exhausting.
We don’t shame them. We don’t fight them.
We look at them. We honor the function they served.
We update them.
EMDR and parts work therapy are ways we help insight translate into lived experience. Not just “I get it,” but “I can feel it differently now. It doesn't land the same way.”
How this therapy is different.
We will absolutely talk about what’s happening in your life right now. We’ll slow it down. We’ll make sense of it.
But we won’t just analyze it from the neck up.
Insight matters. Problem-solving matters. They create a foundation. But sometimes we also need to work on the level where the reactions live.
When something overwhelming happens and doesn’t get fully processed, our body holds onto it. That’s often what drives the looping thoughts, the tight chest, the background vigilance, the emotional caretaking of others, the burnout that doesn’t make sense on paper.
Relief comes when we work with what’s still stored underneath the thinking.
That’s where this approach goes: gently, steadily helping your body and mind come together to begin to resolve what was not fully digested.
The Process of Therapy.
I think of therapy like planning a road trip.
We decide where we’re headed. We map it out together. You bring your history and your goals. I bring the clinical tools and the ability to notice when we’re veering off into old loops.
Sometimes we go on side quests.
Sometimes we pause because your nervous system needs that.
You get to tell me if we are moving too fast or too slow or if you don’t like something we are trying. It won’t hurt my feelings. You are never a passive passenger here. You always get a voice and a choice in our work.
Let’s talk about the past-present connection.
What feels heavy now often has deeper roots.
Maybe it’s early attachment experiences.
Maybe it’s a relationship that changed you.
Maybe it’s something more recent that your system hasn’t fully metabolized yet.
We’ll gently explore how those earlier experiences echo into the present and help your nervous system release what still feels raw and experiment with new responses that actually fit your life now.
This approach may be for you if:
You understand your patterns but the intensity hasn't let up
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You've done helpful work in therapy before and feel ready to go further
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There's a stuck feeling you can't quite explain, but you know it's holding you back
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You keep second-guessing yourself or replaying old decisions on a loop
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You're exhausted from holding it together while still feeling unsettled inside
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You want to move beyond coping and feel shifts in how you think and feel
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How we work together:
Some people need the steady rhythm of weekly sessions to build foundation and safety. Some are ready to go deeper in longer, less frequent blocks of time. Some start one way and shift as the work evolves.
What matters is that the format fits where you are, not the other way around.
That's why we don't start with a preset structure.
We start with you.
Most of our work moves through natural phases: building the internal resources your nervous system needs before we go deeper, creating more space for processing when you're ready, and then integrating what's shifted and deciding what comes next. The format we use is guided by where you are at.
Format Options
Initial Consultation:
25-minute phone call | Free
We talk through what's bringing you in, what you've already tried, and whether this approach resonates. No pressure, no commitment.
Initial Intake:
90-minute deep-dive session | $300
We explore your history, your patterns, and what you're hoping shifts. This is where we start mapping the work and decide on a format together from the following:
Weekly session. Consistency, safety-building, and week-to-week integration.
50 minutes | $200
Extended session. For when you're ready to stay with something longer than a standard hour allows.
120 minutes | $500
Intensive session. For making significant headway on a specific pattern or stuck place. The most runway for your nervous system to process and settle.
180 minutes | $750
FAQs:
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Nope! EMDR is not only for people who identify with having trauma or a difficult childhood.
EMDR is effective for the quieter wounds too: the patterns that formed in families that were loving but imperfect, the experiences that were never quite processed, the chronic stress that accumulated over years. You don't need a single defining moment. You need experiences that are still shaping how you move through the world today. -
Probably not! If you've done meaningful talk therapy, you likely have strong insight already and that's actually an asset here. This work starts where insight leaves off. We're not going to spend sessions building understanding you already have. We're going to work with what understanding alone hasn't been able to shift and help your nervous system integrate for embodied relief.
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We figure that out together during the intake. Generally, weekly sessions are a good fit when you're building foundation, staying anchored to the present, or integrating insights over time. Longer formats come in when the work needs more uninterrupted space. Often this is when we are doing deeper EMDR processing and cutting a session short would mean losing momentum. Many people use both at different points. We continue to assess and reassess your needs and build a container around them.
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We build resources before we go anywhere difficult. Part of the early work is making sure you have what you need to stay grounded. We move at a pace your nervous system can tolerate. If something feels like too much, we slow down or stop. You always have a voice and a choice in what happens in session.
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It depends on what you're carrying and what you're hoping to shift. Some people do focused work over a few months. Others work with me longer. What I can tell you is that we're not going to loop indefinitely. The work has direction, and we'll check in regularly to make sure it's moving.
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Nope! EMDR doesn't require you to narrate your experiences at length. We work with what's present. Sometimes that’s a feeling, an image, a body sensation, rather than a detailed account of what happened. For many people this is a relief and can be helpful if it is hard to pinpoint one singular experience that is contributing to your symptoms.
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I welcome collaboration with fellow practitioners ! If you have a client who might benefit from doing adjunctive EMDR work, I'm happy to discuss whether my approach would be a good fit. You can reach out directly through my contact page.
I offer consultation calls with referring practitioners to discuss treatment approaches and coordinate care when helpful.
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I am an out-of-network provider with all insurance companies except CIGNA. I can provide a superbill for you to submit to your insurance for potential reimbursement, depending on your plan. I'd encourage you to check with your insurance about out-of-network mental health benefits before we begin. Please note that for extended and intensive sessions insurance companies typically only reimburse for the first hour.
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I offer both online and in person sessions. In person sessions are conducted at my office which is in a private, comfortable setting in historic New Britain, right across from Walnut Hill Park and the Museum of American Art.
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Initial consultation. 15 minutes | No charge. We talk through what's bringing you in, what you've already tried, and whether this approach resonates. No pressure, no commitment.
Intake session. 90 minutes | $300. We explore your history, your patterns, and what you're hoping shifts. This is where we start mapping the work and decide together what format makes sense to begin.
Weekly session. 60 minutes | $200. Consistency, safety-building, and week-to-week integration.
Extended session. 120 minutes | $500. For when you're ready to stay with something longer than a standard hour allows.
Intensive session. 180 minutes | $750. For making significant headway on a specific pattern or stuck place. The most runway for your nervous system to process and settle.
