For adultsOnline EMDR Therapy in Massachusetts for Anxiety and Trauma
For adults who understand their anxiety and their past, and still feel it running the show.
90-minute sessions and intensives
You can stop at any point
No full retelling required
EMDRIA Certified Therapist
EMDRIA Approved Consultant
Online, five states
90-minute sessions and intensives You can stop at any point No full retelling required EMDRIA Certified Therapist EMDRIA Approved Consultant Online, five states
Sound familiar?
Does this sound like you?
You have done the work. Therapy, reflecting, understanding your patterns. Your mind knows you are okay, but your body has not caught up.
Old wounds and past patterns still hold some control even when you do not want them to. They show up as anxiety, as tension you cannot put down, as reactions that feel bigger than the moment deserves.
EMDR is designed to reach exactly this. The part that talking alone has not been able to settle.
The method
What is EMDR therapy?
EMDR stands for Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing. It is a structured, evidence-based therapy that goes beyond talk therapy to help your brain reprocess difficult experiences and the beliefs they left behind.
EMDR uses gentle bilateral stimulation, such as guided eye movements, tapping or tones, to engage both sides of the brain while you briefly focus on a memory or a feeling. This helps your nervous system process what got stuck, so it loses its charge and stops driving how you feel today.
It follows an eight-phase structure developed by Francine Shapiro in the late 1980s, and it is recommended for post-traumatic stress in treatment guidelines from the World Health Organization, NICE in the United Kingdom, and the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies.
In session What an EMDR session looks like
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We start by talking about your goals and what you would like to focus on. Before going near anything painful, we build trust and make sure you have ways to stay grounded, so the deeper work always feels manageable.
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From there we gently reprocess specific memories or feelings to ease their intensity. You stay aware of the present moment throughout. You are not reliving anything, and you can stop at any point.
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The goal is to help you feel steadier and less ruled by old patterns, at a pace that is right for you.
AnxietyUsing EMDR for anxiety
A lot of anxiety is not really about the present. It is the nervous system reacting to earlier experiences that have not fully settled.
EMDR helps by reprocessing those underlying experiences, so the anxiety has less to feed on. Many people find that as the old material settles, the day-to-day worry quiets down too. That is a different result from managing symptoms, which is why people who have already tried coping strategies often find EMDR reaches something the strategies could not.
If anxiety itself is your main concern rather than EMDR specifically, you may find my anxiety page more useful.
Areas of focusWhat EMDR can help with
EMDR can help with anxiety, trauma and PTSD, painful memories, low self-worth, and the lingering effects of earlier-life experiences.
Anxiety
Trauma and PTSD
Painful memories
Low self-worth
Earlier-life experiences
It is especially useful when you understand your patterns intellectually and they still have a grip on you.
Two related approaches
EMDR or Brainspotting?
EMDR and Brainspotting are cousins. Both are body-based, and both reach what talk therapy cannot, but they work a little differently.
EMDR
Follows a more structured, phased process.
Brainspotting
Tends to be quieter, and is led more by where your attention naturally settles.
I offer both. I often use them together with the same person, moving between them depending on what is present that day and what your system responds to. In a free consultation we can talk about which is likely to fit you best.
Ways to work together
Ways we can work together
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90-minute sessions
The usual format for EMDR
EMDR was designed for longer sessions, so this is the usual format. It gives space to settle in, do the work, and come back to steady ground without rushing.
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Weekly therapy
45 to 50 minutes
A steady rhythm for ongoing work that includes EMDR alongside other support. Well suited if you would rather build gradually.
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EMDR intensives
Two hours or more
A focused container for deeper EMDR processing over a shorter overall timeframe. Includes a personalized workbook.
All sessions are held online through a secure, HIPAA-compliant video platform, across Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Jersey and South Carolina.
I am an out-of-network provider and do not bill insurance directly. If you have out-of-network benefits, you pay upfront and I provide a superbill you can submit for possible reimbursement.
Meet your therapist Meet Liza
I am Liza Detenber, a Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker (LICSW) offering online EMDR therapy across Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Jersey and South Carolina.
I am an EMDRIA Certified Therapist and an EMDRIA Approved Consultant, which means I have completed the full certification pathway in EMDR and now also train and consult with other therapists using it.
I work in a gentle, body-based way with adults who are ready to feel less ruled by their past. Alongside EMDR I draw on Somatic Experiencing and Brainspotting, and weave in parts work and mindfulness, matched to what you need.
My belief is that nothing about you needs fixing. The work is helping your system feel safe enough to put down protections it no longer needs.
Training and credentials
EMDRIA Certified Therapist
The recognized clinical certification in EMDR
EMDRIA Approved Consultant
Trusted to train and consult with other therapists using EMDR
Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker (LICSW)
MSW, Smith College School for Social Work
EMDR and Ego States Advanced Training, Trauma Therapist Institute
Somatic Experiencing Practitioner in Training
Brainspotting, Phase 1 trained
ARC (Attachment, Regulation and Competency) Training
Frequently Asked Questions
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EMDR is a structured, evidence-based therapy that uses bilateral stimulation, such as guided eye movements or tapping, to help the brain reprocess difficult experiences so they stop affecting you the way they did.
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Yes. EMDR can ease anxiety by reprocessing the earlier experiences underneath it, rather than only managing the symptoms day to day.
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Yes. EMDR is widely practiced online, using on-screen guidance, self-tapping or audio tones for the bilateral stimulation. All of my sessions are held online.
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No. EMDR does not require you to narrate everything that happened. Much of the processing happens internally, and you share only what you choose to.
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It varies. A single-incident experience often responds within roughly six to twelve sessions, while longer-standing or repeated experiences usually take more time. Intensives can compress that timeline for some people. We will talk about it openly rather than leaving you guessing.
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Not always, and not always right away. If someone is in active crisis, or does not yet have enough stability and support in place, it is better to build that ground first before reprocessing anything. We work that out together in the consultation, and I will tell you honestly if I think something else would serve you better right now.
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Yes. I am licensed in Massachusetts and see clients online across the state, including the Greater Boston area, as well as in Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Jersey and South Carolina.
Ready to feel less ruled by your past?
Book a free 15-minute consultation and we will see if EMDR is a good fit for you.