Soothing the nervous system back to balance
EMDR Therapy in Redondo Beach
Specializing in EMDR, we deliver trauma‑informed care that supports healing, resilience, and lasting change.
EMDR therapy can help you process experiences that continue to feel unresolved, even when you understand them intellectually. By working with the ways experiences are held in the mind, body, and nervous system, EMDR can help reduce the intensity of distressing memories, beliefs, emotions, and patterns that continue to affect you in the present.
In-person EMDR in Redondo Beach, CA • Online throughout California
What is EMDR Therapy?
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is an evidence-based therapy that helps the brain reprocess traumatic memories so they no longer provoke overwhelming reactions. Using structured protocols, EMDR pairs focused recall of distressing memories with bilateral stimulation — usually guided eye movements, taps, or auditory pulses — to lessen painful images, emotions, and bodily sensations.
Rather than relying mainly on talk, EMDR targets memory networks directly. You hold the memory in mind while following bilateral stimulation, allowing the nervous system to integrate fragmented material and form adaptive associations. Over time, memories lose intensity, become part of a balanced narrative, and are often accompanied by more helpful beliefs and calmer physiological responses.
EMDR prioritizes safety, pacing, and your readiness. Sessions are collaborative and tailored to your history and goals. We’ll help identify targets—memories, images, sensations—and guides bilateral stimulation, monitors distress, and provides grounding. Over time this reduces the emotional charge and vividness of traumatic memories, often producing lasting relief.
EMDR treats single-incident and complex trauma and can help with anxiety, specific phobias, and intrusive thoughts, and other conditions. Many clients see faster improvement in anxiety, intrusive thoughts, nightmares, and avoidance than with talk therapy alone. EMDR can be combined with other approaches and adapted for various concerns, making it a flexible, evidence-based option for trauma-focused healing and resilience.
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Integrated EMDR
EMDR can be incorporated into ongoing therapy, allowing space for preparation, processing, and integration over time. This can be helpful when you want to address specific experiences while continuing the broader therapeutic work you’re already doing.
Intensive EMDR
Longer EMDR sessions, typically 90 minutes or 2 hours, provide more uninterrupted space for preparation, processing, and integration. This can be a helpful option when traditional session lengths feel too brief for the work you want to do.
Adjunct EMDR
Adjunct EMDR is focused EMDR therapy provided alongside your work with an existing therapist or treatment team. With your permission, we collaborate with your primary provider so you can receive EMDR while maintaining continuity in your ongoing therapy.
OUR APPROACH
EMDR is more than what happens during processing.
At Catherine Alvarado Therapy + EMDR, we believe healing is possible even when the past feels present. Our holistic, integrative approach combines evidence-based EMDR therapy with somatic, cognitive, and mindfulness-based techniques to help you process painful memories, reduce symptoms, and restore a sense of safety in your body and life.
We help children, adolescents, and adults coping with trauma, complex developmental wounds, or single-incident traumatic even. People dealing with anxiety, panic, phobias, and intrusive memories. Those whose symptoms are maintained by unresolved memory networks or bodily sensations. Individuals seeking a mind-body approach that honors emotional, cognitive, and physiological healing
HOW CAN EMDR HELP?
Trauma isn’t only in the mind—its imprint is in the body, relationships, and daily functioning.
Combining EMDR with somatic awareness, mindfulness, and targeted cognitive interventions produces deeper, more durable healing. This integrative model not only reduces symptoms but also builds resilience, self-compassion, and a renewed capacity for connection and purpose. At Catherine Alvarado Therapy + EMDR, we blend EMDR with mindfulness and body-centered approaches to honor both mind and body in the healing process. Therapy is offered in-person in Redondo Beach and online throughout California.
✓ Trauma, PTSD & difficult past experiences
✓ Anxiety, worry & panic attacks
✓ Phobias & persistent fears
✓ Intrusive thoughts & distressing memories
✓ Health anxiety & somatic fears
✓ Grief, loss & difficult life experiences
✓ Relationship & attachment wounds
✓ Depression, low mood & loss of motivation
✓ Panic disorder & agoraphobia
✓ Performance anxiety & stage fright
✓ Sleep disturbances & insomnia related to stress
✓ Medical trauma & chronic illness adjustment
✓ Perfectionism & overwhelming self-criticism
✓ Emotional numbness, dissociation & detachment
✓ Life transitions, identity shifts & existential distress
EMDR Therapists
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Catherine Alvarado
Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist 134744
EMDRIA Approved Consultant & Clinical SupervisorSupporting individuals with trauma, anxiety, panic, phobias, intrusive thoughts, and experiences that continue to feel unresolved through EMDR and integrative, nervous system-informed therapy.
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Monika Arana
Registered Associate MFT 140548
EMDR Trained TherapistSupporting individuals with trauma, anxiety, chronic stress, and difficult past experiences through EMDR and attachment-focused, nervous system-informed therapy.
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Arielle Harris
Registered Associate MFT 161691
EMDR Trained TherapistHelping clients navigate intrusive thoughts, anxiety, perfectionism, and self-doubt through EMDR and compassionate, attachment-focused therapy.
Heal Trauma, Restore Balance, Reclaim Your Life.
EMDR THERAPY
Curious whether EMDR could help you?
Ready to take the next step toward healing? Schedule a free 15-minute consultation any of our EMDR therapists, to discuss EMDR, anxiety, trauma, or phobia treatment—online or in-person in Redondo Beach. During this brief, no-cost call, we’ll review your concerns, explain how EMDR and integrative, mind-body approaches may help, and determine whether our therapists are the right fit for your needs.
We’ll also answer questions about session structure, frequency, fees, and insurance options, and help you choose an appointment time that fits your schedule. Contact us today to reserve your consultation and begin a thoughtful, personalized path toward lasting change and greater emotional well-being.
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RESOURCES
Beyond the Symptoms
Explore articles on EMDR, trauma, anxiety, nervous system regulation, and the mind–body connection to learn how past experiences continue to shape your feelings, responses, and relationships.