EMDR Therapy · Walnut Creek
EMDR therapy
for Walnut Creek.
Something happened. You've mostly made peace with it. You don't think about it much. But your body still tenses in a specific way when certain conversations happen, and your sleep has been off for longer than you'd admit. EMDR works the memory at a level that talk therapy doesn't reach, which is why most clients describe it as something finally moving when they'd given up on it moving. We work with Walnut Creek and East Bay clients via secure telehealth.
EMDR is offered via secure telehealth across California with Jalyse Stewart, AMFT #153712 (supervised by Christina Mathieson, LMFT #115093). In-person EMDR is not currently available at our Walnut Creek office.
Who we see in Walnut Creek
Functional on the outside. Stuck on the inside.
The clients who come to us for EMDR in the Walnut Creek area aren't in chaos. Many of them are running successful lives, with partner, kids, career, and weekly therapy already on the calendar. There's just a part of them that hasn't been able to move on from something: a car accident on 680, a medical event that nobody around you quite registered as a trauma, a childhood you've "made peace with" that your body disagrees about, a betrayal that talk therapy hasn't quite reached.
The pattern: you can describe what happened, you can name what it cost you, you can sometimes laugh about it, and there's still a panic that flares when something brushes too close. The nervous system is still running an old program, and EMDR is one of the most well-researched ways to update that program.
We work with single-event trauma, complex/developmental trauma (CPTSD), medical trauma, birth trauma, accident trauma, sexual trauma, and the cumulative weight of high-functioning lives held together by a tight nervous system. EMDR research overview from EMDRIA.
How EMDR actually goes
Eight phases. No retelling.
EMDR isn't a single session of "doing the thing." It's an eight-phase protocol: history-taking, preparation, assessment, desensitization, installation, body scan, closure, and re-evaluation. The first few sessions are about building the resourcing you need to do the active reprocessing safely. Then we get into it.
During the active phases, you bring up a target memory while focusing on bilateral stimulation (typically guided eye movements, but tapping or audio tones work too, and all of these can be done over video). You don't narrate the memory. You notice what comes up. The brain reprocesses, the somatic charge settles. Most clients are surprised by how little talking is involved.
Between sessions, your nervous system continues to integrate. We check in regularly about what's shifting, what's still active, and whether to keep targeting the same memory or move to the next.
Who you'd work with
Jalyse Stewart leads our EMDR work.
Registered Associate Marriage and Family Therapist (AMFT) #153712
Supervised by Christina Mathieson, LMFT #115093
Jalyse is our trauma-trained clinician. EMDR-focused and IFS-informed, with somatic practices and CBT in the toolkit. She brings specific care to women and BIPOC clients carrying childhood trauma, complex trauma, and the kind of nervous-system load that has been adapted to over a lifetime. She works via secure telehealth with clients across California, including Walnut Creek and the East Bay.
Read Jalyse's full bioFAQ
Common questions about EMDR.
Does EMDR work over telehealth?
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Yes. Telehealth EMDR is now well-supported by research and recognized by the EMDR International Association as an effective format. The bilateral stimulation that's core to EMDR is delivered through guided eye movements, tapping, or audio tones that work just as well on screen. For most Walnut Creek and East Bay clients, video makes EMDR more accessible, not less.
How is EMDR different from regular talk therapy?
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Talk therapy works with the story of what happened: what it means, how you make sense of it, what you tell yourself about it. EMDR works with how that memory is stored in the nervous system. You don't have to retell the trauma in detail. The brain reprocesses it while you focus on bilateral stimulation, and the somatic charge (the body's 'this is happening now' alarm) settles. Many clients describe it as something finally moving when nothing was moving before.
How many EMDR sessions will I need?
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It depends on what we're working with. A single-incident trauma (a car accident, a medical event, a specific assault) often resolves in 6 to 12 sessions of active reprocessing, plus a few preparation and integration sessions on either side. Complex or developmental trauma (childhood abuse, layered relational injuries, CPTSD) takes longer because there are more layers to work through. We'll talk about a realistic timeline at intake.
Is in-person EMDR available in Walnut Creek?
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Currently EMDR is offered via secure telehealth only across our team. Many clients prefer it that way; being in your own space during reprocessing can actually support the work. If in-person trauma therapy specifically is important to you, our in-person clinician at the Walnut Creek office is Tina Masoudi, AMFT #155851 (supervised by Christina Mathieson, LMFT #115093), who works with trauma using integrative and trauma-informed CBT approaches (not EMDR specifically).
Will I have to relive the trauma during EMDR?
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No. This is one of the biggest misconceptions about EMDR. You bring up the memory enough to activate it, but you don't talk through it in detail or stay in the worst of it. The therapist's job is to keep you in your window of tolerance: present, regulated, and able to step out anytime. The reprocessing happens between you and your own brain. We just create conditions for it.
Can EMDR help with trauma that's affecting my current relationship?
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Yes. Relational trauma (a betrayal, a loss, a pattern from earlier in life that's showing up in your current partnership) is one of the most common things we use EMDR for. The memory gets reprocessed at a level that shifts how your nervous system meets your partner in real time, not just how you understand the history. Many clients do this work individually while also in couples therapy. We can talk about whether to sequence or combine during the free consult.
References & further reading
- EMDRIA — EMDR research overview — EMDR International Association
- The Body Keeps the Score — Bessel van der Kolk, MD — Bessel van der Kolk, MD
- No Bad Parts — Richard C. Schwartz, PhD (IFS) — Richard C. Schwartz, PhD / IFS Institute
- APA Clinical Practice Guideline for the Treatment of PTSD — American Psychological Association
Ready to start moving what's been stuck?
Free 15-minute call. We'll talk about what you're carrying, whether EMDR is the right fit, and what a realistic course of treatment would look like.
Book a Free Consult