Frequently asked questions about online therapy.
Got questions? I’ve got answers.
Getting Started
The practical questions. Fees, logistics, how this works, and what to expect when you reach out.
Where are you located?
Since I practice exclusively online, I can see anyone in California or Florida, the two states I'm licensed in. You don't need to be in Culver City or anywhere near Los Angeles. As long as you're in one of those states, we can work together.
How does online therapy work?
We meet using a HIPAA-compliant video platform that's private and secure. I'll send you a link you can use for every session we have. You don't need to download anything complicated, it works in most browsers.
The setup matters, though. Just like coming to an office, this time should be yours. Find a quiet, private space where you can speak freely and won't be interrupted. Many clients use a bedroom, a parked car, or a home office. Wherever you feel safe enough to say what's really going on.
Do you offer in-person sessions?
Not at this time. Online therapy has worked so well for the women I work with. The convenience, the privacy, the ability to show up from wherever you are. I don't plan to go back to an office. Honestly, most of my clients prefer it this way.
What are your fees?
Individual 50-minute sessions are $250. Couples and family sessions are $300 for 50 minutes. I also offer 90-minute sessions at a pro-rated rate, and 3-hour intensives for deeper work. A sliding scale fee may be available on an individual basis, if cost is a concern, let's talk about it before you decide this isn't for you.
Do you take insurance?
I don't work with insurance directly, and that's a deliberate choice. Billing insurance requires a formal diagnosis, and it gives insurance companies a say in how your care is structured: how many sessions, what kind of therapy, what gets documented. I don't think your healing should be governed by those constraints.
If you have out-of-network benefits, I can provide a superbill, a specialized receipt you can submit for possible reimbursement. Each plan is different, so you'd need to check with your insurance company about what applies to you. Many clients are surprised by how much they get back.
What can I expect during my first appointment?
The first session is really about getting to know each other. I'll be asking more questions than usual. About your history, what brings you in, what you've tried before. It's also a chance to see whether we feel like a good fit, because the relationship between therapist and client matters more than almost anything else in whether therapy actually works.
You don't need to have everything figured out before you come. You just need to show up.
How long do I need to be in therapy?
There's no universal answer to this. Some clients experience significant relief within a few months. Others with more complex histories benefit from longer-term work. We can talk about a rough timeline based on what you're bringing in, but ultimately you're the one who decides how long we work together. I don't hold anyone to a predetermined schedule.
What is a Good Faith Estimate?
A Good Faith Estimate is a document that outlines the expected cost of your therapy. Under federal law, you have the right to receive one before starting care. I provide this as part of the intake process so there are no surprises about what you'll be paying.
Do you offer group therapy or workshops?
No. Restorative Counseling Center is a private practice offering individual therapy only. I do not offer group therapy, workshops, seminars, or webinars of any kind. All sessions are one-on-one, conducted online via a secure HIPAA-compliant platform.
The only exception is couples and family sessions, which are available at $300 for 50 minutes. These are relational sessions between specific individuals, not open group formats.
If you are looking for group therapy or support groups, I am happy to help point you toward appropriate resources during a consultation.
What to Expect in Sessions
What actually happens when we meet. How EMDR works in practice, what a session feels like, and what you don't have to do to heal.
What happens in a typical EMDR session?
EMDR sessions have a structure, but they don't feel rigid. We start by checking in, how you're doing, what's come up since we last met. Then we move into the work itself.
If we're actively processing a memory, I'll ask you to bring it to mind. Just hold it, not describe every detail, while we use bilateral stimulation. That usually means following my hand movements with your eyes, though we can use tapping or audio tones instead if that works better for you. We do this in short sets, pausing to check in after each one.
What happens during processing is different for everyone. Some people notice the memory shifting, it gets less vivid, less emotionally charged. Some notice new thoughts or images. Some feel physical sensations moving through their body. There's no right way for it to go. My job is to stay with you and guide the process.
We always end sessions with a grounding exercise to make sure you leave feeling settled, not raw.
Do I have to describe my trauma in detail for EMDR to work?
No. This is one of the things that makes EMDR genuinely different from talk therapy. You don't need to narrate everything that happened. You just need to be able to bring the memory to mind, even briefly, while we do the bilateral stimulation work. The processing happens neurologically, not through retelling the story.
For people who feel like they can't face what happened, or who've tried to talk about it before and found it made things worse, this is often a relief to hear.
What does it actually feel like to do EMDR?
People describe it differently. Some say it feels like watching a movie of a memory from a distance, it's there, but it's not pulling you in the way it used to. Some notice the emotional charge of a memory just quietly drops. Some feel tired after sessions in a way that feels like good, productive work rather than depletion.
It can also bring up unexpected things, memories you hadn't thought about in years, or emotions that feel unrelated to what you started with. That's normal. Your brain is doing something real. I stay close to what's happening and we work with whatever comes up.
How long does EMDR take to work?
It depends on what we're working on. A single, clearly defined traumatic event (like a car accident or a specific medical procedure) can sometimes be processed in a handful of sessions. Complex or developmental trauma, the kind that built up over years of childhood experience, takes longer. We're not just processing one memory; we're working through a whole network of experiences and beliefs that formed around them.
I don't make promises about timelines because I haven't met you yet. But I can tell you that most people notice something shifting earlier than they expect.
What is Polyvagal Theory and why do you use it?
Polyvagal Theory is a framework for understanding how your nervous system responds to threat and safety. It explains why you might freeze when you want to speak up, or feel instantly unsafe around certain people even when nothing obvious has happened. It's your nervous system doing exactly what it was designed to do, it's just operating off old information.
I weave Polyvagal-informed approaches into our work because trauma lives in the body. Not just in thoughts and memories. Understanding your own nervous system patterns gives you real, practical tools for shifting them, not just insight about why you are the way you are, but actual change in how you feel day to day.
What is psychodynamic therapy and how does it work?
Psychodynamic therapy is a depth-oriented approach that explores the patterns rooted in your history: the relational dynamics, beliefs about yourself, and emotional responses that formed early in life and have been quietly shaping everything since. It's the kind of therapy where we look at not just what you're struggling with, but why, and how those patterns connect to where you've come from.
It's slower and more exploratory than approaches like CBT, which tends to focus on identifying and changing specific thought patterns in the present. Psychodynamic work goes deeper, it's suited to people who want to understand themselves at a more fundamental level, not just manage symptoms.
I combine it with EMDR because they address different layers of the same problem. EMDR processes the stuck memories. Psychodynamic work helps you understand the meaning you made of them, and how to shift that.
How This Is Different
Why I work the way I do, how my approach compares to other options, and what makes this practice distinct.
How is your approach different from standard talk therapy?
Standard talk therapy (the kind where you come in, describe what happened, and discuss how it made you feel) can be genuinely helpful. But for trauma, grief, and the kind of pain that's been stored in the body for years, talking about it often isn't enough. You can understand exactly why you feel the way you do and still feel that way.
What I do is different because it works at the neurological level, not just the cognitive one. EMDR targets how traumatic memories are stored in the brain and body. Polyvagal work addresses the nervous system directly. Psychodynamic therapy goes beneath the surface narrative to the patterns underneath. Together, they reach places that conversation alone often can't.
How is EMDR different from CBT?
CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) works primarily by identifying distorted or unhelpful thought patterns and replacing them with more accurate ones. It's structured, skills-focused, and often short-term. For some people and some problems, it works well.
EMDR doesn't ask you to challenge your thoughts or practice new behaviors between sessions. Instead, it targets the memory itself. The stored experience that's generating the distorted beliefs in the first place. Once that memory is processed, the beliefs often shift on their own, without having to deliberately replace them. It's less about learning to think differently and more about your brain completing something it couldn't finish at the time.
For trauma specifically, the research consistently shows EMDR produces faster and more durable results than CBT alone.
Why do you combine EMDR with psychodynamic therapy?
Because they do different things, and most of the people I work with need both.
EMDR is powerful at processing discrete traumatic memories: reducing their emotional charge, shifting the beliefs attached to them. But for people with complex or developmental trauma, it's not always enough on its own. The wounds aren't just in specific memories; they're in the relational patterns, the ways of seeing yourself and others, the stories that formed around years of experience.
Psychodynamic therapy works at that deeper level. It helps you understand why you relate to the world the way you do, where those patterns came from, and how to change them. When I combine it with EMDR, we're addressing both the stored trauma and the meaning that grew around it. That's where lasting change happens.
Do you follow a rigid protocol or customize treatment?
I don't work from a rigid protocol. What we do in your sessions is shaped by what you bring in, where you are in your process, and what's actually working. I draw on EMDR, Polyvagal Theory, and psychodynamic therapy as a toolkit, not a checklist.
EMDR itself has a structured protocol, and I follow that structure when we're actively processing memories. But the broader arc of your treatment (what we focus on, how we pace the work, when we push deeper and when we build capacity first) is always tailored to you specifically.
What makes you different from other EMDR therapists?
A few things. First, I'm an EMDRIA Certified Therapist, which means I've completed advanced training and consultation hours beyond basic EMDR certification. Not every therapist who offers EMDR has that level of training.
Second, I integrate EMDR with psychodynamic therapy and Polyvagal-informed approaches rather than using it as a standalone technique. That integration is something I've developed over more than 25 years of clinical work, and it allows me to work with more complexity than EMDR alone can address.
Third, and this is harder to quantify, I've done my own work. I understand from the inside what it's like to go through painful and complex experiences and come out the other side. That shapes how I sit with clients in a way that clinical training alone doesn't.
I've tried therapy before and it didn't help. Why would this be different?
That's one of the most important questions you can ask, and I take it seriously. Most of the women I work with have tried therapy before. Some found it helpful but not enough. Some felt like they talked in circles for years without anything actually shifting. Some had experiences with therapists who didn't feel like the right fit.
The approach matters. If previous therapy was primarily talk-based and you were dealing with trauma stored in your body and nervous system, it makes sense that it didn't fully reach what needed to be reached. EMDR works differently. So does the combination I use.
The relationship also matters. I'd rather you find the right therapist than commit to working with me out of desperation. That's why the consultation exists, so you can get a real sense of who I am and whether this feels different before you decide.