EMDR Therapy in Simi Valley
A deeper path toward healing the experiences your mind and body have been carrying for far too long.
Some Experiences
Don’t Fade With Time
They settle quietly into the nervous system—shaping how you react, connect, rest, and feel safe in the world.
You may understand what happened.
You may have talked it through, reflected deeply, and done meaningful work in therapy.
And still, something inside feels unsettled.
EMDR therapy offers a way to gently process what your system never had the chance to fully heal—so your present no longer feels controlled by the past.
At Simi Psychological Group – Simi Valley’s Therapy and Counseling Center, EMDR is offered with care, attunement, and deep respect for your pace.
When Talk Therapy Helps – But Something Still Feels Stuck
You might be insightful, self-aware, and high-functioning—yet still feel on edge inside.
Many people who explore EMDR notice a constant sense of alertness, emotional numbness or sudden overwhelm, reactions that feel out of proportion, or memories that surface without warning. Often, the body reacts before the mind can catch up.
You may have tried talk therapy, journaling, grounding tools, or mindfulness. Those approaches often help—but something deeper hasn’t shifted.
That doesn’t mean you’re doing therapy “wrong.”
It often means your nervous system is still holding unfinished processing.
This is where EMDR becomes meaningful.
Understanding EMDR Therapy
EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) is a trauma-informed therapy that helps the brain and nervous system process experiences that feel unresolved or overwhelming.
Rather than repeatedly retelling painful events, EMDR works with the brain’s natural capacity to heal. Through bilateral stimulation—such as eye movements, tapping, or sound—your system begins to reorganize how experiences are stored.
Over time, EMDR can help lower emotional reactivity, calm survival responses, and restore a felt sense of internal safety.
You remain present.
You stay in control.
Nothing is forced.
Many clients describe the shift simply as:
“That happened — and I’m safer now.”
How EMDR Integrates with Trauma Therapy
Trauma therapy often begins with understanding, making sense of your experiences, building awareness, and creating a sense of safety within yourself and in the therapeutic relationship. That foundation matters.
EMDR becomes part of this process by helping the nervous system gently process what has not yet fully resolved. Rather than replacing trauma therapy, it deepens it and allows insight, emotion, and the body’s responses to come into alignment.
At times, sessions may focus more on reflection and understanding. At other times, EMDR is used to support deeper processing. Together, this creates a more integrated and lasting healing experience.
If you’d like to learn more about this broader approach, you can explore our work in trauma therapy.
How EMDR Helps Trauma Begin to Release
Trauma isn’t something you think your way out of.
It’s something your system learns to release.
EMDR supports the brain and body in gently shifting what’s been held in place for protection—helping soften triggers, reduce anxiety and hypervigilance, ease somatic symptoms, and loosen negative beliefs formed during painful experiences.
This isn’t about forcing positive thinking.
It’s about feeling different in your body—where lasting change begins.
What EMDR Therapy Can Help With
EMDR therapy in Simi Valley may support healing around:
Childhood and developmental trauma
Relational and attachment wounds
Complex PTSD (C-PTSD)
Emotional abuse, gaslighting, or manipulation
Betrayal or infidelity trauma
Panic attacks and chronic anxiety
Medical trauma or sudden events
Grief and unresolved loss
Depression connected to unresolved pain
If something in you still feels unsettled—even if you can’t fully explain why—EMDR may help the pieces finally come together.
What EMDR Therapy Looks Like at Simi Psychological Group.
EMDR at SPG is never rushed or forced.
This is the heart of SPG’s work:
healing that feels steady, grounded, and deeply human.
Beginning Phase
We start by helping your nervous system feel supported and regulated. Together, we build safety, map themes and patterns, and clarify what your system is ready to approach.
Reprocessing Phase
EMDR unfolds at your pace. Your therapist guides the process while you remain present, grounded, and in control.
Integration Phase
Integration Phase
After reprocessing, we focus on integration—helping insight, emotional shifts, and nervous-system changes carry into your daily life and relationships.
EMDR + Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy (Optional Pathway)
Some individuals choose to pair EMDR with Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy (KAP) when emotional material feels blocked, distant, or overwhelming.
Ketamine may help quiet internal defenses, reduce hypervigilance, and increase emotional openness. EMDR then provides the grounding, structured framework to safely process and integrate what emerges.
This approach is never a default recommendation—only a collaborative option when appropriate. Ketamine services are coordinated through our Simi Valley office, with EMDR and integration sessions offered in person or online.
Our EMDR Therapists in Simi Valley
EMDR in Simi Valley is provided by clinicians deeply trained in trauma and nervous system healing. Each therapist works relationally and intentionally, adapting EMDR to your pace and emotional readiness.
Meet Our Therapists
Oriyan Maor, LMFT
Brings a grounded, steady presence to complex trauma work, integrating somatic awareness and ketamine-informed processing when clinically appropriate.
Sarah Parsons, LMFT
Brings warmth and thoughtful pacing to EMDR, supporting clients navigating attachment wounds, anxiety, relational trauma, and emotional overwhelm.
Online EMDR Therapy Throughout California
If coming into our Simi Valley office isn’t possible, we also offer online EMDR therapy statewide.
Online EMDR may be a good fit if you prefer processing from home, need flexibility, or live outside the immediate area. We use secure, HIPAA-compliant bilateral stimulation tools so EMDR remains effective and supportive—even virtually.
EMDR Therapy in Simi Valley and Nearby Communities
We offer EMDR therapy at our Simi Valley office and support clients from nearby communities including Moorpark, Wood Ranch, Somis, and Santa Rosa Valley.
You can explore the additional communities we serve on our Areas We Serve page.
Your Next Steps
Towards Healing
If you’re carrying something heavy—something that still lives in your body or emotions—EMDR may be the path that helps it finally soften.
Step 1
Reach out to our team
Step 2
Get thoughtfully matched with the right
EMDR therapist
Step 3
Begin a trauma-informed, relational healing process designed around you
You don’t have to carry this alone.
We’re here to walk with you.