EMDR & telehealth FAQs.

Online therapy, or telehealth, is psychotherapy delivered through a secure video connection rather than an in-person office visit. Beneath the Surface Therapy is 100% telehealth. Clinical appointments are for adults physically located in California.

The practice focuses on private-pay individual EMDR intensives, with professional EMDR consultation offered separately for clinicians.

You must be physically located in California at the time of each psychotherapy session. I am licensed as a Marriage and Family Therapist in California, and my current psychotherapy services are limited to clients who are in California during their appointments.

Your home address or California residency does not replace the physical-location requirement.

Please tell me before your appointment if you will be outside California. Under my current practice arrangements, we will not hold a psychotherapy session while you are outside the state. We can discuss scheduling and continuity-of-care needs in advance.

This location policy applies to psychotherapy. Professional consultation for clinicians is a separate service.

No. The address below is for business mailing correspondence only:

No in-person appointments, office visits, or home visits are offered. Psychotherapy takes place through telehealth.

EMDR—Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing—is a structured psychotherapy for working with distressing memories and their associated beliefs, emotions, body sensations, and triggers. An intensive provides longer, focused treatment blocks instead of shorter weekly appointments.

My formats are three hours, five hours, or three five-hour days. The plan can include assessment, preparation, processing, breaks, closure, and integration. Longer appointments do not guarantee faster results or replace months of care for every person.

Read the EMDR guide.

An intensive may fit an adult seeking focused work on a distressing experience, a recurring trigger, or a persistent emotional pattern. It can also be considered as an adjunct to an existing therapy relationship or when a concentrated schedule is more workable.

Fit depends on assessment, readiness, current circumstances, support, and the concerns being addressed—not simply a desire for rapid relief or a busy schedule. Some people need additional preparation, more gradual treatment, or another level of support.

We meet through a secure video connection. Before processing begins, we review your setup, how we will communicate, your options for pausing, and any visual or bilateral-stimulation tools that are appropriate to the treatment plan.

We build in breaks for comfort, screen fatigue, and clinical pacing. The reserved block is not continuous trauma processing, and you do not need to learn or practice a treatment technique on your own beforehand.

Not necessarily. Enough information is needed for responsible assessment and treatment planning, but detailed verbal retelling is not always required during processing. You may identify a memory, image, belief, or body response without narrating every detail aloud.

You still need to be able to communicate what you notice and when the pace or plan needs to change. The aim is integration, not erasing the fact that something happened.

Preparation includes discussing a pause or stop signal and how we will respond if you feel overwhelmed, detached, numb, or unable to continue. Your request to pause or stop is respected.

We may slow down, narrow the focus, take a break, or return to preparation and grounding. The purpose is not to push through distress at any cost.

That cannot be promised in advance. Some concerns have a focused starting point; interconnected or developmental trauma may need additional preparation and a sequence of sessions. Progress and remaining needs are reviewed rather than measured against a promised number of completed targets.

Closure and integration planning are part of the clinical work. The timing, scope, and cost of any separately scheduled follow-up are specified in your written treatment plan. With your authorization, coordination with an existing therapist may also be appropriate.

It may be considered when it fits your assessment, treatment goals, and informed preferences. Flash is a clinician-guided intervention connected to EMDR, but it is not the complete eight-phase EMDR treatment by itself.

You do not need to choose Flash before inquiring. It is not a separate guaranteed component, a self-treatment exercise, or a promise of distress-free processing.

Read the Flash Technique guide.

For an EMDR intensive, please use a laptop or desktop computer—not a phone—with a working camera and microphone, reliable internet, and a screen you can see comfortably. This supports the visual setup and any clinically selected on-screen tools.

Keep the device charged or plugged in. Tell me about accessibility needs or equipment limitations before booking so we can consider an appropriate arrangement.

Arrange a private room where interruptions are minimized for the full appointment. Use a comfortable, supported seat, headphones, and a stable surface for your computer. Have water or tea, a journal, and familiar grounding or comfort items nearby, such as a blanket.

Plan for breaks and let me know about caregiving, sensory, physical, or privacy needs in advance. We review preparation together; you do not need to begin trauma processing before the appointment.

Use the secure video link and setup instructions provided for your appointment. The practice uses a SimplePractice client portal for clinical paperwork and billing; follow your appointment confirmation for the video connection and any additional setup.

Any required technology should be discussed before the intensive. A public website inquiry is not a video appointment or a confirmed booking.

Open the current client portal (opens in a new tab).

Sessions require a private, stationary setting where you can participate without being overheard or interrupted. Do not join while driving or operating a vehicle. A public place is not appropriate for intensive trauma work.

For a multi-hour intensive, plan to use a private room rather than a vehicle. A private office may be workable when it offers adequate privacy and comfort. Discuss any limitations before the appointment rather than assuming a location will be suitable.

Before an intensive, the reconnection and backup-contact plan needs to be agreed as part of your telehealth arrangements. If we disconnect during processing, pause and follow those instructions rather than continue on your own.

A phone contact may help us reconnect or decide on next steps; it is not an automatic agreement to complete the intensive by audio only. Any change to the remaining appointment time is handled according to the clinical situation and your written service terms.

Psychotherapy is subject to professional confidentiality duties and their applicable limits, which are explained in your clinical consent and privacy documents. Telehealth also requires attention to privacy at both ends of the connection.

Choose a space where others cannot overhear you, protect your appointment link, and tell me about any privacy concern. A secure platform reduces certain risks; it does not make every device, setting, or connection risk-free.

Use the practice’s SimplePractice client portal for requested clinical paperwork rather than the general website form. The practice’s clinical privacy documents explain how information is collected, accessed, stored, and retained, and which systems are used for your care.

Protect your account and device access. Please do not send detailed health information, clinical records, or completed personal worksheets through a general contact form or ordinary email.

No. Beneath the Surface Therapy is an entirely private-pay practice. I do not accept or bill insurance, and I do not work directly with insurance panels.

You are responsible for the agreed fees. Any attempt to obtain out-of-network reimbursement is separate from payment to the practice.

Three-hour EMDR intensive

$675

Five-hour EMDR intensive

$1,125

Three five-hour intensive days

$3,375

Professional EMDR consultation · 60 minutes

$225

Intensive prices are for the reserved blocks. Any separately scheduled assessment, preparation, or integration follow-up, and its fee, must be specified in your written plan rather than assumed included.

Payment is managed through SimplePractice, which accepts credit and debit cards. Review the intensive service page or clinician consultation details.

For standard psychotherapy services, I can provide a monthly superbill. For an EMDR intensive, please ask what documentation can be provided before booking and check your own out-of-network benefits.

A superbill does not guarantee coverage or reimbursement. Coverage depends on the actual service and your plan’s requirements. Professional consultation is not your personal psychotherapy and is not billed as a psychotherapy service. Superbill availability does not add a new weekly-therapy offering to the practice.

For EMDR intensives, please provide at least 72 hours’ notice. Less than 72 hours’ notice incurs a charge of 30% of the total reserved intensive fee.

Consultation and any separately scheduled appointments are governed by their own written agreement. Review the terms before reserving time. This FAQ does not introduce an automatic extension, refund, or fee waiver for technology interruptions.

A free 15-minute introductory consultation about EMDR intensive care may be offered after I review your brief prescreener. It is an opportunity to discuss the format, initial fit, and next steps—not a therapy session or full clinical assessment.

This introductory call is different from paid professional EMDR consultation for clinicians. Start with the EMDR prescreener (opens SimplePractice in a new tab).

Complete the brief EMDR prescreener first. I review it and, when appropriate, invite you to the introductory call. If we decide to proceed, the next steps include clinical paperwork through the client portal, assessment and preparation, a written plan and fees, and an agreed appointment schedule.

Submitting a form does not book a call, confirm acceptance, or establish a therapist-client relationship. For new treatment inquiries, the practice focuses on individual intensives rather than open-ended weekly psychotherapy.

Consultation is for EMDR-trained licensed therapists and registered associates seeking focused discussion of their clinical use of EMDR, case conceptualization, preparation, pacing, target sequencing, and clinical decision-making. Please identify your licensure or registration, training stage, and learning goals when you inquire.

I offer this professional case consultation as an EMDRIA Certified Therapist. It is not a basic-training consultation program, credentialing-hour service, or substitute for required clinical supervision.

No. The California-only psychotherapy policy does not automatically apply to professional consultation. Clinicians in California and other U.S. states may inquire about consultation.

We review your location, professional role, training, and the requested scope before agreeing to work. Consultation is not personal psychotherapy, clinical supervision, or authorization to practice beyond your own license or registration.

We meet virtually to review de-identified cases, consider assessment and preparation, refine target sequencing, and troubleshoot clinical decisions or stalled processing within the standard eight-phase EMDR approach.

Bring a focused clinical question and relevant, non-identifying context. Sessions are collaborative and directed toward your learning goals. Individual consultation is $225 for 60 minutes.

No. Consultation is professional learning and case discussion; it does not replace required supervision or create a therapist-client relationship with the consultee. You retain responsibility for your clients, clinical decisions, and applicable professional obligations.

The agreement clarifies roles, confidentiality, documentation, fees, and the purpose of the consultation.

No. I am an EMDRIA Certified Therapist, not an EMDRIA Approved Consultant or Consultant in Training (CIT). My consultation is focused professional case consultation, not EMDRIA credentialing consultation.

These sessions do not fulfill EMDR basic-training consultation requirements, EMDRIA certification consultation hours, or consultation-of-consultation requirements for Approved Consultant status.

For required hours, arrange consultation with a provider eligible for your specific training program or EMDRIA pathway.

Yes, by prior arrangement and only when the required recording and disclosure permissions, client consent, and a suitable secure review method have been established. The purpose and handling of the recording should be agreed before it is shared.

Do not send recordings, client records, or identifying case information through the website form or ordinary email. Audio and video may still identify a client even when names are removed. When a secure, appropriately authorized review cannot be arranged, use a de-identified verbal or written case presentation instead.