Emily Nayar (She/her)

I've worked extensively with survivors of intimate partner violence as a community based advocate, including working with individuals and educating community partners on violence within relationships. I recognize the impact of ALL forms of abuse, including psychological and emotional abuse, and know that healing from these relationships (whether from an intimate partner, parents, siblings, or friends), can take many years and specialized therapeutic approaches.

I have worked with survivors of sexual trauma for over a decade, both as a therapist and as a community based advocate. I recognize the unique challenges healing from sexual based trauma, and believe that building a unique treatment plan for you and your individual needs is essential when creating a working partnership with your therapist.

I have worked for my entire career with survivors of trauma, including intimate partner violence, sexual abuse, human trafficking, as well as working closely with the refugee community. I understand that healing from one time event traumas as well as experiencing chronic trauma hold their own unique challenges, and I work to partner with each of my clients on where they are at in their healing process.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is, in my opinion, one of the building blocks of most therapeutic practices. I am certified in Trauma Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT), CBT+, as well as the Comment Elements Treatment Approach (CETA). If this is your first time in therapy, I find CBT helpful in building understanding around mental health disorders and tools in how to help your brain work for you.

I am certified in EMDR, which means that I've spent a lot of time and training learning this therapy modality! EMDR is especially effective for intrusive thoughts, memories, flashbacks, and nightmares, and I've seen clients have amazing moments of healing when using EMDR. I'm happy to discuss with each client the benefits and drawbacks to using EMDR on their specific symptoms and how EMDR could work for them.

If you're a survivor of trauma, my guess is that you've tried talk therapy, probably with mixed results. The problem with using talk therapy exclusively when treating trauma is that talking about trauma (as I'm sure you've found) isn't particularly helpful and often leaves people feeling empty and lost. I use several different therapeutic approaches that are targeted to help heal the parts of your brain that are still feeling the affects of the past.