EMDR Therapy in Tallahassee FL

Maria Inoa

Certified EMDR Therapist
Tallahassee FL

Maria Inoa - Certified EMDR Therapist

Hi! I’m Maria Inoa. I’m a certified EMDR therapist in Tallahassee, Florida and have been helping women lead more fulfilling lives for 19 years.

I have extensive experience in attachment, trauma, anxiety, brain science, inner child healing, and more. I can help you heal old wounds, extinguish negative beliefs, develop healthy boundaries, and learn to love yourself more than you ever have.

Schedule a Free EMDR Consultation

To get started, reach out to schedule your first session or to set up your free 15-minute consultation call.

The Difference an Experienced EMDR Therapist Makes

Choosing an EMDR-certified therapist ensures that your clinician has completed advanced training and supervision beyond basic EMDR instruction. Certification reflects a higher level of competency in working with trauma, complex trauma, dissociation, and attachment wounds.

Working with a certified EMDR therapist in Tallahassee allows you to receive trauma-informed care from someone trained to guide the reprocessing process safely and effectively.

About EMDR Therapy in Tallahassee

EMDR therapy stands for Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing. Though it’s been around for a couple of decades, it has been growing more and more in popularity in recent years. EMDR uses brain science to heal people from the trauma they've experienced.

EMDR is different from regular talk therapy. You are not required to talk about the distressing events you have experienced. Instead, it uses your brain’s natural healing abilities to lessen the negative memory. EMDR is based on utilizing both the right and left brain to process traumatic memories more healthily. To learn more about EMDR visit www.emdria.org.

Though the memory cannot be changed, the effects of the traumatic event can be decreased. We can reduce emotions, beliefs, sensations, and triggers so that you feel more free.

Benefits of EMDR Treatment

EMDR sessions help to decrease the intensity of distressing emotions, sensations, and triggers connected to traumatic life events. Even traumatic events from years and years ago can be reprocessed in your brain and body, allowing you to feel more stress reduction.

EMDR cannot erase memories from bad life experiences, but it can help your brain and body reprocess the event so that it feels much less bothersome when you think about it. Even those with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and complex trauma can find healing through EMDR therapy work.

Through these therapeutic approaches, clients find themselves less reactive and able to experience more peace and joy in life. As you feel less triggered and calmer internally, you will notice that your relationships will improve as well.

What Happens During a Free EMDR Consultation?

During your free 15-minute consultation, we will briefly discuss what brings you to therapy, your goals, and whether EMDR therapy is the right fit for your needs. This call is an opportunity to ask questions and get a sense of whether working together feels supportive and aligned.

EMDR Eliminates Triggers

EMDR sessions are an effective treatment for eliminating triggers that tend to haunt us from our traumatic memories. Even those with post traumatic stress disorder and complex trauma can find healing through trauma therapy. Through the core of EMDR treatment, bilateral stimulation techniques, your body is able to release trapped emotions and sensations that connect to past traumatic life events. Through this therapeutic process, your brain is given the chance to process distressing memories allowing them to be stored in our brains in a healthier way.

EMDR treatment is not just helpful for past trauma and distressing memories but also relational trauma, panic attacks, anxiety disorders, personality disorders, depression, phobias, chronic illness, grief and loss, and more.

Maria Inoa

Certified EMDR Therapist
Tallahassee FL

Finding the Right EMDR Therapist in Tallahassee, FL

Qualifications to Look For

The EMDR certification process requires that the therapist meet with an approved EMDR supervisor (referred to as an EMDR consultant) for 20 hours and complete at least 50 hours of EMDR sessions. In addition, therapists must complete 12 hours of continuing education credits.

Certification ensures the therapist knows how to properly deliver EMDR to clients with traumatic experiences, including clients with post-traumatic stress disorder and complex trauma. Certification also ensures that the therapist keeps their skills sharp by requiring certified therapists to complete 12 continuing education credits and renew their certification every two years.

I highly recommend finding an EMDR-certified therapist instead of just one who has undergone basic EMDR training. The difference in the skill level is vast. I speak of this from my experience as a trained and now certified EMDR therapist in the state of Florida.

Questions to Ask Potential EMDR Therapists

When you speak to a therapist that you are interested in working with, you may want to ask them any or all of the following questions to figure out if they're the right therapist for you:

When did they receive their basic EMDR training?
Are they an EMDR certified therapist?
How many years of experience do they have as a therapist?
How much of their practice involves EMDR treatment?
Are they familiar with dissociative disorders?
What traumas do they specialize in treating?
What issues or traumas do they not treat?
How would they describe their approach to trauma therapy?
Do they use other approaches, such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy?

What to Expect During EMDR Sessions

Duration and Frequency of Therapy

The frequency of EMDR trauma therapy is typically weekly to start. The longer the time between sessions, the longer it takes to complete the healing process.

Weekly therapy sessions require a significant commitment from the client. Like any therapy, EMDR treatment is an investment in yourself. Sessions may be weekly at first, but can move to every other week depending on your specific needs. The therapist and client will work together to decide on the best treatment approach for the client.

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing therapy can take roughly 8-10 sessions to address a single traumatic event. This can vary from client to client. Many traumatic events are similar, and therefore, once you resolve one, the other traumatic memories lessen in their emotional intensity.

In my experience, six months is the average time needed to complete a basic EMDR treatment plan. However, if you are someone who has more complex trauma or a dissociative disorder, you will want to plan for more time. Again, this can vary from client to client and your overall treatment goals.

Get Started with EMDR Therapy in Tallahassee, FL

To get started, fill out the form below. I’ll reach out to schedule a time to chat and make sure I’m the best fit for you and your concerns.

Our first session is 90 minutes. After that, regular virtual sessions are 60/90/120 minutes depending on what you prefer. Our first few sessions are very much about building rapport and trust and getting to know your current situation and history. We discuss what you want to get out of therapy; what your goals are. I start where you want to start. You do not have to share anything that you are not yet ready to share. We always go at a pace that is comfortable with you.

If you wanting to do deeper work, then we work together to identify areas where you have been wounded or experienced trauma. We come up with a plan for our time together.

Therapy is an investment in yourself so that you can live the life you were created to live. I utilize structured, brain-based approaches including EMDR and Ego State Therapy. My holistic approach uses attachment science and somatic healing principles. My goal is to help you find the support and healing you desire.

FAQ’s about EMDR Therapy

How EMDR Therapy Works in the Brain

EMDR therapy uses bilateral stimulation, such as eye movements or tapping, to activate both sides of the brain. This process helps the nervous system reprocess distressing memories so they are stored in a more adaptive way. Over time, memories that once caused intense emotional reactions become less disruptive, allowing you to respond to present-day situations with greater calm and clarity.

EMDR Certification vs Basic EMDR Training

While many therapists complete basic EMDR training, certification requires additional supervision, experience, and continuing education. Certified EMDR therapists are trained to work with more complex trauma presentations and to adjust the EMDR protocol to meet individual client needs safely.

What EMDR Therapy Feels Like

Many clients worry about what EMDR therapy will feel like emotionally. EMDR sessions are paced carefully and include preparation phases designed to help you feel grounded and safe throughout the process. You remain fully present and in control during sessions, and therapy always moves at a pace that feels manageable for you.