Bay Area · Online throughout California
EMDR & Brainspotting Intensives in the Bay Area
Longer, personalized sessions with time to prepare, process, and find your footing. Centering women of color and queer and trans people of color.
About the format
Intensives use longer appointments, with room for preparation, focused processing, grounding, and closure. You and your clinician decide together what pace and structure make sense for the work you want to do.
What’s included
Guided preparation, an individualized treatment plan, and a personalized electronic client workbook to help you notice patterns, clarify goals, and prepare. Your clinician also works with you around pacing and grounding.
Who we center
Women of color and queer and trans people of color. We make room for family, culture, migration, community, faith, race, gender, and the expectations that shape what you carry.
Is it right for me?
An intensive may be worth exploring if you want focused time around a particular experience or pattern, or if fewer, longer appointments fit your life better. A consultation can help you decide whether this format suits your needs.
More time. More room for you.
When being the dependable one leaves little room for you
You may recognize yourself in some of these experiences:
Your stability supports more than your own life.
You help with bills, translate difficult conversations, manage family decisions, or become the person everyone calls. You want to remain connected without being permanently available.
You can explain the pattern and still get pulled into it.
You understand why you overprepare, avoid disappointing people, or take responsibility for someone else’s emotions. That understanding hasn’t always changed what happens in the moment.
Your choices bring freedom and complicated feelings.
Earning more, moving away, choosing a partner, living openly, or wanting a different kind of family life can bring questions about loyalty, gratitude, and belonging.
You want relationships with more room for honesty.
You may want to respond differently with your partner, children, parents, or colleagues. You want space to consider what you inherited, what you value, and what you want to carry forward.
You’ve done a lot of work on yourself. These moments still happen.
An intensive may be worth exploring when you want to focus more deeply on a specific pattern, relationship, or experience without starting over from the beginning.
Focused time for a pattern, relationship, or experience that still feels hard.
Tap a moment to read more.
Family calls pull you back in.
You’ve practiced boundaries. Then a parent calls, and you’re explaining your choices, managing their disappointment, or saying yes when you don’t have room.
Rest still feels irresponsible.
You’ve built financial stability, yet keep working past your limits. Your family’s sacrifices and the people who need you can make rest feel complicated.
Familiar reactions take over.
You recognize the pattern. Still, a partner’s disappointment can leave you going quiet, defending yourself, or rushing to repair things before you know what you feel.
You keep explaining the context.
You’ve spent therapy sessions explaining family obligation, racism at work, or how boundaries can affect belonging, caregiving, and financial support.
Starting over feels exhausting.
You want your therapist to take seriously what you’ve already tried, what helped, and what left you feeling misunderstood.
Bring that history with you.
Your assessment is a chance to identify the issue or pattern you want to focus on most deeply and build a program around it. Together, you and your therapist can decide how much preparation you need, what pace feels appropriate, and whether focused EMDR or Brainspotting work fits your needs now. You do not have to arrive convinced that an intensive is the answer.
Together, we’ll consider what you’ve already tried, choose a focus, and plan a pace that fits. You don’t have to be certain an intensive is right for you.
Our approach
Your whole story belongs here.
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Wider conditions
Migration · racism · financial insecurity
Gender expectations · exclusion -
Mixed feelings
Grief · anger · affection
Obligation · ambivalence -
Connection on your terms
No pressure to forgive, reconcile,
or cut ties.
Understanding the context doesn’t erase the harm.
Meet the therapists behind your care
The person you work with matters. Explore our therapists’ approaches to family patterns, cultural identity, and the relationships that shape your life. Our care coordinator can help you identify who offers the format and availability you need.
She/her · Founder & CEO
Vanessa Solis, LCSW
Vanessa works with women of color and queer and trans leaders of color navigating intergenerational trauma, self-doubt, and the responsibility of supporting families and communities. Her approach brings cultural humility and attention to systemic barriers into conversations about worth, belonging, and choice.
Approaches: EMDR and Brainspotting intensives. Certified practitioner and consultant in both modalities.
View Vanessa’s Full Profile
She/her · Lead Clinician & Clinical Supervisor
Jessica Hernandez, LCSW
Jessica supports people exploring grief, trauma, identity, and the expectations carried across generations. Her work includes first- and second-generation clients and queer and trans people of color navigating family and cultural relationships. She brings a grounding, relational style with room for humor, creativity, and honest reflection.
Approaches: EMDR, parts work, and relational therapy.
View Jessica’s Full Profile
She/her · Clinical Therapist
Monique Jacobo-Evans, LCSW
Monique works with Black women, Pinay women, and first-generation clients navigating family expectations, motherhood, and the pressure to hold everything together. Her culturally attuned approach makes space for your needs alongside the roles and relationships that matter to you.
Approaches: Brainspotting, narrative therapy, and relational care.
View Monique’s Full Profile
They/them · Associate Marriage and Family Therapist
AJ Johnson, AMFT
AJ supports queer, trans, and neurodivergent people of color exploring attachment wounds, family-of-origin experiences, and recurring relationship patterns. They bring warmth, directness, and humor to collaborative work that makes room for identity, connection, and the conditions surrounding your life.
Approaches: EMDR and somatic approaches.
View AJ’s Full ProfileWant help finding a fit?
Ask our care coordinator about intensive providers, appointment formats, fees, and current availability.
The intensive format
Focused time. A plan around you.
Longer EMDR or Brainspotting sessions, with time to prepare, process, and integrate around your goals.
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Assessment
A 90-minute intake to identify your focus.
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Focused sessions
A tailored plan with 90-minute or, where available, 3-hour sessions.
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Integration
Reflect on changes and decide what support comes next.
Your personalized workbook
Guided reflections and assessments help you and your therapist identify patterns, resources, and goals before your sessions.
Your therapist helps set the pace. Progress varies from person to person.
Fees & availability
- Intake 90 minutes
- $225–$475
- Intensive session 90 minutes
- $350–$475
- Extended session 3 hours
- $450–$950 Subject to availability
Rates vary by clinician. Your care coordinator confirms availability, total cost, and what’s included before you begin.
Payment & reimbursement
Check out-of-network coverage and session lengths with your insurer. Reimbursement isn’t guaranteed. Our team can explain available reimbursement documentation.
Online or in person?
Online throughout California. Limited in-person availability. Confirm the location and clinician during your consultation.
Start with a conversation about fit
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Speak with our client care coordinator
Tell us what you’re looking for. Ask about clinicians, appointment options, and likely costs.
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Meet with your therapist for an assessment
Explore whether an intensive fits your current needs, what preparation may be useful, and what you hope to focus on.
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Agree on a plan
Decide together on the schedule and approach. If weekly therapy or additional support would be more appropriate, that belongs in the discussion too.
Questions you may be weighing
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You can bring what you’ve learned in previous therapy, along with what continues to feel difficult. During assessment, your therapist will help you consider whether an intensive offers an appropriate next step.
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No. Discuss your goals and questions with your therapist first. They can explain the approaches they offer and how their recommendations relate to your needs.
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You can understand what your family lived through and acknowledge what hurt you. Therapy offers room to examine both, while considering what you need in your relationships now.
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Decisions about contact, closeness, and boundaries belong to you. Your therapist can support you in examining your options, safety, responsibilities, and the consequences that matter in your life.
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Tell us about your existing care when you reach out. We can discuss whether the formats would work together and whether coordination with your therapist would be appropriate, with your permission.
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Your schedule depends on your treatment plan. Discuss appointment time, preparation, travel, and room to rest or reflect afterward before committing to dates.
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Intergenerational trauma can involve many experiences and ongoing conditions. An intensive may focus on particular concerns within that larger story. Outcomes vary, and continued support may be useful.
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No. Intensives create more focused time for therapy, but they do not guarantee that every concern will be resolved within a set number of appointments. Your experience will depend on your history, goals, readiness, and what comes up during the work. For some people, an intensive may be one focused part of a longer healing process.
What would you like to have more choice about?
How you respond to conflict. What you take responsibility for. What closeness asks of you. How much of your life is organized around avoiding someone else’s disappointment.
You can bring those questions to a free consultation, along with practical questions about time, cost, and therapist fit.
EMDR & Brainspotting intensives in the Bay Area and online throughout California.
Ready to Get Started?
Our Client Care Coordinator is ready to connect you with a therapist who is the best fit for you, your unique experience, needs and goals.
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