Katy O'Donnell LMFT, RN
424-272-6395
EMDR / PSYCHOTHERAPY
License # 115659
"I am not what happened to me, I am what I choose to become."
-- C. G. Jung
People seek therapy for many different reasons. Many of us have struggled in silence with feelings of insecurity, anxiety, depression, or loneliness. Sometimes the body becomes ill or relationships fail, leading us to deeper questions about our life. We may feel stuck in patterns that we don’t understand and do not know how to overcome. These symptoms can often be rooted in early traumatic life experiences.
Trauma in childhood can sometimes be hard to identify, but it can leave us with a gnawing feeling that there is something wrong with us. There are ways of healing that allow the residual effects of these experiences to subside – giving us the freedom to live a happier life. Recent research on brain function has provided us with cutting edge therapies that are powerful and effective. When experienced in an atmosphere of safety, warmth, and caring, they are transformative.
My Approach
My own story is one of growth and healing through my struggle with the impact of trauma and illness. After much personal work, education, training, and professional experience, I consider it an honor to support and guide others on their own unique path toward healing and wholeness.
I interweave scientifically based techniques that are at the forefront of trauma therapy including EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing), Somatic Therapy, Mindfulness and Psychodynamic Therapy, based on the unique needs of each person. Art, poetry, and dream work may also be utilized to access the unconscious and those repressed parts of ourselves where love and pain have been hidden.
Through my multidisciplinary work with health issues as a registered nurse and therapist, I have often found that when we chronically repress emotions, the body communicates with us through pain and illness. Serious illness can be devastating -- stripping us of our identities and bringing into question everything we have ever believed about ourselves and the world. Time and time again I have seen serious illness become a gateway for transformation.
Sometimes everything has to be inscribed across the heavens
so you can find the one line already written inside you.
― From The Journey,
Therapy
EMDR
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing is powerful because it works. It is an effective way of treating issues like anxiety, panic attacks, phobias, depression and PTSD. It supports the brain's natural processing of stored memories. Traumatic experiences can be trapped in the brain as inadequately processed memories. But recent research has shown that by using bilateral stimulation we can wire new beliefs and new ways of coping with those memories so that the traumatic events no longer have to be experienced as disturbing. Reprocessing can happen very quickly. EMDR is an empowering method of healing because the client is in control and it is their own brain that does the healing.
This is incredibly exciting news. It means that we aren't held captive for the rest of our lives by the way our brain works at this moment---we can actually rewire it so that we can be healthier and happier.
Dan Siegel & Tina Payne Bryson,
The Whole Brain Child
Video introduction to EMDR
PSYCHODYNAMIC THERAPY
Psychodynamic Therapy and EMDR are powerful and necessary therapeutic allies. It is a way of looking deeply into the root causes of symptoms so lasting healing can take place.
We learn as children what to expect from relationships and from the world by the quality of our relationships with our primary caregivers. Learning to slow down and mindfully pay attention to our inner world, we can begin to experience greater self understanding, self compassion, and greater freedom. Through a trusting, warm and caring environment, the relationship between the client and the therapist becomes a vehicle for healing. When working together we may utilize art, literature, poetry, images, and dreams to bring what is locked in our unconscious up into consciousness. In doing this, we are able to release ways of thinking and behaving that no longer serve us. “Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate.”
- C. G. Jung
About
Katy earned her master’s in Spiritual Psychology from the University of Santa Monica and her master’s in Counseling Psychology with an emphasis in Depth Psychology from Pacifica Graduate Institute. She is a Registered Nurse with a background in Emergency Nursing and Oncology. IKaty has explored Yoga, Buddhist meditation and Jungian psychology privately for over 20 years. With a Bachelor's Degree in Fine Art from Loyola Marymount University, she has integrated art into her personal exploration of trauma. She has worked at the Cancer Support Community providing individual and group therapy for patients and their families dealing with the impact of illness. She is trained in somatic therapy through the Trauma Resource Institute (level 1) and is certified in Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) through EMDRIA.She works in private practice in Santa Monica.
Services
75 min. sessions:
$275
Sliding Scale is available based on
financial need.
A monthly superbill will be provided to submit to your insurance company.
Contact Me
You are welcome to call or email here
for a free phone consultation.
