Dr. Manuel Varela

I am a licensed psychologist who works with adults experiencing anxiety, trauma, grief, relationship difficulties, and major life transitions. I specialize in EMDR and integrate Narrative Therapy, ACT, and other experiential approaches when helpful.

I believe meaningful change begins with curiosity rather than judgment. You may already understand why you react a certain way and still find yourself repeating patterns that are difficult to change. Therapy gives us an opportunity to explore not only what happened, but how those experiences continue to show up in your thoughts, emotions, body, relationships, and the stories you carry about yourself.

I see therapy as a collaborative process. I can bring clinical knowledge, questions, and different ways of approaching an experience, but you bring something equally important: your knowledge of your own life. We work together to discover what may help you move forward.

My approach is primarily grounded in EMDR, with Narrative Therapy and ACT integrated when they can deepen the work. EMDR can help us work with difficult experiences that continue to influence how you feel and react today. Narrative Therapy helps us explore the stories and beliefs that developed around those experiences, while ACT can help you respond more flexibly to difficult thoughts and emotions and move toward what matters to you.

Therapy with me is not limited to talking about what happened. We may become curious about memories, thoughts, emotions, imagery, body sensations, and meaning. I may also incorporate mindfulness, imagery, somatic or experiential practices, and clinical hypnosis when appropriate.

The goal is to reorient your relationship with the past, allowing it to remain part of your life story without having to determine what happens next.

Our first session is an opportunity for me to understand what is bringing you to therapy and for you to get a sense of what it might be like to work together. I will ask about what is happening now, what you would like to change, relevant experiences from your past, and what you hope will be different as a result of therapy.

We will begin identifying patterns and experiences that may be connected to what is keeping you stuck. If you are interested in EMDR, we can also discuss how it works, whether it may be appropriate for your concerns, and how we would prepare before beginning reprocessing.

You do not need to arrive knowing exactly what to work on or how to explain everything. We can begin with what you are noticing now and become curious together about where it leads.