What is Experiential Therapy and How is it Different?

How I Work

An Experiential, Body-Centered Approach to Trauma and Anxiety Therapy in Tempe, AZ & Online Across Arizona

You may have tried traditional talk therapy before—telling your story, gaining insight, even learning some helpful tools. But sometimes, talking isn’t enough.

That’s where my approach comes in. As a therapist with over 24 years of experience, I combine deep clinical training with experiential, body-based methods that help you not just understand things — but feel the shift.

Experiential therapy goes beyond just talking about your thoughts and feelings. It actively engages your emotions, body, and imagination—helping you access and process the parts of your experience that words alone can’t always reach.

Experiential therapy is especially helpful for:

  • Trauma and PTSD
  • Childhood emotional neglect or abuse
  • Anxiety, obsessive thoughts or phobias that “don’t respond to logic” or traditional therapy
  • Feeling stuck, numb, or emotionally reactive
  • Patterns that insight or understanding alone hasn’t changed

Experiential therapy gives you an experience that works with your emotions and with your body, rather than a logical explanation

Thanks to some amazing therapists older and wiser than I am, I had the opportunity to experience deep insight and transformations from experiential forms of therapy.

Each time I have felt transformative power from a type of experiential therapy, I have excitedly invested in learning to practice it myself.

Most people are smart enough to know what they should do. What people often need, is help for how they get hijacked by their emotional states.

Experiential therapy encourages you to access your emotions and sensations in your body, and then the therapist gently guides you through an EXPERIENCE in that emotional state. This guided experience allows you to let go of old, stuck emotions, access new perspectives, and access opportunities for deep healing.

Experiential therapy is a creative process grounded in extensive training and experience.

Experiential therapy works well with clients who are able to trust and step into the process and allow the therapist to guide them.

EMDR – Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing Therapy

EMDR is the most extensively researched therapy for trauma processing. Over 30 controlled studies have demonstrated it’s effectiveness for many types of psychological problems. A Kaiser Permanente study demonstrated that 100% of single-incident trauma victims and 77% of multiple trauma victims no longer met criteria for PTSD after 6 sessions.

The work you do with EMDR is permanent, the same problem does not re-occur.

EMDR helps the brain and body reprocess trauma, stuck emotions and memories. It’s especially effective for PTSD, anxiety, and childhood trauma. Clients often experience relief from long-held emotional pain without needing to retell every detail of their story.

EMDR is a powerful, research-supported method that helps people process trauma safely. I offer EMDR therapy to clients across Arizona, both in my Tempe office and online via secure telehealth.

I have over 200 hours of training and can use EMDR for many different types of problems.

The EMDR International Association FAQ page

*A VERY SERIOUS CAUTION ABOUT “SELF-GUIDED” or AI EMDR

The EMDR International Association (EMDRIA) strictly warns against self-guided or AI EMDR.

Can EMDR therapy be done without a trained EMDR therapist?

EMDR therapy is a mental health intervention. As such, it should only be offered by properly trained and licensed mental health clinicians. EMDRIA™ does not condone or support indiscriminate uses of EMDR therapy such as “do-it-yourself” virtual therapy or services which offer EMDR self-therapy without live guidance from an EMDR trained licensed therapist.

Internal Family Systems or Ego-State Therapy

Internal Family Systems is a psychodynamic therapy that is based on Ego-State Therapy. Ego-State Therapy believes every person is made up of “parts” that can be identified and understood. Parts of the self are sometimes in conflict with each other. Child parts can be frozen in the time of the trauma and not be aware of current reality. Defensive or protective parts can get in the way of your relationships and healthy functioning.

Internal Family Systems (IFS) helps you connect with the younger, protective, or reactive parts of yourself that formed in response to your experiences. IFS and Ego-State Therapy aim to integrate these parts of the self into the whole of the present self. This inner work creates space for deep healing, compassion, and self-leadership.

IFS or Ego-State Therapy is very helpful for people who have experienced childhood trauma or neglect.

Sensorimotor Psychotherapy

Sensorimotor Psychotherapy is a body-centered approach to healing trauma. It helps you become more aware of how your body holds stress, fear, and unresolved emotions—especially when words aren’t enough. By gently tracking physical sensations and movement patterns, we work together to release trauma held in the nervous system and restore a sense of safety and connection.

This body-based method helps you become aware of how trauma lives in your nervous system. Through mindful tracking of physical sensations, movement, and posture, we help your body release stuck responses like tension, shutdown, or hyper-vigilance.

Psychodrama (for Individuals)

Psychodrama is an experiential therapy that uses role play, imagination, and guided action to explore and process emotions, inner conflicts, and life experiences. In individual sessions, we use objects, movement, and guided imagery to help you explore your inner world—bringing insight and emotional release, and to safely express and process what words alone can’t reach. This powerful approach can bring clarity and a deeper connection to your authentic self.