Marissa Caldarola is an EMDR-trained and certified therapist with more than seven years of clinical experience treating trauma, substance use, anxiety, and depression. She believes people have an inherent capacity for healing and self-determination, and her care is nonjudgmental and respects each client’s autonomy. She is direct and collaborative, and she works to build a relationship in which clients feel safe enough to take on difficult things and recognize their own strengths.
Marissa completed her EMDR training at the Center for Excellence in EMDR Therapy, which is accredited by the EMDR International Association (EMDRIA). EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) helps clients process traumatic memories and distressing life events in a structured way, so that those experiences lose their hold and long-held negative beliefs about oneself can shift. Marissa is also a Gottman trained couples therapist and works with couples facing communication challenges with a particular focus on the relational impact of trauma.
She earned her Master of Social Work at California State University, Long Beach, and her undergraduate degree at Manhattan College. Her background includes acute psychiatric care at Four Winds Psychiatric Hospital and school-based mental health work in several Westchester districts. She works with children, adolescents, adults, couples and families dealing with conflict and entrenched patterns.