If you visit the dropdown menu in our therapist directory, you can search for therapists who offer the modality of treatment that you’re seeking or who address the specific issue that you’re having a challenge with. For example, you can select “AEDP” from the “how we help” dropdown menu and search for associate therapists who utilize this method. If you do that today, you’ll find that we currently have three therapists who specialize in AEDP.
What Is AEDP?
Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy (AEDP) prioritizes deep emotional exploration and transformation in a safe, empathetic environment. Therapists guide clients through processing suppressed emotions, emphasizing the mind-body connection and moment-to-moment experiences. AEDP integrates experiential techniques and focuses on repairing the therapeutic relationship to foster trust and support for clients’ emotional healing.
To learn more about AEDP, you can visit our comprehensive AEDP information page. It discusses the history, principles, and techniques of AEDP, highlighting its effectiveness in addressing various emotional and psychological challenges such as trauma, anxiety, depression, and relationship issues. The article also explores how AEDP can be integrated with other therapy types to provide comprehensive and personalized treatment. Additionally, it outlines the therapist training required for practicing AEDP.
3 San Francisco Bay Area Therapists Who Specialize in AEDP
If you already know that you want to work with a therapist who specializes in AEDP, then here are three therapists that you’ll want to take a closer look at to see if they are the right fit for you:
1. Binky Mendoza
Binky Mendoza received her MA in Somatic Psychology from the California Institute of Integral Studies in 2020. She engages in ongoing professional development including AEDP training. She helps people to recognize and process unprocessed emotions, and to understand the impact of accumulated stress and overwhelming experiences on one’s life and relationships.
In addition to AEDP, her therapeutic modalities include ANS Regulation Techniques, attachment, and dance/movement therapy, which align well with AEDP. For example, incorporating ANS Regulation Techniques into AEDP can help clients regulate their physiological responses to emotional experiences, promoting a sense of safety and calmness during the therapeutic process. By calming the nervous system, clients may find it easier to engage in emotional exploration and processing, leading to deeper insights and healing.
Likewise, incorporating dance/movement therapy techniques allows clients to access emotions and experiences that may be difficult to verbalize. Movement can serve as a gateway to deeper emotional processing, bypassing cognitive defenses and accessing unconscious material. By engaging in movement-based activities, clients may tap into embodied experiences and nonverbal communication, facilitating emotional expression and integration.
Learn more about working with Binky Mendoza.
2. Maureen “Eula Lys” Backman
Eula Lys has a Masters in Integral Counseling Psychology from the California Institute of Integral Studies as well as an MS in Rehabilitation Psychology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. They “believe therapy should be accessible to all minds and bodies and welcome your access needs.” They bring an openness to the work that includes support for neurodiversity, couples who “don’t fit a mold” and all of the parts of you.
In addition to AEDP, their therapeutic modalities include attachment, EFT, Gestalt, Hakomi and Humanistic therapy. These also align well with AEDP. Some of the similarities that you might find between them:
- AEDP and EFT share a common focus on emotions and relationships. Both approaches emphasize the importance of creating a secure therapeutic relationship as a catalyst for emotional healing and transformation.
- Gestalt Therapy and AEDP share a holistic approach to therapy, emphasizing the integration of mind, body, and emotions. Both approaches encourage clients to explore their present-moment experiences and take responsibility for their thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.
- Hakomi and AEDP both incorporate mindfulness and somatic awareness into the therapeutic process. Both approaches recognize the importance of the mind-body connection in emotional healing and growth.
- AEDP shares core principles with Humanistic Therapy, including the belief in the innate capacity for growth and self-actualization. Both approaches prioritize the client’s subjective experience and emphasize the importance of the therapeutic relationship.
Learn more about working with Maureen “Eula Lys” Backman.
3. Amy Merickel
Amy says, “Our emotions reveal us to ourselves—they tell us what’s important to us and how we’re impacted by the world. Ignoring emotions leads to stress, disconnection from ourselves, and difficulty finding joy and meaning. I can support you not only in bringing awareness and curiosity to your thoughts and feelings as they unfold, but also in listening to how your body can inform you.”
In addition to AEDP, her therapeutic modalities include attachment, experiential, mindfulness, relational, sensorimotor, somatic, and trauma-informed therapy. Some of the similarities that these other approaches have with AEDP include:
- Through experiential techniques such as imagery, guided visualization, and role-play, AEDP encourages clients to engage with their emotions in real-time, fostering deeper insight and transformation.
- Mindfulness can be integrated into AEDP as a means of enhancing self-awareness and emotional regulation.
- Similar to relational therapy approaches, AEDP focuses on creating a secure and empathetic therapeutic environment where clients feel safe to explore and process their emotions.
- AEDP can incorporate sensorimotor techniques to help clients access and process emotions stored in the body. By paying attention to bodily sensations and movements, AEDP facilitates deeper emotional processing and integration, leading to profound healing and transformation.
- AEDP is a trauma-informed approach to therapy, recognizing the impact of trauma on emotional regulation and relational patterns.
Learn more about working with Amy Merickel.
Attachment and AEDP
As you can see, all three of these San Francisco Bay Area AEDP therapists also practice attachment.
By exploring attachment dynamics within the therapeutic relationship, therapists help clients gain insight into how early attachment experiences have shaped their emotional world and relational patterns. This exploration allows clients to identify and understand attachment wounds that may be contributing to their current struggles and difficulties. Through the process of healing attachment wounds, clients can experience profound emotional healing and growth, as they learn to reframe their internal working models of self and others and cultivate more secure attachment patterns.
Additionally, therapists skilled in both AEDP and attachment theory work with clients to cultivate secure attachment within themselves and their relationships. By providing a safe and supportive therapeutic environment, therapists help clients develop greater emotional regulation, empathy, and intimacy, which are essential components of secure attachment. Through this process, clients learn to form healthier and more fulfilling relationships, leading to enhanced emotional well-being and resilience.
Everyone’s therapeutic needs and experience will be unique and your therapist will work with you to find the path that is specifically right for you. Contact us today for an appointment.