EMDR therapy for the ones holding it all together — barely.
Healing happens in relationship. I help people move beyond survival mode and into lasting, meaningful change.
I remember exactly what it felt like to need permission to not be okay.
I'm Rachel Duvall, LICSW — a licensed clinical social worker, EMDRIA-certified EMDR therapist, parent, and a recovering people-pleaser navigating my own ADHD. I remember vividly the pressures that came with growing up as a girl in a religious community in the South. The pressure to be "good" was constant. The fear of disappointing others, of "getting it wrong," kept me stuck for years.
As a working mother, I understand the particular pressure placed on women to do everything and express nothing but gratitude. Motherhood was not what I expected — and again, I felt that old pull to perform "good," no matter the cost to myself.
Therapy gave me permission to connect to my own truth and what I actually wanted in life. It taught me it was okay to admit I wasn't okay — and to let other people help me. I learned, for the first time, how to release shame and offer myself real compassion.
I bring that same permission to my work with clients. Every part of you is welcome here — not just the parts that have it together.
Your exhaustion is not a personal failing.
Burnout, perfectionism, and chronic people-pleasing rarely come from nowhere. They're shaped by real systems: by what girls are taught is "good," by what caregivers are expected to give without receiving, by economic and professional pressure that treats rest as a luxury, and increasingly, by the quiet weight of a changing climate and a world that often feels unstable.
I bring a trauma-informed, equity-aware lens to this work — including training in climate justice, cultural competence, and systemic equity analysis. None of this replaces the deep, individual work of healing your own nervous system. It does mean you'll never be in a room with me being told that what's happening to you is simply a flaw in your character.
An integrative approach, built around all parts of you.
IFS-Informed EMDR
Parts-work woven into EMDR reprocessing — so the parts of you that protect, please, or perform are understood and included, not bypassed.
Somatic & Sensorimotor Work
Body-based techniques that help regulate a nervous system stuck in overdrive — because lasting change has to include the body, not just the story.
Expressive Arts
Drawing on my own background in theater and the arts (MFA, The National Theatre Conservatory) to access what words alone sometimes can't reach.
Outdoor Mindfulness
The Berkshires setting isn't a backdrop — it's part of the work. Grounding practices outdoors support nervous system regulation in a way an office alone cannot.
Clients Experience Therapy With Me As
License, Education & Training
MFA in Acting, The National Theatre Conservatory
MSW, New York University, Silver School of Social Work
Massachusetts, LICSW — License #120460
Florida Telehealth Provider Registration #TPSW5673
EMDR-Trained & EMDRIA-Certified, Institute for Creative Mindfulness / Mindful Journey Center
IFS-Informed EMDR, Trauma Therapist Institute
Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, Trauma Themes, Level 1
The Flash Technique, Trauma Institute & Child Trauma Institute
Climate Justice Training: Cultural Competence, Equity Analysis, Climate Science & Justice, Multicultural BRIDGE