Lisa Patel, LCSW

Lisa specializes in trauma and PTSD treatment using Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) — an evidence-based therapy for processing distressing memories that haven't resolved with talk therapy alone. She is EMDRIA-certified and has additional training in perinatal mental health, with experience treating postpartum depression and birth trauma.

Lisa's typical EMDR course runs 8 to 12 sessions of 60 to 90 minutes, with the early sessions focused on history-taking and stabilization before any reprocessing begins. Patients who come to Lisa often have a history of trying talk therapy without enough relief — the structured, body-aware nature of EMDR reaches material that pure verbal processing sometimes can't. For perinatal patients, Lisa integrates EMDR with grief work and with the mother-infant relational dynamics that surface after a difficult birth.

Lisa works with adults and accepts both in-person visits at the Eatontown office and telehealth across New Jersey. EMDR works well over telehealth for many patients; Lisa will tell you if your specific situation calls for in-person sessions instead. She accepts most major commercial insurance and several NJ FamilyCare Medicaid MCOs.