How I work in session
Treatment methods.
EMDR, Brainspotting, and integrative therapy
Treatment methods with Amanda McBee, Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT), are the evidence-based tools I draw on in trauma, anxiety, and relationship therapy, offered in person in Rancho Cordova and by telehealth across California, with clients in Folsom and the Sacramento Metro East area.
These are the tools I draw on in the work. The therapy itself is conversational by default; the methods come in as the work calls for them.
How I think about modalities
I take an integrative, evidence-based approach. In practice, that means I draw on cognitive behavioral therapy, EMDR, Brainspotting, schema therapy, psychodynamic and trauma-focused work, solution-focused approaches, and a person-centered baseline, choosing the methods that fit the person and the work in front of us. I think of modalities as tools I use rather than as a single identity that defines this practice, and most sessions blend several of them without naming each one explicitly.
Person-centered, integrative baseline
Person-centered therapy assumes that the client brings the most important information into the room, and that the clinician's role is to make space for that. It is the baseline I work from regardless of what other tools are in use.
Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)
CBT is structured work on the relationship between thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. I draw on it when the work calls for direct change to specific thinking patterns or behavioral cycles, particularly with anxiety, perfectionism, and rumination.
EMDR
EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) is a structured therapy with a substantial evidence base for trauma and trauma-related anxiety. I bring it in when the work needs to address specific traumatic memories or stuck nervous-system responses that talk therapy alone has not moved.
Brainspotting
Brainspotting is a body-aware trauma therapy that uses focused attention to access and process material that lives below ordinary language. I bring it in when EMDR is not the right fit or when the work needs a slower, more body-led approach.
Schema therapy
Schema therapy works with long-standing relational and emotional patterns that formed early in life and keep showing up in adult relationships. I draw on it in codependency work, family-of-origin work, and recurring relationship patterns.
Psychodynamic therapy
Psychodynamic therapy works with how early relationships, unconscious patterns, and longer-running emotional dynamics shape present-day experience. I draw on psychodynamic thinking in much of the deeper relational and family-of-origin work.
Trauma-focused therapy
Trauma-focused therapy is an umbrella for the parts of the work that address how past traumatic experiences, including developmental and relational trauma, are showing up in the present. In practice it blends with EMDR, Brainspotting, and schema therapy rather than standing alone.
Solution-focused brief therapy
Solution-focused work focuses on building from existing strengths and small achievable changes. I draw on it when the work needs to stay close to specific present-day goals and incremental wins.
Strength-based and positive psychology
Strength-based and positive psychology approaches focus on what is already working and what brings meaning and resilience. These are typically interwoven into the broader work rather than used as standalone modalities.
Where these show up in the work
The modalities above shape how the work happens across all of my specialty areas. If you want to see how they fit a specific theme, these pages go into more detail:
Common questions
Common questions about treatment methods.
How do you decide which method to use?
I start with you, not the method. As I get to know what you are dealing with and how you respond, I draw on whichever approach fits, and that often shifts over the course of the work.
Do I need to know which method I want?
No. Most people come in describing what is hard, not a technique. Choosing the approach is my job, and we can always talk through it together.
What is the difference between EMDR and Brainspotting?
Both help the nervous system process experiences that still feel stuck, using slightly different entry points. I can walk you through how each one works and whether either is a fit.
Where do you offer these treatment methods?
I work with people in person at my office in Rancho Cordova, and by secure telehealth anywhere in California. That means I can use the same approaches whether you are in Folsom, the Sacramento Metro East area, or somewhere else in the state.
Take the first step
The therapy is shaped around the person.
The first conversation is fifteen minutes, free, and no paperwork. We talk about what is going on for you and whether we are a good fit.
(916) 337-8714 · amanda@amandamcbee.com