Trauma Therapy & EMDR in San Antonio and online across Texas
Real healing starts when you finally feel safe enough to trust yourself again, and start moving forward.
In a world of instant answers and surface-level advice, real human connection still matters.
AI, apps, and self-help tools can be useful between sessions. But if you are healing from toxic relationships, grief, anxiety, burnout, or unresolved trauma, you may be looking for more than information. You may need a licensed therapist who can understand what is driving the pattern and create a clear treatment plan with you.
Are you looking for a trauma therapist in San Antonio or online across Texas who:
Specializes in toxic and narcissistic relationship recovery
Helps with anxiety, grief, burnout, and survival mode
Uses EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) to process painful experiences and negative core beliefs
Uses CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) to change unhelpful thoughts and responses
Uses IFS (Internal Family Systems/Parts Work) to understand protective parts and old survival roles
Uses Somatic work to support nervous system regulation
Comes prepared with a clear, collaborative treatment plan
I’m Marcella Hayes, LPC-S, a Certified Trauma Therapist and EMDR-trained clinician with over 13 years of clinical experience. I also bring four decades of lived experience navigating family trauma, military life, toxic relationships and work environments, grief, financial anxiety, and the hard work of learning to trust myself again.
In-person therapy in San Antonio, Texas • Virtual therapy across Texas
Sound Familiar?
You’ve tried therapy before. You showed up, did all the talking, and walked out without a new tool, a new insight, or a real sense of direction.
You’re not new to this. You’ve probably already tried to figure it out therapy, self-help, podcasts, journaling, maybe even medication. And some of it helped, for a while.
But something keeps pulling you back into:
The same patterns and the same anxiety.
The same relationships that drain you.
The same voice in your head that says you’re too much, not enough, or somehow responsible for everyone else’s feelings.
You don’t need someone to sit across from you and ask how that makes you feel while you carry the whole session yourself.
You need someone who comes prepared, who already has a plan, who can see what’s underneath the pattern, and who isn’t afraid to go there with you.
When these beliefs remain unhealed, they can continue showing up in relationships, friendships, and work. Your nervous system may mistake what feels familiar for what is safe, even when it is not.
The good news is that your nervous system can learn something different. EMDR and trauma-focused therapy can help you:
Identify the belief beneath the pattern
Process the experience connected to it
Build safety and nervous system regulation
Develop healthier beliefs and responses
Move forward without carrying the past into every new situation
Why the Pattern Keeps Happening
The Pattern Doesn't Define YOU!
Patterns such as these are not personality flaws:
People pleasing
Staying too long
Shutting down
Overthinking
Anxiety
Emotional exhaustion
They are survival responses connected to negative core beliefs formed through lived experiences, such as:
I am not good enough.
I have to earn love.
I cannot trust myself.
Everyone else’s feelings matter more than mine.
How This Works
Therapy with a real plan, built around you.
From your very first session, you will know exactly what we are working on and why. I share your treatment plan with you directly and confirm it together, because your healing journey belongs to you. You are not here to just show up and talk. You are an active part of every decision we make about your care.
Every session begins the same way. I summarize where we left off, and then I ask: do you want to pick up there, or did something happen since our last session that you need to focus on today? Because real life doesn’t wait for a scheduled topic, and good therapy shouldn’t either.
This approach is especially effective for:
Healing from childhood trauma, attachment wounds, or unresolved past experiences.
Recovering from toxic or narcissistic relationships.
Living with anxiety, depression, burnout, or chronic overwhelm.
Struggling with people pleasing, perfectionism, emotional shutdown, or self-trust.
Navigating grief, major life transitions, or rediscovering who you are.
Looking for therapy that goes beyond managing symptoms to address the root of the problem.
Why I Use More Than One Therapy Approach
Healing from trauma isn't one-dimensional, so therapy shouldn't be either. I integrate EMDR, IFS, CBT, and somatic therapy because each addresses a different part of healing, your memories, beliefs, protective patterns, thoughts, and nervous system. To help create meaningful, lasting change healing requires more than one approach.
Together, these therapies help you:
Heal the root causes of anxiety, depression, and unresolved trauma.
Change the negative beliefs that keep you feeling stuck.
Understand and heal the protective patterns that once helped you survive.
Regulate your nervous system so your mind and body can begin to feel safe again.
Build self-trust, healthier relationships, and lasting emotional resilience.
Why Human Connection Still Matters
AI can give you information. It cannot see your face when you’re about to say the hard thing, and know that’s exactly the moment to step in.
Apps, self-help tools, and supportive resources can be incredibly helpful between sessions, and I encourage clients to use what works for them.
But there is one thing technology can't replace. The moment you're about to say something you've never said out loud, and your therapist notices it before you do. That's when healing often begins.
That moment is where healing actually starts.
AI cannot:
Read the pause.
Notice the shift in your body.
Share its own lived experience so you feel less alone in yours.
Sit with you in the silence that sometimes says more than words ever could.
Therapy with a real human being who has walked through their own hard seasons is not the same as a tool that processes your words. It is a relationship. And in trauma work especially, that connection builds the trust that allows deeper healing to happen safely with a trained and credentialed professional.
I'm Marcella Hayes, a Licensed Professional Counselor Supervisor, EMDR-trained clinician, and Certified Trauma Therapist with more than 13 years of experience helping adults heal from anxiety, unresolved trauma, burnout, and toxic relationships.
My background includes trauma-focused treatment, clinical supervision, and executive leadership. But what clients often tell me is, "You actually get it."
That's because my understanding comes from more than my training. I've lived through toxic relationships, unhealthy work environments, single motherhood, financial stress, grief, and the hard work of healing the patterns that once kept me in survival mode.
That combination of clinical expertise, lived experience, and a clear path forward allows me to help clients move beyond surviving and start creating a life that truly feels like their own.
I know what it feels like to...
Stay too long.
Second guess yourself.
Carry shame that was never yours.
Wonder if you'll ever feel like yourself again.
I also know what's possible on the other side.
My life changed when I stopped abandoning myself to survive and learned to trust my own voice again. That lived experience shapes the work I do with clients every day.
What you can expect from me
Honest, compassionate, and direct guidance.
Trauma-informed, evidence-based treatment tailored to your needs.
A collaborative treatment plan, so you always understand what we're working on and why.
Practical tools to help you regulate your nervous system, rebuild self-trust, and create lasting change.
Space for the emotional, relational, and, if it's meaningful to you, spiritual aspects of healing.
About Marcella
I’m not just trained in trauma. I’ve healed from it too.
Ready to reCenter yourself and reclaim your next season? Take that first step today, together, we'll move you out of survival mode and into a life you choose, with real balance in your emotional and physical well-being.
Your journey begins with a single conversation.
Schedule now and take the first step.
Office Hours
Monday – Thursday 10:00 am– 7:00 pm
Limited Friday and Evening Appointments
Please be advised that Resilient Hearts Counseling and Consulting is not a crisis service, if you’re in crisis and need immediate assistance please call 911 or the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988.
Resilient Hearts Counseling and Consulting
Offering In person and Telehealth services to Texas Residents
RHCC is a safe and affirming space for everyone!
Marcella Hayes, LPC-S
marcella@resilientheartscc.com
8918 Tesoro Drive, Suite 203
San Antonio, TX 78217
210-549-8475
Marcella Hayes, MA, LPC-S
Resilient Hearts Counseling and Consulting
Licensed Professional Counselor Supervisor • EMDR-Trained Clinician • Certified Trauma Therapist (TF-CBT) • M.A. in Counseling, University of Texas at San Antonio
Over 13 years of experience in trauma treatment, community mental health, and clinical supervision. I work with adults healing from toxic relationships, anxiety, burnout, grief, and unresolved trauma — combining EMDR, IFS (parts work), CBT, and somatic nervous system regulation with lived experience. In-person therapy in San Antonio, Texas, and virtual therapy across Texas.
Please be advised that Resilient Hearts Counseling and Consulting is not a crisis service. If you’re in crisis and need immediate assistance, please call 911 or the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988.
© 2026 Resilient Hearts Counseling and Consulting, PLLC. All rights reserved. • San Antonio, Texas • Serving clients across Texas via telehealth