Deany Laliotis, LICSW

The Center for Excellence in EMDR Therapy, Inc.

Deany Laliotis, LICSW, is a world-renowned trainer, consultant, and clinician in EMDR therapy. She's authored several book chapters and articles on EMDR therapy and is the Founder and Director for The Center for Excellence in EMDR Therapy, Inc., in Washington, DC.

 

Speaker Disclosures:
Financial: Deany Laliotis is the founder and director of The Center for Excellence in EMDR Therapy, Inc. and maintains a private practice. She is an EMDR trainer and consultant and receives compensation. She receives royalties as a published author, and she receives a speaking honorarium and recording royalties from Psychotherapy Networker and PESI, Inc. She has no relevant financial relationships with ineligible organizations.
Non-financial: Deany Laliotis is a member of the DC Metro Area Society of Clinical Social Work; the Trauma Recovery, EMDR Humanitarian Assistance Programs; the EMDR International Association; and the National Association of Social Workers (NASW).

Walda Ciafone

Walda Ciafone is a seasoned therapist having practiced from 1984 till the present. She specializes in trauma and has been extensively trained in various modalities.

In 2016 she became a EMDR consultant and training facilitator for the Center for Excellence in EMDR. Currently, Ms. Ciafone maintains a therapy practice, a consultation practice for EMDR therapists and provides facilitation and consultation for The Center for Excellence in EMDR.

Speaker Disclosures
Financial: Walda Ciafone maintains a private practice and is a consultant with Center for Excellence in EMDR Therapy. She receives a speaking honorarium from PESI, Inc. She has no relevant financial relationships with ineligible organizations.
Non-financial: Walda Ciafone has no relevant non-financial relationships.

Amber Foster, LCSW-S

Amber Foster is a licensed clinical social worker, board-approved supervisor, and owner of Infinite Hope Counseling, PLLC. Amber has been working with trauma survivors over the entire course of her career. She specializes in relational trauma such as intimate partner violence, family of origin and childhood trauma, sexual violence, and racialized trauma. Amber is an EMDRIA approved EMDR certified therapist and consultant. In addition, she is trained in cognitive processing therapy, Theraplay, and trauma-focused CBT. As a 200 registered yoga teacher and trauma conscious yoga provider, Amber incorporates somatic work, mindfulness, and breathwork into her therapeutic approach. Amber provides licensing supervision, EMDR consultation, and regularly speaks to professional and community audiences on trauma, intersectionality, racial trauma, and the integration of yoga and psychotherapy. Her work is grounded in NASW ethics and a commitment to ongoing learning and culturally responsive care.

 

Speaker Disclosures:
Financial: Amber Foster is the owner and therapist with Infinite Hope Counseling, PLLC. She receives a speaking honorarium from Psychotherapy Networker and PESI, Inc. She has no relevant financial relationships with ineligible organizations.
Non-financial: Amber Foster has no relevant non-financial relationships.

 

Lisa Menard, LPC

Lisa Menard, LPC is an experienced EMDR therapist whose clinical work centers on complex PTSD and affirming care for LGBTQ+ individuals. She is an EMDRIA-approved EMDR therapist and consultant and maintains a virtual psychotherapy practice serving clients throughout Arizona. Learn more at lifejourneytherapy.com.

Speaker Disclosures:
Financial: Elizabeth Menard is the owner of Life Journey Therapy LLC. She receives a speaking honorarium from PESI, Inc. She has no relevant financial relationships with ineligible organizations.
Non-financial: Elizabeth Menard has no relevant non-financial relationships.

Christina M. Allen, LCPC

The Center for Trauma, Stress, and Anxiety, LLC

Christina Allen, LCPC is an EMDRIA Certified Therapist and Approved Consultant whose career has been shaped by a deep commitment to healing and growth—both for her clients and for the clinicians she trains. Formerly the Training and Education Director of CTSA, Christina in recent years has refocused her work to fully align with her passion for trauma therapy and advancing EMDR practice within the clinical community.

 

Christina brings over 15 years of clinical experience across a broad range of mental health settings, including community-based programs, outpatient care, crisis intervention, and emergency departments. In recent years, she has expanded her work to include somatic and integrative practices that complement The Center for Trauma, Stress, and Anxiety, LLC’s body-mind health model. Christina specializes in complex developmental trauma, attachment injuries, PTSD, and traumatic stress. She holds a particular dedication to serving First Responders and Veterans, honoring the unique challenges these communities face. Christina has developed an EMDR Early Intervention program within her practice, offering care for recent onset trauma with the goal of reducing the impact of acute stress reactions before they take root. In 2025, Christina further expanded her community impact by establishing a Trauma Recovery Network in Maryland, strengthening local crisis response efforts and access to trauma-informed care.

 

Christina’s journey into EMDR has been transformational—an experience she credits with fundamentally reshaping her clinical lens and deepening her capacity to guide others through profound healing. She is currently a faculty member with The Center for Excellence in EMDR Therapy, and has been mentored for several years under Deany Laliotis, LICSW.

Christina believes in the power of EMDR and the integration of somatic healing approaches—such as yoga, mindfulness, and meditation—to help reset the nervous system and support post-traumatic growth. Guided by her personal motto, “Be the Change,” she strives to help individuals transform wounds into wisdom and to cultivate a professional community that is better equipped to understand, treat, and honor trauma. Through her leadership, teaching, and clinical work, Christina continues to champion EMDR as a powerful pathway for meaningful and lasting healing.

 

Speaker Disclosures:
Financial: Christina Allen has employment relationships with The Center for Excellence in EMDR Therapy and The Center for Trauma, Stress, and Anxiety, LLC. She has no relevant financial relationships with ineligible organizations.
Non-financial: Christina Allen is a contributing author and speaker with Psychotherapy Networker. She is a member of the MD Counseling Association and EMDRIA.

Jennifer Fights, LCMHC

Jennifer Fights, LCMHC, is an EMDR psychotherapist working with adolescents, adults and families in private practice in Charlotte, NC. She is an EMDRIA certified therapist and is a consultant. Jennifer received her master’s degree in clinical counseling from New York University in 2002. Jennifer’s early career focused on working with complex developmental trauma with youth and their families within the juvenile justice system, residential treatment centers and community mental health centers. Since transitioning to private practice in 2015, Jennifer’s areas of focus continue to include complex attachment trauma as well as treating complicated grief and bereavement and specializes in the trauma of suicide loss by families, loved ones and communities. She also treats individuals that struggle with suicidal thoughts and behaviors, which gives her a unique perspective in working with the survivors of suicide loss.

Speaker Disclosures:
Financial: Jennifer Fights maintains a private practice and has an employment relationship with The Center for Excellence in EMDR Therapy. She receives a speaking honorarium from PESI, Inc. She has no relevant financial relationships with ineligible organizations.
Non-financial: Jennifer Fights has no relevant non-financial relationships.

Carmen Pepicelli, MEd, LMHC, PhD

Carmen Pepicelli, MEd, LMHC, PhD, is an EMDR relational therapist and consultant in private practice in Northeastern Massachusetts where she helps facilitate lasting healing from complex trauma in adults and children with structural dissociation.

As a trainer and consultant, she provides guidance on how to recognize maladaptive defenses and attachment patterns, effectively and succinctly prepare clients for trauma processing, explore transference and countertransference reactions, incorporate parts work, somatic, mindfulness, attachment-based, hypnotic, polyvagal and other evidence-based interventions into all phases of treatment, and modify standard EMDR for safe trauma reprocessing in those with dissociative identity disorder.

 

Speaker Disclosures:
Financial: Carmen Pepicelli maintains a private practice. She receives a speaking honorarium from Psychotherapy Networker and PESI, Inc. She has no relevant financial relationships with ineligible organizations.
Non-financial: Carmen Pepicelli is a member of EMDRIA, the American Society of Clinical Hypnosis, International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation, and the Massachusetts Mental Health Counselors Association.

 

Hope Payson, LCSW, LADC

Hope Payson, LCSW, LADC has over 30 years of experience in addiction and trauma treatment and currently assists private and non-profit organizations in creating trauma informed systems of care. Her areas of specialty include working with clinets with histories of developmental trauma, addiction, and ways to promote individual and systemic recovery. She is the producer of the film Uprooting Addiction and authored a chapter of EMDR and Group Therapy: Emerging Principles and Protocols to Treat Trauma and Beyond.

 

Speaker Disclosures:
Financial: Hope Payson maintains a private practice. She receives a speaking honorarium from PESI, Inc. She has no relevant financial relationships with ineligible organizations.
Non-financial: Hope Payson has no relevant non-financial relationships.

 

Erika Tsoukanelis, MS, MFA, LCSW

Erika Tsoukanelis, MS, MFA, LCSW is an EMDRIA-certified therapist, master consultant, and basic trainer in EMDR therapy for The Center for Excellence in EMDR therapy. Erika is the owner of Heart of Inquiry, a private practice in Westport, Connecticut, and specializes in PTSD, complex trauma, anxiety, grief and loss, and chronic illness. Erika received her bachelor’s degree in psychology from Sarah Lawrence College in 1992 and her master’s degree from Columbia University’s School of Social Work in 1996. In addition to using EMDR as a comprehensive and relational therapy, Erika applies to her practice trainings in psychodynamic psychotherapy, structural dissociation theory, Integrative Restoration (iRest), Psychobiological Approach to Couples Therapy (PACT), Dynamic Attachment Re-patterning experience (DARe), and neurobiology. As a certified holistic health counselor and Kripalu yoga teacher, Erika naturally incorporates somatic awareness and mindfulness skills into her work. She partners with clients and consultees to collaborate on the course of the work, ever respectful of each person’s individuality as a mental, emotional, physical and spiritual being.

Speaker Disclosures:
Financial: Erika Tsukanelis maintains a private practice and receives compensation as a consultant. She has no relevant financial relationships with ineligible organizations.
Non-financial: Erika Tsoukanelis is a contributing author with Psychotherapy Networker.

Kate Becker, LCSW

Kate Becker, LCSW, is a licensed clinical social worker, an EMDRIA approved consultant in EMDR therapy, and a 300 hour registered yoga teacher. Kate was trained by MAPS in MDMA-assisted psychotherapy in 2018 and is trained and experienced in ketamine assisted psychotherapy. Kate has been providing ketamine-assisted psychotherapy since 2019. Kate has facilitated psilocybin journeys in Jamaica for 6 years. Kate’s private practice focus is on the treatment of anxiety disorders, PTSD, depression, addiction and trauma.

Speaker Disclosures:
Financial: Kate Becker maintains a private practice and is a facilitator with Atman Retreat. She receives a speaking honorarium from PESI, Inc. She has no relevant financial relationships with ineligible organizations.
Non-financial: Kate Becker has no relevant non-financial relationships.

Karen Alter-Reid, PhD

Karen Alter-Reid, PhD is a clinical psychologist with specialties in trans-generational trauma, psychedelic medicines, and first responder treatment. Karen is an EMDRIA Specialty Presenter and Senior EMDR Consultant for the Integrative Trauma Program at the National Institute for the Psychotherapies in New York City. She has presented her work both nationally and internationally on Trans-Generational EMDR Therapy, Integrating Psychedelic Medicine and EMDR Therapy. Betrayal Trauma in First Responder Treatment, and her “Therapy for Therapists” program which followed clinical work followed mass shootings and disasters.

Speaker Disclosures:
Financial: Dr. Karen Alter-Reid maintains a private practice and has employment relationships with the National Institute for the Psychotherapies and the EMDR Institute. She receives royalties as a published author. Dr. Alter-Reid receives a speaking honorarium from PESI, Inc. She has no relevant financial relationships with ineligible organizations.
Non-financial: Dr. Karen Alter-Reid has no relevant non-financial relationships.