Welcome! My name is Emily/Em (they/she). I am an associate marriage and family therapist (AMFT) in the Bay Area. I specialize in helping people heal their attachments with themselves and others. I do this with individuals and dyads/groups in relationships (couples, families, polycules, systems/system members, etc.).

The three pillars of my work are liberation-focused, attachment-based, and trauma-responsive approaches. To learn more about what this means please read my bio or visit my website.

“The concern of the social scientist should not be so much to explain the world as to transform it,” - Ignacio Martín-Baró, Writings for a Liberation Psychology

Therapy is my vocation and passion. I feel called to this work because I believe that therapists have both the honor and responsibility to use their knowledge, skills, and wisdom in service of human liberation. This may look like learning how to set boundaries, unlearning harmful narratives, unmasking, exploring your identity and values, etc. Ultimately, I aim to be a comrade and steward on your journey towards understanding what a liberated and happy life means to you.

I center a liberation-focused approach. This means that my work is rooted in a continued commitment to radical empathy, anti-racism, decolonization, disability justice, intersectional feminism, fat liberation, gender affirmation, and de-carceral approaches.

In individual therapy, I tend to focus on emotions, body sensations, and beliefs. We work to observe troublesome experiences and/or parts of yourself from a distance in order to gain calmness, curiosity, and compassion. I tend to use modalities like Internal Family Systems (IFS) and Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR).

In relationship therapy, I tend to focus on emotional patterns, boundaries, and safety. I learn about how your relationship functions as a single emotional unit. Then I help you to approach difficult situations with calmness, compassion, and vulnerability. I tend to use modalities like Emotion-Focused Therapy and Family Systems Therapy.

I also tend to draw on bits and pieces from mindfulness and somatic interventions, Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT), and Solution-Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT).

I started my career at the Pacific Center for Human Growth in Berkeley, CA, where I worked primarily with LGBTQIA+, nonmonogamous, and neurodivergent folks on topics as anxiety, depression, identity formation, fostering secure relationships, suicidality, and accessing gender affirming medical care and services. After this, I worked at a Trauma Recovery Center in Richmond, CA. I primarily served trauma survivors in immigrant, Latino/a/e, and/or Black/African American communities who sought to heal from state, relationship, sexual, and/or childhood trauma. While in this role, I completed Part 1 and 2 of EMDR Therapy Basic Training. I received my Masters in Counseling from the Wright Institute in 2022.

In all the therapy I do, I center liberation-focused, attachment-based, and trauma-responsive approaches.

In a liberation-focused approach, I view situations, problems, or relationships with an intentional focus on the voices and experiences of people who have been historically and systematically marginalized. This means that I work with folks to set therapy goals aligned with dismantling internalized and systemic oppression.

An attachment-based approach means that I pay particular attention to how people’s experiences of relationships have impacted their view of themselves and the world. We may focus on relationships with caregivers, siblings, your kids, intimate partnerships, therapeutic relationships, and/or how you relate to different parts of yourself.

In a trauma-responsive approach, I acknowledge the widespread impact of trauma and actively respond to its effects by creating environments and interactions that prioritize safety, trust, choice, and empowerment.

• Children: 7 -12
• Adolescent: 13-17
• Young Adult: 18-25
• Adults: 26-65
• Seniors: 65+

• Individuals
• Couples
• Polyamorous relationship groupings
• Families

• Autistic
• Bisexual
• Couples/Married/Romantic/Sexual Relationships
• Disabled
• Fat
• Gay
• Gender Nonbinary / Non-Conforming / Fluid / Agender
• Health At Every Size (HAES)
• Neurodivergent
• Polyamorous / Non-Monogamous
• Queer
• Transgender

• ADHD
• Anxiety
• Autism
• Burnout
• Codependency
• Complex Trauma, Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (C-PTSD)
• Depression
• Family Counseling
• Gender Identity Dysphoria/Euphoria
• Intergenerational Trauma and Healing
• Polyamory, Non-Monogamy, Open Relationships
• Racial / Ethnic / Cultural Identity
• Self-Esteem/Worth/Compassion
• Social Anxiety

• Attachment Theory
• Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)
• Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT)
• Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)
• Family Systems
• Internal Family Systems (IFS)
• Liberation / Decolonized Psychology
• Narrative Therapy
• Play Therapy
• Relational Therapy
• Solution-Focused Brief Therapy
• Trauma-Informed

• Bisexual
• Chronic Illness/Pain
• Disabled
• Fat
• Gender Non-Binary / Non-Conforming / Fluid / Agender
• Neurodivergent
• Queer
• Transgender
• White / European Descent

• Cash
• Check
• Credit Card

$175

Please see my website for more information about sliding scale

Please email emdorman.mft@proton.me to schedule an appointment or consultation or fill out the contact form on my website: https://bayliberationtherapy.com/contact. You will hear back in 1-3 business days.

Tracy Smith, PsyD #24366

09/02/2025