About Our Team
Your team includes an EMDR-certified LCSW and two C-IAYT certified yoga therapists, all with years of experience supporting trauma healing.
The EMbody Story: How Our Clinical Partnership Became a Trauma Recovery Program
The EMbody Trauma Recovery Program grew out of a long-standing clinical partnership between three providers who shared clients and stayed closely connected about their care. Over years of collaboration, we began noticing the same pattern again and again. Clients who received both EMDR therapy and yoga therapy did not just make progress. They moved through their healing with steadier nervous systems, clearer confidence, and a deeper sense of ease in the work itself.
No matter their age, background, or trauma history, the outcomes were remarkably consistent. When clients paired two trauma-focused modalities like EMDR and yoga therapy, their nervous systems settled more predictably, they recovered more smoothly after difficult sessions, and they relied on body-based skills that helped them regulate in real time. They described the work as more tolerable and more transformative, and their long-term outcomes were stronger and more sustainable.
As this pattern emerged, it became clear that the most meaningful change occurred when care was coordinated rather than siloed. Our shared clients confirmed this repeatedly. They felt supported, understood, and accompanied by a team that communicated with each other and worked together in ways that helped the process feel manageable. We also knew how fragmented trauma treatment can feel. Many people move between services on their own, retell their histories over and over, and try to make sense of how different approaches fit together.
EMbody was created to change that experience. The program brings together two trauma-specialized modalities in an intentionally coordinated structure designed to reduce overwhelm and strengthen success. Emilie offers EMDR therapy with deep expertise in trauma and dissociation, while Christine and Sara provide yoga therapy that stabilizes the nervous system, builds interoceptive awareness, and supports readiness for EMDR reprocessing. Each modality retains its depth, yet together they create a more cohesive and effective path to recovery.
For adults who are self-referring, EMbody provides a compassionate, evidence-informed model that makes room for both your lived experience and your goals for healing.
For parents seeking help for a young adult child, EMbody offers clear communication, structured support, and a trauma-informed plan that prioritizes safety and steady progress.
For referring clinicians, EMbody offers trusted partners who reinforce rather than replace the work already underway.
We built EMbody because we believe healing happens most effectively when the mind and body are supported together. Our story is rooted in partnership, observation, and a shared commitment to creating a path where clients can recover with confidence.
Our Clinicians
Emilie A. Held, LCSW
EMDR Psychotherapist and Founder of
Held Center for Healing
Co-Developer, EMbody Trauma Recovery Program
Located in Farmington and Madison, CT and telehealth
Emilie is a certified EMDR therapist and ego-state practitioner with a long-standing dedication to trauma recovery. She began her career supporting teens and adults navigating PTSD and addiction, and expanded her work to include clients across the lifespan. Her background includes clinical research, trauma-informed program development, direct client care, and administrative social work within large behavioral health organizations. She later opened and led a new behavioral health clinic within a community-based agency, shaping the foundation for the collaborative model she brings to Held Center for Healing.
As the founder of Held Center for Healing, Emilie is known for her steady presence and warm, trustworthy rapport. Clients often describe her as someone who feels easy to talk to, someone who helps the work feel safe and manageable even when the material is difficult. Emilie created EMbody alongside Christine and Sara after years of shared clinical practice in which they saw clients thrive when EMDR and yoga therapy worked together. She provides EMDR therapy in the Unionville and West Hartford offices and through secure virtual care, offering a consistent, grounded space for clients to heal.
Christine Saari, MA, C-IAYT
Yoga Therapist and Co-Founder of Yoga Therapy Associates
Co-Developer, EMbody Trauma Recovery Program
Located in Madison, CT and telehealth
Christine is a certified yoga therapist whose work centers on nervous-system regulation and trauma recovery. She specializes in supporting individuals healing from anxiety, trauma, eating disorders, OCD, and cancer. Before becoming a yoga therapist, Christine spent many years as a professional classical flutist. That high-pressure performance world informs her ability to connect with musicians, athletes, and driven young adults who carry stress in both mind and body. She brings deep empathy, lived experience as a breast cancer survivor, and a trauma-informed approach that blends steadiness with practical skill-building.
Christine is co-founder of Yoga Therapy Associates and ClinicAlly Trained, where she develops continuing-education programs for clinicians on breathwork, somatic techniques, and meditation. She regularly trains mental health providers at the Connecticut Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services and presents on integrating yoga therapy with trauma treatment. Within the EMbody Trauma Recovery Program, Christine provides one-to-one yoga therapy sessions that help clients regulate between EMDR sessions, build interoceptive awareness, and move through treatment with improved comfort and confidence.
Sara Merrick-Albano, C-IAYT
Yoga Therapist and Co-Founder of Yoga Therapy Associates
Co-Developer, EMbody Trauma Recovery Program
Located in Watertown, CT and telehealth
Sara is a certified yoga therapist with expertise in trauma, chronic pain, and complex health conditions. She is known for her warm, gentle presence and her ability to make clients feel deeply supported from the moment they arrive. Sara’s clinical work focuses on adapting yoga therapy for individuals with co-occurring medical conditions, autoimmune disorders, and eating and pain patterns. Her approach blends neuroscience-informed techniques with the compassionate steadiness that young adults and adults often need as they navigate trauma recovery.
With more than twenty years of practice, Sara brings clarity, patience, and individualized care to every session. She is a co-founder of Yoga Therapy Associates and a lead trainer for the ClinicAlly Trained therapeutic yoga teacher training program. In the EMbody Trauma Recovery Program, Sara offers targeted yoga therapy that helps clients ease somatic distress, calm overactivation, and reconnect with a sense of internal safety throughout the EMDR process.
How to Start
1. Schedule a 20 minute introductory call.
A short call with our team to answer questions and make sure the program is the right direction.
2. Begin onboarding.
Meet your providers, complete your onboarding sessions, and receive your personalized three month schedule.
3. Approve your treatment plan and begin.
Once you approve your plan, stabilization starts right away. You do not have to wait weeks to begin care.