Is there a therapy office in Tampa?

No. The practice office is in the Fort Lauderdale area and Tampa Bay clients are seen virtually by secure video. Clients who prefer in-person therapy have options within Tampa.

Is EMDR recommended by the VA for military PTSD?

Yes. EMDR is among the treatments specifically recommended by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs for post-traumatic stress disorder, supported by a substantial evidence base in military and veteran populations.

Is virtual EMDR as effective as in-person EMDR?

For most clients, yes. Virtual EMDR uses adapted forms of bilateral stimulation and has comprised roughly three-quarters of this practice's EMDR caseload since 2020. Significant dissociation is the main presentation warranting careful assessment before proceeding virtually.

Why am I struggling months or years after a hurricane when I coped at the time?

This sequence is common. During an emergency the nervous system mobilizes and a person functions. Once the immediate demand lifts, unprocessed material can surface, often months or years later and frequently around anniversaries. Delayed-onset trauma responses are well recognized and treatable.

My home was undamaged while others lost everything. Is therapy appropriate for me?

Yes, if something is not working. Trauma responses do not operate on a ranking of severity, and comparing one's experience to others who lost more is a common reason people avoid seeking care they would benefit from.

No. Jordan Nodelman is not a TRICARE provider. Some clients use out-of-network benefits or private pay, and superbills can be provided, but clients should confirm coverage directly with TRICARE for their specific plan.

Is EMDR therapy appropriate for older adults?

Yes. EMDR works on memories regardless of how long ago they formed, and is regularly used with adults in their sixties, seventies and eighties. Trauma that surfaces in later life, including military trauma carried for decades, remains treatable.

Is it too late to treat PTSD from military service decades ago?

No. Military trauma that remained quiet for decades commonly surfaces later in life, often following retirement, a health change or a bereavement. The passage of time does not make it untreatable, and EMDR is among the treatments recommended by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs for PTSD.

How much does EMDR therapy cost in Tampa?

The intake session is $250 and ongoing 60-minute sessions are $225. Medicare and some commercial insurance are accepted for Florida clients; the current list is maintained on the practice's insurance and FAQ page. Superbills and private pay are also available. TRICARE is not accepted.

EMDR Therapy in Tampa, FL

Q: Do I have to describe classified or sensitive work in EMDR therapy?

No. EMDR does not require detailed verbal narration of events. A client needs to be able to bring the experience to mind, not describe it. For people in classified, compartmented or otherwise sensitive roles, this is often what makes treatment possible.

Q: Do you accept Medicare in Tampa?

Yes. Medicare is accepted for Florida clients. Many therapists do not accept Medicare, which is why finding an EMDR therapist who takes Medicare in the Tampa Bay area can be difficult. Current insurance details are maintained on the practice's insurance and FAQ page.

Virtual trauma and PTSD treatment across Tampa Bay, from an EMDRIA-Approved Consultant

I’m Jordan Nodelman, LCSW, BCD — a Florida-licensed psychotherapist specializing in EMDR therapy for trauma and PTSD. I provide online EMDR therapy in Tampa and throughout the Tampa Bay area by secure video.

People come to me from Tampa, St. Petersburg and Clearwater for narrower reasons — usually because general therapy hasn’t moved things, because their work can’t easily be talked about, because they want a trauma specialist rather than the nearest available appointment, or because they need a therapist who accepts Medicare and have had trouble finding one.

I accept Original Medicare for Florida clients, I’ve worked extensively with military service members and veterans, and I’m an EMDRIA-Approved Consultant — the credential level that trains and certifies other EMDR therapists.

[Request a consultation] · Call 754-946-6600

If your work can’t be discussed

Tampa is the headquarters of United States Central Command and United States Special Operations Command. MacDill supports a workforce of nearly 17,000 people — active duty, reserve, civilian and contractor — and the surrounding community holds a large population of veterans, spouses and families of people who served in those commands.

I have worked extensively with military service members and veterans. That’s not a line I’d write if it weren’t true — this is a population that checks, and that has good reason to be wary of clinicians who list “military” as one specialty among twenty.

A great deal of that work is classified, compartmented, or simply not something you can describe to a stranger. Which leads a lot of people to conclude, reasonably, that therapy isn’t available to them.

EMDR doesn’t require detailed verbal disclosure. You need to be able to bring an experience to mind. You do not need to narrate it to me. We work with what it did to you — the physiological response, the belief it installed, what your body now does automatically — rather than with the operational content.

That distinction matters more here than almost anywhere.

EMDR is also among the treatments specifically recommended by the Department of Veterans Affairs for PTSD, reflecting a substantial evidence base with military populations.

What comes up:

Operational and deployment-related trauma, including in people who’ve concluded they don’t qualify because their experience doesn’t match what they picture PTSD looking like
Cumulative exposure — not one event, but fifteen years of them, each individually survivable
Moral injury — the specific damage of having done, witnessed, or been ordered into something that violated your own moral code. Burnout responds to rest. Moral injury doesn’t, which is why people carrying it so often decide the defect is in them. [More on moral injury →]
The transition out — losing structure, mission and identity simultaneously
Military spouses and families — repeated relocation, interrupted careers, solo parenting through deployments, and years of not asking what the other person was doing
The fear that getting help ends a career. On clearances specifically: Department of Defense guidance states that seeking mental health care is not by itself a reason for a clearance to be denied, and an interim clearance cannot be denied solely because of a “yes” to SF-86 Question 21. Adjudicators focus on whether a condition impairs judgment — and official guidance treats seeking care as evidence of good judgment. I’m not a clearance attorney; your facility security officer is the right source for your situation.

A note on TRICARE: I am not a TRICARE provider. Some clients use out-of-network benefits or private pay, and I can provide a superbill — but check directly with TRICARE about what your specific plan covers before assuming. I’d rather tell you that now than after a consultation call.

Older adults, Medicare, and trauma that waited

I accept Original Medicare for Florida clients. In Tampa Bay that matters more than it should have to, because a great many therapists don’t — which leaves a large number of older adults calling down a list and being told no, repeatedly, until they stop calling.

If you’re on Medicare and looking for an EMDR therapist in Tampa who accepts Medicare, that’s the barrier you’ve probably been running into. It isn’t you.

Trauma doesn’t expire, and neither does treatment. A significant part of what I see in older adults is material that’s been carried for decades — sometimes since childhood, sometimes from military service, sometimes from a marriage or a loss that was never talked about. It surfaces in later life for predictable reasons: retirement removes the structure that kept it contained, health changes reactivate old helplessness, a spouse dies, the house goes quiet, or you finally have time you don’t want.

For Vietnam-era and Gulf War-era veterans in particular — many of whom are now in their sixties, seventies and eighties — there’s often a layer of having been told, decades ago, that this wasn’t something you talked about. Some were told more recently that it’s too late, or that they should have dealt with it years ago.

That’s wrong. EMDR works on memories regardless of how old they are, and I’ve seen people make significant progress in their seventies and eighties on things they’d assumed were permanent.

What comes up most often:

Delayed-onset and late-surfacing PTSD, including military trauma that stayed quiet for forty years
Grief — spouses, siblings, friends, and the accumulating losses that come with living a long time
Medical trauma — frightening procedures, ICU stays, a diagnosis that changed everything
Caregiver strain, including for a partner with dementia
Loss of role and identity after retirement
Old family material that a parent’s death or an adult child’s crisis brings back

Sessions are virtual, which for a lot of older clients removes the driving, the parking and the waiting room all at once.

After Helene, Milton and Other Hurricanes

In the fall of 2024, Tampa Bay was hit by two hurricanes roughly two weeks apart. A region that had spent decades watching storms turn at the last moment stopped being the place that gets lucky.

Two years on is often exactly when this surfaces. During the emergency itself people function — they board up, evacuate, help neighbors, file claims. The nervous system holds. It’s afterward, once the immediate demand is gone, that the material arrives: difficulty sleeping when the wind picks up, dread when a forecast turns, an anniversary that lands harder than expected, disproportionate anger at bureaucracy, or a flat numbness about a house that got rebuilt fine.

There’s also a particular kind of guilt for people whose damage was minor. Others lost more, so I have no right to be struggling. That comparison isn’t how trauma works, and it keeps a lot of people from ever mentioning it.

And storm exposure is cumulative. Each season now arrives before the last one has fully settled. That’s not fragility — it’s a threat-detection system that has learned this happens. And for some of my clients, they have been holding onto PTSD symptoms from Hurricane Andrew [More on hurricanes and mental health in Florida → Click Here]

Healthcare and research professionals

Tampa General, Moffitt Cancer Center, BayCare, AdventHealth, USF Health — Tampa Bay is a major medical region, and clinicians make up a meaningful part of my practice.

What I usually see isn’t ordinary burnout. It’s moral injury: the residue of having practiced in conditions where you couldn’t provide the care you knew was right. Burnout improves with rest and time off. Moral injury doesn’t, which is why so many people in this group conclude the problem is a personal failing.

There’s also a professional culture that treats needing help as evidence of unfitness, and a realistic concern about licensure and reputation that keeps clinicians out of care longer than almost any other group.

I also provide EMDR consultation to other clinicians professionally, so that world is familiar territory. [EMDR consultation for clinicians → Click Here]

If you moved here recently

Tampa has grown fast, and a large share of the people living there now arrived within the last few years.

Moving is its own stressor, and it removes the thing that usually absorbs difficulty: the people who have known you a long time. A new city, a new job, no established friendships, and whatever you were already carrying — which does not stay behind in the old place, however much the move was meant to be a fresh start.

Sometimes the work is helping a new life hold the old one rather than outrun it. [More on starting over → Click Here]

What I treat

PTSD and complex trauma — single incidents, and the accumulated developmental kind that never had a name.

PTSD triggers — a sound, a smell, a change in the weather, and your body responds as though it’s happening now. Triggers aren’t overreactions; they’re a threat system that learned something and was never told it was over.

High-functioning anxiety — invisible from outside. Constant scanning, difficulty being still, physical symptoms with no medical explanation.

Compartmentalized trauma — sealed off years ago so you could keep functioning, now surfacing. It tends to hold, and then not.

Negative core beliefs and low self-worth — “I’m not enough,” “if they really knew me.” These feel like accurate self-assessment, which is exactly why arguing with them fails.

Substance use and compulsive patterns. I use DeTUR™, an EMDR-derived protocol built for the triggers and urges underneath a behavior rather than the behavior alone. It works alongside recovery programs rather than replacing them.

Survivors of sexual violence and childhood abuse, with careful, paced work.

ADHD and the shame of masking — especially in adults who compensated well enough that nobody noticed, including them.

Why a specialist

Most therapists who list EMDR completed a basic training. That’s the entry point, not the ceiling.

I’m an EMDRIA-Approved Consultant — credentialed to train and certify other EMDR clinicians, which is how therapists earn EMDRIA certification — and a Board-Certified Diplomate in Clinical Social Work.

EMDR is an eight-phase treatment, and most of what goes wrong goes wrong in the first two. Reprocessing begun before the person could tolerate it. Targets sequenced by chronology rather than by charge. Dissociation missed at intake. Looping mistaken for resistance. A significant part of my professional work is helping other clinicians untangle exactly those cases.

If you’ve tried EMDR and it didn’t go the way you hoped, that history is useful information rather than a verdict.

Fees and insurance

Intake session: $250. A longer first appointment to take history, understand what’s happening, and decide together whether I’m the right clinician.

Ongoing sessions: $225 for 60 minutes.

I accept Medicare for Florida clients, along with some commercial insurance — the current list is on the insurance and FAQ page, since participation changes. I am not a TRICARE provider. Superbills are available for out-of-network reimbursement, and private pay is an option for clients who’d rather nothing be submitted to an insurer.

Most therapy hours are 45 or 50 minutes. EMDR reprocessing doesn’t reliably fit in that, and stopping someone mid-processing to watch the clock is poor practice. The full hour is a clinical decision.

Serving Tampa Bay

Sessions are virtual, so I provide EMDR therapy across Tampa Bay — Tampa, South Tampa, Hyde Park, Ybor City, Westshore, Carrollwood, Temple Terrace, New Tampa, Brandon, Riverview, Wesley Chapel, Lutz, Plant City and the rest of Hillsborough County; St. Petersburg, Clearwater, Largo, Palm Harbor, Dunedin, Tarpon Springs and Pinellas County; plus Brandon, Bradenton, Sarasota, Land O’Lakes and New Port Richey.

Whether you’re searching for an EMDR therapist in Tampa, trauma therapy in St. Petersburg, or online PTSD treatment in Hillsborough County, sessions work the same way — secure video, anywhere in Florida.

In-person sessions are available only in the Fort Lauderdale area.

Frequently asked questions

Do you have an office in Tampa? No. My office is in the Fort Lauderdale area and Tampa Bay clients are seen virtually. If in-person therapy is important to you, Tampa has capable clinicians and that may be the better choice.

Do I have to talk about my work or what happened in detail? No. EMDR doesn’t require detailed verbal narration. You need to be able to bring the experience to mind, not describe it. For people in classified, compartmented or otherwise sensitive roles, that’s often what makes treatment possible at all.

Will therapy affect my security clearance? According to Department of Defense guidance, seeking mental health care is not by itself a reason for a clearance to be denied, and an interim clearance cannot be denied solely because of a “yes” answer to SF-86 Question 21. Adjudicators focus on whether a condition impairs judgment. For your specific situation, consult your facility security officer or a clearance attorney.

Is EMDR used for military PTSD? Yes. EMDR is among the treatments specifically recommended by the Department of Veterans Affairs for PTSD, with a substantial evidence base in military and veteran populations. I’ve worked extensively with service members and veterans.

Do you take TRICARE? No, I’m not a TRICARE provider. Some clients use out-of-network benefits or private pay, and I can provide a superbill — but check with TRICARE about your specific plan first.

Do you accept Medicare in Tampa? Yes, I accept Original Medicare for Florida clients. Many therapists don’t, which is why finding an EMDR therapist who takes Original Medicare in the Tampa Bay area can be difficult. See the insurance and FAQ page for current details.

I’m in my seventies. Is EMDR appropriate at my age? Yes. EMDR works on memories regardless of how long ago they formed, and I regularly work with adults in their sixties, seventies and eighties. If you’ve been told it’s too late or that you should have dealt with something years ago, that’s not accurate.

I’m a Vietnam-era veteran and never got treatment. Is it worth starting now? Yes. Military trauma that stayed quiet for decades is among the most common things I see in older veterans, and it often surfaces after retirement, a health change, or a loss. The passage of time doesn’t make it untreatable.

Is virtual EMDR as effective as in person? For most clients, yes. Virtual EMDR uses adapted forms of bilateral stimulation and has made up roughly three-quarters of my EMDR caseload since 2020. Significant dissociation is the main presentation warranting careful assessment before proceeding virtually.

I got through the hurricanes fine at the time. Why am I struggling now? That sequence is common. During an emergency the nervous system mobilizes and you function. It’s afterward, when the immediate demand lifts, that unprocessed material surfaces — often months or years later, and often around anniversaries. Delayed onset is well recognized and treatable.

My house was fine. Other people lost everything. Should I even be in therapy? Yes, if something isn’t working. Trauma doesn’t operate on a ranking system, and comparing your experience to someone else’s is one of the most reliable ways people talk themselves out of care they need.

Why see a specialist instead of a local therapist? Often you shouldn’t — a good local clinician with availability is frequently the right answer. The case for a specialist is narrower: you’ve tried therapy and it didn’t shift things, you have complex trauma, a previous course of EMDR stalled, or your work makes conventional talk therapy difficult.

How much does therapy cost? The intake is $250 and ongoing 60-minute sessions are $225. Medicare and some commercial insurance are accepted for Florida clients; see the insurance and FAQ page for current details. I am not a TRICARE provider.

How long does EMDR take? It depends on what we’re treating. A single-incident trauma in an otherwise stable adult may resolve in relatively few reprocessing sessions. Complex or developmental trauma takes considerably longer, mostly because preparation does. Be skeptical of anyone who quotes a number before assessing you.

Get started

A short consultation call costs nothing and commits you to nothing. You describe what’s going on; I’ll tell you honestly whether I’m the right person — and if I’m not, I’ll point you somewhere better.

[Request a consultation →] · Call 754-946-6600

Nodelman Counseling & Psychotherapy, LLC is not a crisis service. If you are experiencing a mental health emergency, call 911 or go to your nearest emergency room. 988 is the free, 24-hour US Suicide and Crisis Lifeline; veterans and service members can press 1 for the Veterans Crisis Line.