Hi! I’m Amira Yanni.

I work with women who learned early that being easy to deal with was safer than being honest. The ones who translate, mediate, smooth things over, and somehow end up exhausted at family dinners they didn’t even want to attend. If you’ve spent years being told you’re “too sensitive” for wanting space, or “selfish” for having a boundary, you already know what I’m talking about.

I’m a Licensed Professional Counselor based in Fairfax, VA, working with clients across Virginia, Maryland, and DC. Most of the people I see are not in crisis. They’re functioning, accomplished, the ones everyone else leans on, and quietly worn down by it.

What usually brings someone to me isn’t a single event. It’s the slow tax of always being the reasonable one. Saying yes when you meant no. Knowing exactly what you need and still not asking for it. Logic was never the missing piece. You can explain your patterns perfectly and still feel your chest tighten the next time you try to disappoint someone.

That gap between knowing and feeling is where EMDR works differently than talking it through again. It targets how the experience is stored, not just how it’s narrated, so the reaction in your body actually changes, not just your explanation of it.