You don’t have to hold this Alone
EMDR Certification, Consultation, and Community for Therapists
Head and Heart Institute is a community and clinical home for therapists who hold everyone else and rarely get held themselves. Relational depth work and EMDR clinical mastery, built by a therapist who's spent nearly two decades in the room with other therapists.
The Institute's work strengthens nervous system capacity, somatic awareness, and internal clarity so practice can be sustainable and grounded, rather than driven by tension, self-override, or quiet burnout.
Heal the Healer™
The Map Beneath Everything We Offer
All offerings at Head and Heart Institute move through the same map: five territories that honor mind, body, and emotional truth. Rather than pushing harder or overriding internal signals, the work is about coming back to yourself, separate from the role that's kept you safe and valued.
Heal the Healer™ unfolds through the Five Core Elements:
Earth
capacity & foundation
Learn to feel your own edges, your own aliveness, and what matters to you.
Water
emotional navigation
The permission to have feelings that belong to you, not something to solve or perform away.
Fire
Identity & Alignment
Distinguish between yourself and the role. What’s actually you versus the pattern running you.
Air
Internal Dialogue & Clarity
Learn to notice the story in real time. The moment it starts and the choice to interrupt it.
Space
Integration & Coherence
Make the pattern integrated and related to consciously. No longer the default running you.
Internal Alignment for Those Who Help Others
Heal the Healer™ is the Institute's Professional Peer Container, built for therapists who want depth, clarity, and to be witnessed instead of just trained.
Through the Peer Container, Immersions, and Events, participants develop emotional bandwidth, somatic awareness, and internal coherence, together, not alone.
Emdr Mastery
EMDR Certification and Advanced Practice
EMDR Mastery offers EMDRIA-aligned certification, consultation, and advanced clinical development for EMDR-trained clinicians seeking depth beyond technique alone.
The focus is on strengthening therapist internal orientation, somatic awareness, and attuned case conceptualization so clinical practice remains clear, ethical, and sustainable over time.
Heal the Healer™ Immersions
a return to purpose
Heal the Healer™ Immersions are in-person experiences for program graduates, curated to support deep internal alignment and sustained professional presence.
Each Immersion is rooted in the Heal the Healer™ Map, intentionally limited in size, and held in carefully chosen environments to support depth, safety, and meaningful integration.
rachel pires
About the Founder
Rachel Pires is the founder of Head and Heart Institute and the creator of Heal the Healer™.
With nearly two decades of experience in psychotherapy, somatic practice, EMDR, and clinical consultation, Rachel brings a grounded, attuned approach to supporting healers and practitioners. Her work integrates clinical depth and somatic awareness to support sustainable practice and ethical presence.
She is known for her calm guidance, depth of knowledge, and the ability to help people connect head and heart with clarity and integrity.