Crisis Work Inside Emergency Medicine Shaped How I Practice Now
LICENSED TRAUMA THERAPIST FOR PHYSICIANS, NURSES & FIRST RESPONDERS
I've stood in the resuscitation room and watched a healthy child die for no reason anyone could explain. I've tracked down a family member to tell them to come in now, then sat with them after the efforts stopped working. I've stayed in the room after everything went quiet, because someone had to, and that someone was often me.
That's not backstory. It's the reason sessions here don't start with explaining what the job costs you. I already know the shorthand, the gallows humor, the particular silence after a bad outcome that no one outside the field would recognize as normal. You can start where you actually are, not where you'd need to be to make it make sense to someone who's never stood in it.
I've been a social worker for over fourteen years, the first decade of it inside emergency departments and medical units, providing crisis intervention to people on what was often the worst day of their lives.
Hi! I'm Vickery Rendall, LICSW
Physicians, nurses, and first responders don't always get the luxury of processing things slowly. You're expected to compartmentalize a shift that broke something in you, then remember to grab balloons for your daughter's birthday on the drive home.
That gap, between what the job demands and what most therapy offers, is exactly where this practice lives. You don't need someone who requires months to understand what you're carrying. You need someone who already gets it, and who can move at the speed your life actually requires.
Most therapy is built for people with the luxury of time
In-person therapy available in Bellingham, WA | Telehealth available across all licensed states
Trained In Accelerated Resolution Therapy (ART)
EMDR Certified Therapist (EMDRIA)
Full Clinical Licensure, 2015
BA, University of Maine, 2010
MSW, Boston University, 2012
Training & credentials
I split my clinical background between two things: the structured, protocol-driven world of emergency medicine, and the slower work of helping people actually process what that world puts them through. I've spent time on both sides of that line, which is part of why I don't ask clients to explain the job to me before we can get to work.
My approach stays practical and collaborative, built around clear communication and a pace that respects how little room your schedule actually has. I'm not interested in vague check-ins or open-ended process. You deserve to know what we're working on and why, session by session.
A Decade Inside Emergency Medicine, Then A Practice Built From What I Saw
Your license and your professional reputation are part of what's on the line, not just your privacy. Every session accounts for that reality, not just standard confidentiality practices.
Discretion That Matches The Stakes
No open-ended sessions that drift without a plan. I tell you what we're working on, why we're using a particular approach, and what progress should actually look like.
Direct, Not Padded
I use modalities with real research behind them, EMDR, ART, somatic work, Deep Brain Reorienting, chosen based on what you need, not what's popular this year. You deserve to know the "why" behind every part of your treatment plan.
Evidence Over Trend
My Approach
QUIET MORNINGS THAT ACTUALLY FEEL QUIET
PRESENT FOR BEDTIME, NOT JUST HOME FOR IT
LAUGHING WITHOUT THE STATIC UNDERNEATH IT
Meaningful connection with your partner
SLEEPING THROUGH THE NIGHT AGAIN
A renewed love for favorite hobbies
I know what it costs to compartmentalize for a living. This is what I get to keep instead, and what I want for you too.
