About Me

I’m Shaelyn Cataldo, LMHC, PMH-C, an EMDR therapist and founder of You Matter Holistic Healing in Rhode Island. I specialize in working with adults navigating anxiety, attachment and developmental trauma, emotional neglect, identity and authenticity, complicated family relationships, grief, and the lasting impact of what happened to you, as well as what did not happen for you.

I offer in-person therapy in Cranston, Rhode Island, as well as virtual therapy for clients throughout Rhode Island.

Many of my clients are thoughtful, self-aware, and highly sensitive people who understand their patterns intellectually but still find themselves overthinking, people-pleasing, shutting down, becoming reactive, or carrying responsibility for the emotions and needs of others. Our work often explores the ways early relationships shaped your sense of self, helping you move from shame and self-criticism toward greater self-compassion, authenticity, and trust in yourself.

I also specialize in perinatal mental health and the intersection of attachment and parenthood. Becoming a parent can bring our own childhood surprisingly close to the surface. Your child’s big feelings, needs, or vulnerability may activate places in you that learned to grow up quickly, stay small, keep the peace, or manage emotions alone.

Our work may focus on:

•Anxiety, overwhelm, and chronic self-doubt
•Attachment wounds, developmental trauma, and emotional neglect
•Complicated families from enmeshment to estrangement
•Identity, authenticity, shame, and self-compassion
•Highly sensitive people and nervous system overwhelm
•Grief and significant life transitions
•Mother wound
•Pregnancy, postpartum, birth trauma, and matrescence
•Parenting triggers and emotional reactivity
•Breaking generational patterns and reconnecting with your needs, voice, and boundaries

My approach to EMDR is relational, attachment-focused, somatic, and parts-informed. Rather than simply managing symptoms, we work with the experiences underneath them, including both what happened and what was missing, helping the brain and body recognize what belongs to the past so you can have greater freedom and choice in the present.

At the heart of my work is the belief that healing is a process of coming home to yourself. EMDR can help loosen what has become stuck so you can move toward greater self-trust, authenticity, connection, and the freedom to more fully be yourself.