Erica Dean completed training in mentalization-based treatment (MBT) in 2026 through the Mentalizing Initiative, a Los Angeles-based nonprofit that began in 2006 as UCLA’s Borderline Personality Disorder Initiative and was the first MBT program in the U.S. Mentalizing is the capacity to understand one’s own and others’ behavior in terms of underlying thoughts, feelings, needs, and intentions. It helps people stay curious and reflective, especially in moments of stress, conflict, or emotional intensity. This matters most in complex trauma, where early and repeated relational harm often makes it hard to think effectively about what’s happening inside and between people, and where relationships can feel unsafe. Erica uses mentalizing to help clients build steadier self-awareness and a more flexible understanding of other people before and alongside trauma processing, going at a pace that keeps them within their window of tolerance. She integrates it with EMDR in two main ways. During preparation, it strengthens clients’ ability to observe their inner experience without being overwhelmed, which supports stability and readiness for reprocessing. Throughout and after reprocessing, it helps clients make sense of old experiences and current relationship patterns with more compassion, so the changes from EMDR carry into everyday life and relationships.