Dr. Gayle Cordes

Person looking out at an island
Welcome

“Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”

—Mary Oliver, The Summer Day

Working Together
A life well-lived is founded on what matters most to you. Whether you’re facing work stress, a relationship issue, a health crisis or a life transition, I can help - by asking questions, listening deeply, guiding you to see possibilities - then supporting you in keeping your eye on what matters most to you. I have practical strategies in my toolkit after many years in the corporate environment, the therapy suite, and the graduate classroom. Together, we’ll create a way to get started and a process to help you move forward.

As to how we meet, I work primarily by video conferencing and occasionally by telephone.
Educating Therapy Professionals: The Ripple Effect
After decades of working with people as a manager and a Fortune 500 executive, then later as a psychotherapist, I learned a thing or two about what works. I put that to the test in a retrospective pilot study at the University of Arizona Integrative Health Center with significant results.

As a Doctor of Behavioral Health, I was fired up to bring a broader understanding of the effects of adversity and psychological trauma to healthcare providers - to teach how to help others heal with bold new evidence-based therapies that enable people to go forward and have lives well-lived.

In 2016, Cummings Graduate Institute invited me to do just that. To build a trauma-informed specialty track within their 100% online Doctor of Behavioral Health degree program for the healthcare leaders of the future.

The ripple effect in action.
Testimonials

“There are few practitioners I have worked with who I would label as superstars in their field, Dr. Gayle Cordes is one of them. Her approach to counseling and utilization of EMDR therapy has made profound changes in the lives of my patients.”

—Heidi Rula, MD, Medical Director, Supportive Care Services, Ironwood Cancer & Research Centers, and former Medical Director, University of Arizona Integrative Health Center

“I have worked with Gayle since the early 90’s when she was a business executive in the Detroit area. She is as dedicated and skilled in the therapy suite as she was in the executive suite, now helping individuals rather than organizations heal, grow and optimize their wellbeing.”

—Lewis W. Smith, PhD, Neuropsychological Consulting Services

"Dr. Cordes has served as the Trauma subject matter expert (SME) at CGI since we opened our doors, and has spearheaded CGI’s trauma-informed curricula since day one. Thanks to her leadership and dedication to the healthcare leaders of the future, CGI’s 100% online graduate level training and education is first in the nation in designing and delivering trauma-informed and evidence-based healthcare leaders, clinicians, environments, and entrepreneurs. Our students love learning from her, and she is beloved by our faculty and staff teams. We are very, very fortunate to have been the recipients of her time and SME investments!"

—Dr. Cara English, CEO, Cummings Graduate Institute for Behavioral Health Studies

“I referred clients to Dr. Cordes for in excess of a decade. She helped them embrace and transition into the substantial changes that divorce brings; my clients raved about the assistance that she offered. Transitions are her superpower.”

—Catherine A. Creighton, Attorney at Law, MediateNOW

Learn More
Media
Watch interviews about my profession on YouTube
Resources
Read a paper, take a class, or watch a video about stress reduction resources
Contact Me
Have any questions, concerns, or are interested in more information about me?
Publications
Read about my publications
About Me
For nearly twenty years, I was a state-licensed psychotherapist and owner of an independent practice in Arizona, with specialty training and advanced certifications in trauma treatment therapies, including eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR). Along with my work in private practice, I served on staff at the 2012 launch of the University of Arizona Integrative Health Center in Phoenix, associated with Dr. Andrew Weil and the Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine, where I conducted an unpublished, retrospective study on the treatment effects of EMDR therapy on co-occurring anxiety and chronic medical conditions. Since 2018, I served on an EMDRIA Board task force charged with drafting guidelines for the delivery of EMDR therapy virtually as well as training therapists in EMDR therapy through distance learning. In 2022, that initiative developed into the inaugural EMDRIA Training Council, upon which I served as a member of the steering committee.

Prior to my career in psychotherapy, as an MBA, I spent 25 years in the corporate sector; in the later years of that chapter...