Is an intensive right for you?

Let me start by acknowledging that intensives are a big investment and it’s a decision you want to make thoughtfully. I believe and have witnessed intensives be incredibly beneficial for clients AND they are not the right fit for everyone.

Intensives can be a great fit if you have a specific goal in mind and you want to see progress quickly. Intensives often incorporate multiple modalities but the primary is usually EMDR, Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing. EMDR is incredibly effective in helping people to process trauma which is often the root of what’s keeping us stuck. And when I use the word “trauma,” I am including things such as car accidents, physical or sexual assaults, abuse, pregnancy loss and also things like bullying, infertility, feeling ignored or not good enough in your family or origin, parental substance use, etc.

Trauma overwhelms our nervous system, it’s too much for us to process at the time, and often it leaves us feeling stuck. Sometimes the memories themselves continue to flood your mind. Sometimes it’s a negative belief about yourself that you just can’t shake like “I’m not good enough” or “I’m not safe.” Sometimes it’s the inability of your body to calm down, a constant unexplained anxiety or feeling of being on edge. It can be any of these or a combination of these.

How does an intensive address trauma?

A trauma intensive begins with a 90 minute intake session where we’ll do a thorough history, discuss your goals and decide upon the “target” for the intensive. Some clients come in knowing exactly what memory they wish to target, for others, they have the goal to address somewhere they feel stuck and we’ll work together to decide upon the target memory.

After this intake, I will send you a personalized workbook for you to work through before, during and after the intensive. This is something unique to intensives. While I use many of the tools in the workbook with my weekly clients, I only provide this personalized workbook to my intensive clients. Completing this workbook will allow you to engage more fully in the process, it’ll “prime the pump” of reprocessing, allowing you dig deeper and get the most out of your intensive.

During the intensive, we will ensure you have adequate resources to manage any anxiety which arises during reprocessing, we will setup and begin reprocessing. For shorter intensives (half-day/ 3 hours), there may or may not be time to full reprocess a memory but hopefully you’ll have begun to process and gotten a feel for EMDR. For longer intensives (6-9 hours), there is more opportunity to full reprocess a target, though everyone is different, and some trauma is more complex and will need more time.

After the intensive, we will meet once more for a final session to check-in about the intensive and ensure you have a plan moving forward in your healing journey.

Why do an intensive versus weekly EMDR sessions?

First and foremost, you absolutely can do EMDR in weekly therapy sessions. For years this is how I have utilized EMDR in therapy and for many it is highly effective and for some it’s not, which is why I have begun offering therapy intensives. In weekly therapy, we meet for 45 minutes. In this time, there is a need to check-in about the time since the last session, check-in on the EMDR target, and then jump into EMDR reprocessing and then we need a few minutes at the end to wrap things up. For many clients this allows 20-30 minutes of actual reprocessing time. For clients who move easily in and out of reprocessing, this works beautifully. However, many clients need some times to settle into session, to feel safe in the session and in the reprocessing. The short reprocessing window doesn’t work for them and some report EMDR isn’t helpful to them, not because EMDR itself isn’t working but because the time constraints don’t allow them time to feel safe enough to fully engage. Furthermore, some clients find it difficult to open and close the trauma and then have to wait a week until the next reprocessing session.

Intensives allow clients to more time to focus on reprocessing. There is time to allow the client to settle into the session. We can spend time allowing your nervous system to calm down so it’s easier to engage in EMDR reprocessing. Once we begin EMDR reprocessing, there is adequate time to go slow and to get used the process. We can take breaks and then resume reprocessing. For many, this feels much better. Also, it can be more time and cost effective because there isn’t the need to check-in and talk about events of the prior week and to close out at the end of every 45 minute session. A 3 hour intensive session is the equivalent of four 45 minute sessions time-wise but really the reprocessing time is often the equivalent of many more sessions thus clients often report intensives can accomplish what often takes many months in weekly therapy.

Is a trauma intensive a replacement for weekly therapy?

It depends. For some, they don’t have the time and/or the desire to engage in weekly therapy and instead they wish to dedicate their time and resources to an intensive. These clients often feel fairly well-resourced and able to manage life but there is a specific area where they are getting stuck. They have a goal which we work towards during an intensive and that’s all they need in this season.

For others, a trauma intensive will be an adjunctive therapy. Some clients really benefit from weekly therapy and have a strong connection with their primary therapist but weekly therapy isn’t providing them with relief in terms of the trauma. For instance, maybe you have a fantastic eating disorder therapist and you’re making great progress in terms of the eating disorder but your therapist isn’t extensively trained in trauma. An intensive is an opportunity to focus on the trauma with a trained trauma professional while continuing to work on other issues in weekly therapy.

If an intensive sounds like it might be a good fit for you, please reach out and we can set-up a free phone consultation to discuss this more. Reach out HERE.