EMDR Telehealth Intensives
You’re focused, ambitious, and constantly moving forward but the past has a way of following, even when there’s no time to slow down.
Why should you schedule an EMDR intensive?
Scheduling a series of EMDR intensive sessions is a way to make the space to work through the sticking points that continue to impact your performance and quality of life in a hyper focused way as opposed to unbounded weekly sessions.
Who is best suited for intensive sessions?
We will not know completely until we begin our work together how your brain and body process and exactly what the path to the past looks like. Everyone is different. However, those who tend to work well with intensives are:
Able to affect shift from sad to positive states, meaning, if intense emotions come up in the session, they are able to ground and leave without feeling terrible
Have been in therapy before and have an understanding of the process and themselves
Can manage the range in emotions that might occur when thinking about a past memory
Have had positive experiences in their lives that they can call upon to feel grounded
Let’s take a look at the benefits and challenges of EMDR
✓Benefits
Offered Friday-Sunday, which allows flexibility with work commitments
2-6 hour periods of time to maximize results and allow for enough time to move through multiple stuck points/memories/triggers
Move through your stuck points and past your past to be able to live your full life without years of weekly therapy
𐄂 Challenges
This work can be emotionally exhausting, especially in larger chunks
As with any therapy, you might feel worse before you feel better - As with any therapy, you might feel worse before you feel better
Higher cost initially, however, when viewed in the terms of weekly therapy, is more cost effective
NEXT STEPS
What does the process look like?
Initial Meeting
2-hour initial telehealth meeting
An in-depth review of your history
Planning around target memories/triggers that will be a focus of the work together
Teaching/practicing of grounding techniques
Engaging in the EMDR FLASH technique, which is a gentler way to dip into past memories without overwhelm and allows us to see how your brain and body respond to EMDR therapy
Follow-up
30-minute follow-up
A review of how the initial meeting went and how you're feeling about the process
A decision of whether or not to move forward or to refer you to a different type of support
A plan about what continued work might look like
Intensives
A series of 2 to 15 intensive sessions, ranging from 2-6 hours each, focused on the plan that we create together
The number of sessions will depend of several factors, including the amount of stuck points, memories, and triggers present
Sessions are via telehealth unless travel for in-person sessions has been discussed.
EMDR intensive FAQs
What is an EMDR intensive?
An EMDR intensive is a series of extended therapy sessions, two to six hours each, focused on a treatment plan we build together. Instead of spreading the work across weekly 50-minute appointments, we set aside concentrated time to move through stuck points, memories, and triggers with momentum. I offer intensives via telehealth, with sessions often available Friday - Sunday.
Where do you offer EMDR intensives?
I'm based in Dallas, Texas, and most intensives happen via telehealth. I'm licensed or registered to meet with clients who are physically located in the states of California, Texas, Illinois, Colorado, Iowa, New York, and Florida. If you're in Dallas or willing to travel here, we can do your intensive in person, and occasionally I travel to a client's location to provide an intensive there.
How is an intensive different from weekly therapy?
Time and focus. A weekly session spends part of every hour settling in and winding down, and the week between sessions can slow momentum. In an intensive, we have room to stay with the work by fully completing a memory, moving to the next one, and then follow the thread while it's present. Intensives also fit differently into a demanding schedule, a few focused days instead of a standing weekly commitment.
What does the intensive process look like?
We start with a two-hour initial meeting: an in-depth review of your history, planning around the target memories and triggers we'll focus on, grounding skills, and a first gentle pass using an advanced EMDR technique, so we can see how your brain and body respond to EMDR therapy. Then a 30-minute follow-up, where we review how it went and decide together whether to move forward. From there, we schedule a series of 2 to 15 intensive sessions, two to six hours each, depending on what we decide and your experience of the initial meeting.
How much does an EMDR intensive cost?
Intensive pricing depends on the length and number of sessions we plan together and is billed at my regular hourly rate, and I'll walk you through exact costs on a discovery call before you commit to anything. Intensives cost more up front than weekly therapy and for many people, the concentrated format means fewer total hours of therapy overall. I don't bill insurance.
Is an EMDR intensive right for me?
Not for everyone, and we won't fully know until we begin. Intensives tend to fit people who have done therapy before, can shift out of intense emotion and ground themselves, and have positive experiences in their lives to draw on. The initial meeting and follow-up exist exactly for this reason, so we start gently, see how you respond, and decide together whether to continue, adjust, or find you a better-fitting kind of support.
Can I do an intensive if I already have a therapist?
Yes, and this is common. An intensive can work as adjunct therapy, where you keep seeing your regular therapist, and we work together on a specific set of stuck points in a concentrated format, with communication between me and your therapist. The initial meeting is where we sort out how the work fits alongside what you're already doing.
Do EMDR intensives work over telehealth?
Yes. My practice is primarily telehealth, and intensives work fully in that format. EMDR therapy works well virtually and there are different ways to provide the bilateral stimulation.
What kinds of concerns do people bring to an intensive?
Most often, the things that keep following high achievers: performance blocks, imposter syndrome, anxiety that hums under a successful surface, and past experiences, big or small, that still drive present reactions. If it's a stuck point that affects your performance or quality of life, it's probably a candidate for the plan we build in the initial meeting.
What's your experience with EMDR?
I've been a licensed therapist since 2012, the same year I trained in EMDR, and I'm an EMDRIA Certified Therapist, Approved Consultant, and Approved Trainer. Alongside my practice, I train other therapists in EMDR, including how to deliver it well. When you do an intensive with me, you're working with someone who teaches this method, not just uses it.