EMDR Intensives are a great approach for people who want results–FAST.
There are a number of ways we get you from here to healed QUICKLY with our intensive program.
1. We have set aside the third week of every month exclusively for intensives clients. In a time when there are often months-long waiting lists for your favorite therapists, our intensives clients are prioritized and can often get in within a few weeks. (You will need to schedule a free consultation to assure you are a fit to the program prior to scheduling your intake and intensive reprocessing session(s)).
2. You can turn therapy into a “mental health retreat.” By scheduling multiple intensive days in a row, you can get to completion “this week.” Sure, you will need to give yourself a break on the evenings of appointments so that your nervous system can absorb the changes being made, and it may be an intense few days; but after weeks, months or even years of intensity, haven’t you dreamt of a “reset button”? That is exactly what intensives feel like, with clients feeling the quick change can’t possibly be real! But it is! Clients will describe something that was formerly intense as feeling “greyed out,” “distant” or like they “can’t quite touch the feelings of it” anymore, even though the memory of the event remains.
3. EMDR is already a fast approach to therapy as it is laser-focused on resetting the memory networks of moments that caused the stress in your life. However, with 3- to 6-hour intensives appointments, we are able to reduce your time in therapy even further.
All EMDR appointments come with “bookends.” The process starts with learning self-calming skills and ends with re-grounding and discussing next steps. The time between the bookends is the active reprocessing time. With intentives, we don’t spend as much time with the resourcing/calming skills because you will be more likely to have multiple targets complete by the end of the session, thereby feeling calmer. Shorter sessions may end mid-processing. When you end mid-processing, you must also spend more time regulating at the end of the session so you can go on with your daily life. By having more time for reprocessing between these bookends, the bookends themselves become shorter and less necessary, because you work to completion (thereby increasing the percentage of your paid time for the deep work of reprocessing)!
Essentially, with the content of multiple sessions processed in a single day, you make more complete progress with less preparation. Progress is fast, and the intensive format allows you to leave your appointment with much lower “distress” score, with the potential for less distress between sessions. By having a dedicated chunk of time devoted to treatment at one time, you increase the percentage of session time spent addressing the memories and symptoms that brought you to treatment.
4. Sometimes it’s hard to put the skills you are learning in talk therapy into practice because the nervous system prevents action (why would my animal mind allow me to put myself in increased “danger” when I am already overwhelmed and fearful). Reset the nervous system, and suddenly the blocks are removed, reducing your overall therapy investment of time and money. A multiday intensive approach can address multiple stressors, even childhood traumas, putting you in a better position to be back in the driver’s seat of your life. This can take the “years” out of therapy in more complex cases.
What to Expect
The EMDR Intensive consists of four parts: a Free Phone Consultation, an Intake Appointment, one or more
3- to 6-hour EMDR Intensive Reprocessing Appointments, and a Follow-Up Appointment.
No matter what program you choose with Spirited Growth LLC, a Free Phone Consultation is the first step! The free consultation is an opportunity to get to know each other and to get your questions answered. It’s a time to share a little about what’s been happening and your goals for wellness. It is also a time to get a feel of me as a therapist. Do you think we will work well together? At the same time, time I will be listening, asking questions for clarification, and making sure my skill set is the best match for your needs. If for some reason I feel I am not the best match, I will provide you some names for referral to make your time worthwhile and take some of the stress out of your search. If we both agree an EMDR Intensive is the best approach, we will schedule an Intake Appointment.
An Intake Appointment is the first step as an official client. Intake appointments can be 55- or 85-minutes long. You will complete paperwork and assessments that will make this part of the process flow more efficiently as they will give me a good picture of what’s happening for you and your nervous system. This appointment is point of deeper assessment to assure that and EMDR Intensive is a fit and to start the process of identifying critical moments and negative belief systems.
EMDR Intensive Reprocessing Appointments are generally available the third week of every month (or alternative weeks during holiday months). You may choose a 3-hour or a 6-hour session. In general, 6-hour sessions are scheduled with a half hour break at the middle of the day. Sometimes, with advance notice and mutual availability, Intensives can we scheduled on a weekend.
- EMDR Intensive Reprocessing Appointments start with some resourcing (learning basic skills for self-calming, for about 45 minutes) prior to the beginning of reprocessing. The last 15 minutes or so of the appointment will be focused on closure and reassessment of need for future sessions. In between those “bookends” is time allotted for reprocessing of traumatic memories, with a 5-minute break approximately every 1.5 hours for personal body needs.
- You will choose your Intensive length based on your personal tolerance as well as how much time we feel you will need, with reassessment at the end of each appointment. Know that research shows results for intensives of ½ to 10 days in length (shorter are possible for single incident cases, and longer for the more complex cases with multiple and/or childhood traumas), with many clients requiring 3 or less days. There is no way of knowing for sure how long this will take, but we will make educated assessments as we meet. Duration is fully dependent on the complexity of the trauma and the client’s coping mechanisms, so we cannot make promises on duration of treatment—only share general research and assess as needed.
- The rate for the 3-hour and 6-hour EMDR Intensive Reprocessing Appointments is noted below, as a price per appointment.
When you feel complete with EMDR Intensive Reprocessing Appointments, we will schedule a final Follow-Up Appointment. This 55- to 85-minute appointment will be an opportunity to complete processing and assess progress against our goals. We will also discuss maintenance strategies and how to identify if or when there is need for more services. We suggest scheduling the follow-up session within one to two weeks of your intensive.
- This appointment and subsequent appointments will be charged at our current fee for therapy appointments.
3-Hour EMDR Intensive Reprocessing Appointment Fee per Session (Half-Day)
$555*
6-Hour EMDR Intensive Reprocessing Appointment Fee per Session (Full-Day)
$1110*
AND SOME FINE PRINT:
*This fee does NOT include the required Intake and Follow-Up appointments
**50% is due at the time of scheduling the Intensive Reprocessing appointment and the remainder is due at the time of your appointment.
***All fees are private pay. Insurance is not accepted by Spirited Growth LLC.
****Scheduled a 6-hour day but only needed 3 hours? We will round up to the nearest 1/2 day for your fee, so 3 hours (with 6 hours originally scheduled) will be charged for only 3 hours, 4 hours will be charged 6 hours, etc
Ready to get serious about EMDR with EMDR Intensives? Your first step is to schedule a free phone consultation where we will determine if this is the right approach for you. This will be an opportunity to ask questions and make sure we are a good fit for working together.
Schedule your free 20-minute consultation!
