Your intensive experience
A clear path from first call to life after the intensive.
Every intensive is individualized. Here is what to expect at each step, and how EMDR works along the way.
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A free consultation
Free · 20 minutes
A confidential conversation about your goals and whether an intensive could be a fit. No obligation.
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Assessment & Personalized Roadmap
$450 · included in every package
A required first step that shapes everything after it. We look at your history and the patterns you want to change, and decide together whether an intensive is appropriate.
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Preparation and resourcing
Before the intensive
We build the grounding and regulation skills you will use during processing, so the work is paced and contained.
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Your intensive days
One to three days
Focused EMDR in extended sessions, with genogram work, ego state interventions, and breaks built in. Each day closes with grounding.
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Integration
After the intensive
A post-intensive integration session, a personalized workbook and resources, and a 30-day follow-up check-in.
The Assessment & Personalized Roadmap
The assessment is where your intensive is designed. It is included in every package and paid before it begins.
- Review of your history and intake questionnaires
- Review of relevant screening and assessment measures
- Identifying your goals, patterns, and the concerns we will focus on
- An individualized clinical formulation and treatment plan
- A personalized roadmap for your intensive
The Freedom to Put It Down
The three days
Day 1
See the Pattern
Understanding what you've been carrying
Explore family dynamics through the genogram, recognize learned roles and beliefs, and begin EMDR processing when clinically appropriate.
Day 2
Release the Burden
Processing what was never yours to carry
Continue individualized EMDR processing, addressing painful experiences, negative beliefs, and emotional responsibilities that have shaped longstanding patterns.
Day 3
Choose Yourself
Creating a new way forward
Integrate the therapeutic work, strengthen adaptive beliefs, rehearse healthier responses, and develop a personalized plan for moving forward.
How EMDR works
EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) is a structured therapy that helps the brain reprocess distressing experiences. Rather than retelling every detail, it works with the way memory is held in the nervous system.
EMDR is recommended for post-traumatic stress by the World Health Organization and the American Psychological Association. (APA on EMDR)
The eight phases, plainly
1. History and planning
Understanding your story and choosing what to focus on.
2. Preparation
Building the skills that keep you steady during processing.
3. Assessment
Identifying the memory, the belief attached to it, and how it feels now.
4. Desensitization
Processing the memory with bilateral stimulation, such as eye movements or tapping.
5. Installation
Strengthening a more helpful belief in place of the old one.
6. Body scan
Noticing and processing what remains in the body.
7. Closure
Returning to calm at the end of every session.
8. Reevaluation
Checking what has shifted and what comes next.
Specialized approaches
- The Evicting Toxic Shame protocol. An advanced EMDR approach developed by Phoebe Bergvall, LCMHC, for shame that has settled in as part of identity, often rooted in early experiences.
- Ego state interventions. Gentle work with the different parts of you, such as the part that keeps going no matter what, so each can be understood rather than overridden.
- R-TEP (Recent Traumatic Episode Protocol). An EMDR approach for a recent event that still feels raw.
Questions about the experience
- Does EMDR require me to talk through everything in detail?
- No. EMDR works on how a memory is stored rather than asking you to narrate every detail again and again. You stay in control of how much you share aloud.
- What is a genogram?
- A genogram is a family map that goes beyond a family tree. It shows relationships, roles, and patterns across generations, and it often makes visible the responsibilities you took on without choosing them.
- How is an intensive different from weekly therapy?
- Weekly therapy spreads work across months, and each session starts by finding its way back. An intensive gives you dedicated, concentrated time, so the work can build across hours instead of restarting each week. It is a different format, not a promise of a faster result.
- Is EMDR evidence-based?
- EMDR is one of the most studied therapies for trauma and is recommended by the World Health Organization and the American Psychological Association. Results vary by person, and we set realistic expectations together.
Begin with a conversation.
A free, confidential 20-minute consultation to talk about your goals, ask your questions, and see whether an intensive is right for you.