What are EMDR Intensives? Everything You Need to Know
You’ve been wanting to get into therapy, but life keeps happening. You’ve heard of EMDR therapy, maybe people in your life have experienced it, and they say it’s amazing. You are definitely interested, but don’t know if you can commit to a weekly schedule. You have busy work demands, your family keeps you more than occupied, you have commitments to your community, it’s hard to find time for anything, let alone deep emotional work. You know you need space for your own healing, but you don't want to wait months, even years to feel better.
EMDR Intensives Offer Accelerated Healing so You Can Feel Better, Faster
Differences Between Weekly EMDR & EMDR Intensives
This biggest difference is EMDR Intensive therapy allows for longer sessions (90 min to 3 hours) than the traditional 1 hour a-week model. This allows for the work you do with your EMDR therapist to go further, faster rather than the start and stop of weekly sessions. You’ll see faster results in one 3-hour session, as opposed to three 1-hour sessions a week apart.
EMDR Intensives focus on very specific treatment goals, with personalized treatment plans. Similar to all types of therapy, but instead of beginning sessions with what might be coming up for you week to week, the focus stays on diving deeply into the particular problem you want to solve.
EMDR Intensives come with a personalized Client Workbook that will guide you before, during and after your Intensive. You and your EMDR therapist will already have insights about you, making this work invaluable because these types of insights can take months to make in weekly therapy, and you’ll make them before you step into the therapy room. This give you more agency and accountability in your own healing.
Depending on the nature & complexity of what you’d like to work on, will determine how many EMDR Intensive Therapy Sessions you’ll schedule. Different Intensive targets can range from: Very specific traumatic events (often occurred one time with no relation to another incident) or Recent traumatic events (within the past 6 months) to more extensive or persistent traumatic event or Complex trauma (ongoing and involving people close to you).
What to Consider About EMDR Intensive Therapy:
You wont be doing deep trauma reprocessing for 1-3 hours at a time. Just like any other therapy treatment, time is spent gathering history, assessing, building skills, and preparing for EMDR reprocessing. In some cases, the actual reprocessing may not occur, and the focus is on building skills to prepare you for trauma work. It’s possible you may benefit from more than one Intensive.
Just like any other therapy, EMDR Intensives are not guaranteed to be a “quick fix”. Definitely not in one session. You are likely to feel much better after an EMDR intensive therapy session, but depending on your history and trauma, results will vary according to your particular situation, and your workbook reflections. The more you put into your Intensive Program, the more you’ll get out of it.
The cost for EMDR Intensives is a higher upfront cost (but each session is billed one at a time). Because of the benefits previously mentioned, Intensives are considered a premium service providing high value to clients. You can assess your financial situation, access to cover the payment, and decide what financial investment in your healing looks like for you.
What should I do if I’m interested in EMDR Intensives in California but still unsure of where to start?
You can read more about EMDR therapy, in general, being very different from talk therapy and is different for each person depending on their unique experiences. You can read more about how EMDR Intensive therapy can help you in particular.
While EMDR Intensives have been discussed as highly beneficial, there are multiple ways you can do EMDR therapy. The weekly EMDR model continues to be a favorable model to many, who see great results. Adjunct EMDR therapy, which means doing EMDR to complement ongoing talk therapy has also been found a very productive approach to treatment.
If you're interested in starting therapy at Empowered Mind Therapy Center in California follow these steps:
Get in touch with our Client Care Coordinator at 925-257-0205 and book your free consultation. We can answer all your questions!
Start working with an EMDR therapist who offers EMDR Intensives
Get started on your healing journey and finally feel better.
Other In-person & Online Therapy Services Offered in California
Besides offering three different options for EMDR therapy Empowered Mind Counseling also offers Brainspotting. They are offered as treatment options for anxiety, depression, and trauma. They can also be helpful for women of color and relationship issues.
All services are offered in person in Walnut Creek, CA, or anywhere in California through online therapy.
About The Author
Vanessa Solis, LCSW is a Certified EMDR therapist & Approved EMDR Consultant in the San Fransisco Bay Area, offering EMDR Intensives in person and online throughout California. She is the Owner and Director of Empowered Mind Therapy Center, a therapy community where women of color thrive.