EMDR Intensives

To learn more about what EMDR is, Click Here.

Think about going on a lunch date with someone - whether it's someone you know well, or someone you just met. It is maybe an hour or two long. You talk about general updates of your life, and then you go back to your normal day.

Now imagine taking a day-long trip with this person. What's the difference, besides the obvious amount of time spent?

On a full day trip, you begin to let your defenses down a little more. You get to know each other even better, have deeper conversations, and relax into each other's presence more. You're not having to check your watch to make sure you get back to whatever you have next on time.

In a typical hour-long therapy session, many clients feel like they can only really scratch the surface, particularly when addressing deep-seated trauma wounds. Longer sessions provide the opportunity to take a deep dive into a specific wound, make some traction, and find a stronger sense of clarity and progress in one day, more than is possible in an hour per week.

Beginning the Journey

Cons of longer EMDR sessions:

Exhaustion - you are doing deep and difficult work and can expect to need a day or two to rest and recover. To manage this during the day, we do take frequent breaks and can change positions to get a change of scenery. When it starts to feel overwhelming, I will offer different resources to help you stay in your window of tolerance. Just like running a marathon, pacing is a priority. This isn't a sprint.
Not covered by insurance - Some clients have had success getting the first hour covered by insurance, but this format of therapy is not supported by our current managed health care system.

EMDR intensives are sessions that range in length from 90 minutes up to 6 hours a day.

Intensive sessions can be compared to running a marathon. It requires preparation, training, and encouragement. It can feel difficult in the middle of it, and you wonder why you signed up for this and if you can make it. But when you cross that finish line, the reward is so worth the effort.

If you've ever taken a road trip with young kids and driven through the night on a long trip, you know how drowsy you start to get in the last half.

But it's better than stopping every 2 hours for your kids to pee or having to deal with the mental noise and traffic of rush hour. Compare this to having an EMDR session in the middle of your day and having to jump right back into work and the stress of daily life while still mentally processing old "yuck" memories. Intensives provide an opportunity to find that light at the end of a dark tunnel.

Pros of longer EMDR sessions:

More processing done in a shorter amount of time
Feel better quicker
Fewer weeks or months in therapy overall
Potential to do EMDR in a city further away from home without having to travel frequently
Only having to take a few hours/days off work once a month rather than an hour every week
Better rapport with therapist as defenses come down
Better ability to stay present in session and "lose track of time" to really focus on the work

How It Works:

To get started with EMDR intensives, you will need to schedule a free phone consult. For local clients, I will do an hour long intake session first to ensure you will be a good fit for the intensive format. We will then discuss the scheduling on an individual basis rather than you scheduling online. For clients not local to Chattanooga, we will discuss during the phone consult the best way to get started given your individual circumstances.

Scheduling - I currently only schedule half-day (4 hour) intensives. Scheduling is done on a case by case basis.

Billing - Intensives are billed at my hourly rate of $125 per hour.

Pacing - During EMDR intensives, I check in with you approximately every hour to see if you need a break to stretch, eat, drink, use the restroom, listen to some music, etc. You are always welcome to ask for a break at ANY time.

To get started, schedule a free phone consult with me by clicking here.

Having trouble booking an appointment? Just use my contact form instead.

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