EMDR & IFS Intensives
Deep Healing Without the Limits of Weekly Therapy
Sometimes healing needs more space, more support, and more momentum than a traditional 50-minute session can provide. EMDR and IFS intensives are designed to help you move through stuck patterns, trauma, anxiety, burnout, and emotional overwhelm in a focused and compassionate way.
Intensives offer extended therapy sessions so you can experience meaningful progress without interrupting the healing process week after week.
Whether you feel emotionally exhausted, trapped in old patterns, or ready to process deeper experiences, intensives create the time and safety needed for lasting change.
What Are EMDR & IFS Intensives?
EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) and IFS (Internal Family Systems) are evidence-based approaches that help people heal from trauma, anxiety, attachment wounds, and nervous system dysregulation.
An intensive combines these therapies into longer, personalized sessions that allow us to:
Identify core emotional patterns
Process traumatic memories and triggers
Reduce anxiety and emotional reactivity
Build internal safety and self-trust
Create lasting nervous system regulation
Reconnect with clarity, confidence, and calm
Instead of spending weeks “catching up” at the start of each session or losing momentum between sessions, we use dedicated therapeutic time to go deeper and maintain momentum.
Who Are Intensives For?
Intensives may be a good fit if you:
Feel stuck in traditional weekly therapy
Want faster progress and deeper healing
Experience anxiety, panic, or chronic overwhelm
Are healing from trauma or difficult childhood experiences
Struggle with perfectionism, people-pleasing, or burnout
Feel emotionally disconnected or numb
Want focused support during a life transition
Have limited availability for ongoing weekly sessions
You do not need to have a specific diagnosis to benefit from intensive therapy.
What Is the Structure of an Intensive?
Every intensive is customized to your needs, history, and goals. While each experience is unique, most intensives follow this structure:
1. Consultation & Assessment
We begin with a brief consultation call to discuss your goals, concerns, and what kind of intensive is the right fit for you.
You will also complete 1-2 assessment sessions focused on creating a therapeutic treatment plan that will be EMDR and/or IFS informed.
2. Preparation & Resourcing
Before processing deeper material, we build emotional safety and grounding skills using IFS and/or nervous system regulation tools.
This phase helps you feel supported, stabilized, and prepared for deeper work and usually lasts another 1-2 sessions.
3. Intensive Therapy Sessions
Sessions may range from:
Half-day intensives (2-3 hours)
Full-day intensives (5-6 hours)
During this time we may use:
EMDR processing
IFS parts work
Somatic awareness
Attachment-focused interventions
Mindfulness and grounding practices
Breaks are built in throughout the day to support regulation and integration. Breaks can be taken as much or as often as needed including shorter breaks for stretching, drinking water, going to the bathroom, and a significantly longer break for eating or resting around halfway through an intensive, allowing for deeper processing without burnout.
4. Integration & Aftercare
Healing does not stop when the intensive ends. We conclude with integration support and personalized recommendations to help you continue processing and caring for yourself afterward.
Follow-up sessions may also be available.
5. Follow Up Sessions
Follow up sessions can help support your integration of changes and shifts noticed through trauma processing.
ACCELERATED HEALING
Extended sessions allow us to move through layers of emotional material without repeatedly stopping and restarting.
Benefits of EMDR & IFS Intensives
DEEPER EMOTIONAL PROCESSING
You have the time and support needed to fully access and process experiences that may feel difficult to reach in weekly therapy.
REDUCED ANXIETY & EMOTIONAL REACTIVITY
Clients often experience greater calm, clarity, and nervous system regulation after intensive work.
GREATER SELF-COMPASSION
IFS helps you understand and care for the parts of yourself carrying fear, shame, protection, or pain.
LASTING CHANGE
By addressing root experiences rather than only managing symptoms, intensives can create meaningful long-term shifts.
What Makes This Approach Different?
EMDR and IFS work together beautifully.
EMDR helps the brain and nervous system process unresolved experiences, while IFS helps you develop a compassionate relationship with the different parts of yourself that hold pain, protection, fear, or survival strategies.
EXTENDED EMDR PROCESSING
This is the core of the intensive.
The therapist guides:
Recalling target material
Bilateral stimulation:
eye movements
tapping
tones
Processing often occurs in repeated cycles:
Target activation
Bilateral stimulation set
Brief report
Next set
Longer intensives allow:
Completing more targets more quickly
Deeper associative chains
Less disruption between sessions
EXTENDED IFS PARTS WORK
This is the core of the intensive.
Because there’s more uninterrupted time, people can:
Spend longer with protectors
Explore exiles more carefully
Move through multiple layers of a system
Avoid the stop-and-start feeling of weekly therapy
The therapist may guide:
Direct dialogue with parts
Somatic awareness
Memory work
Unburdening processes
Witnessing younger wounded parts
Together, these approaches support healing that is both deep and gentle.
You are never pushed beyond your capacity. The process is collaborative, paced carefully, and centered around safety.
How EMDR and IFS Intensives Differ
EMDR
More protocol driven
Focus on memory reprocessing
Uses bilateral stimulation
Often structured around targets
Usually more directional
IFS
More exploratory/dialogue-based
Focus on internal relationships between parts
Uses Self-to-part connection
Often structured around emergent system dynamics
Usually more relational/open-ended
Frequently Asked Questions
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Intensives cost $275 per hour. Total cost varies depending on the total number of hours you’d like for your intensive. A typical half day 3 hr intensive will cost $825 and a typical full day 6 hr intensive will cost $1,650.
Assessment, preparation, and follow up sessions may be covered by insurance depending on your insurance and my license and contracts. But specific intensive sessions will be private pay at the intensive rate.
A 50% non-refundable retainer is required to hold your intensive dates. The remaining payment is due on the day of your intensive.
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Intensives are intentionally structured with preparation, grounding, pacing, and breaks to support nervous system regulation throughout the process.
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Some clients experience significant relief after one intensive, while others choose ongoing or multiple intensives depending on their goals. Most of my clients do one intensive per month until they feel like they resolve one specific topic or once per quarter for ongoing work on many topics that are intertwined.
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No. Intensives can be helpful whether you are new to therapy or have been in therapy for years.
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Yes! Trauma intensives can be a powerful adjunct to your ongoing weekly therapy. The intensive allows you to dive deep and make significant progress in a short amount of time, complementing the work you’re already doing with your weekly/primary therapist. It can help you process deeper layers of trauma or unresolved emotional experiences in a shorter amount of concentrated time, while your weekly sessions provide continued support and integration for the rest of your life.
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Yes. All intensives are offered virtually.
Begin Your Healing Journey
If you are ready for focused, compassionate support and deeper healing, an EMDR and/or IFS intensive may be the next step.
Reach out to schedule a consultation and learn whether an intensive is right for you.