EMDR Intensives
How Can an EMDR Intensive Help?
“Trauma” is a word that is used frequently – but often inaccurately. I like to think of trauma as anything in your life that was perceived as a threat where you either feared that you didn’t have the capacity to cope with it or you truly did not have the capacity to deal with it. So it is not always a super scary event like war or incest, although it could be those, but often we experience trauma responses as a result of a variety of events in our lives. And what is more painful and long lasting is the message we take away about ourselves in response to that event. For example, let’s say a 5 year old girl sees her parents having a terrible argument that started with something small that she did, it’s possible that her brain tells her “I am to blame when someone is mad” and she develops an urge to people please and temper people’s anger for the rest of her life. We have to turn towards that event and get it unstuck!
It’s not always an event that happens in someone’s life, but rather the emotional response of that event that someone has. This trauma can result in the inability to understand and connect to the emotions that we have related to that event.
The great news is – you are able to rewire those connections, emotions, and responses that you have connected to your traumatic event. Trauma is one of the most common reasons that people seek out therapy today – and EMDR is the most effective treatment for working through, reducing and even eliminating your trauma responses.
It’s easy to feel overwhelmed by the scheduling and time requirements of making it to weekly therapy sessions to work through your experiences. Or maybe you feel like you spend half of your hour-long session working up the courage to get to the real issue at hand – and then once you’ve finally made it there – your session is nearly over! It can be painful and frustrating to work through these emotions over and over in weekly sessions.
However – there is a better way!
EMDR Intensive Programs are an amazing opportunity to give yourself the space and time to be fully vulnerable and work through your emotions in one sitting rather than opening the wound over and over again. An EMDR Intensive can be structured in many different ways but most common is to set up a 4 hour session and then we decide together how much more is needed in the future. Everyone’s trauma is different.
We like to think of the EMDR Intensives in 3 parts – Your Initial Assessment, EMDR Intensive, and a Follow Up Appointment.
01.
In Our Initial Assessment
We will spend 60 minutes together discussing your specific needs for our session together. We will work through any questions and concerns that you have and identify your negative belief systems that are reinforcing your trauma responses and reactions in your everyday life.
02.
In our EMDR Intensive Session
We will spend the first 30 minutes getting you comfortable in the space – preparing you with resources and self care tactics to support you both in our Intensive session and after. We will work through EMDR reprocessing of target memories for 180 minutes – taking breaks as necessary to ensure that you stay within your emotional threshold.
03.
After your EMDR Intensive Session
We will schedule a Follow Up Appointment 2 weeks later. In this session, we will discuss your improvement and decide if further treatment may be helpful in your overall healing.
I know healing is possible for you! I look forward to helping
To schedule a consultation for an EMDR Intensive, click here!