EMDR Intensive Therapy
A focused approach to healing trauma, distressing life experiences, and longstanding patterns.
What is an EMDR Intensive?
Perhaps you have experienced a traumatic event or a series of events, a loss, or a painful relationship that continues to affect you, despite your best efforts to cope. Or perhaps you have gained insight through therapy, but still feel stuck with longstanding anxiety, emotional reactivity, or negative beliefs about yourself or your life.
EMDR intensive therapy offers a focused way to work on a specific concern without committing to months of weekly appointments. By meeting for a longer block of time, we can spend less time beginning and ending each session and more time working directly toward your treatment goals.
How Do I Know if an EMDR Intensive Is Right for Me?
You feel generally stable in your life, but there is an issue or an event that continues to negatively effect you.
You've gained insight, and made some progress in talk therapy, but still feel stuck in one or more ways.
You'd like to focus on one specific traumatic or distressing experience.
You don’t have the time or flexibility for ongoing weekly therapy.
You're preparing for an important life transition, such as a move, or starting a family.
You already have a therapist and would like specialized EMDR treatment.
Benefits of EMDR Intensives
Greater Flexibility
Schedule treatment around your life rather than committing to weekly appointments.
Focused Treatment
Intensives allow us to most efficiently address the issue you’re experiencing, so that you feel better, sooner.
Adjunct to Other Therapies
I am happy to coordinate care with your current therapist when appropriate.
What does the process look like?
Step 1. Complimentary Consultation
We will begin with a complimentary 15-minute consultation to briefly discuss what you would like help with, answer initial questions, and consider whether an EMDR intensive may be appropriate for you.
Step 2. Initial Evaluation
Before scheduling the intensive, we will meet for a 50-minute evaluation session. We will discuss your relevant history, current concerns, treatment goals, and readiness for intensive EMDR work. We will also develop an initial plan for the length and focus of your intensive.
Step 3. Your EMDR Intensive
Intensives are scheduled in extended blocks, typically ranging from two to three hours. The length and number of sessions will be individualized according to your goals, clinical needs, and availability.
We will begin by making sure you feel adequately prepared and grounded. This will include resourcing exercises, and potentially, additional history-taking and preparation before beginning EMDR processing. You will not be expected to begin processing before you and I agree that you are ready.
Step 4. Follow Up
At the end of the intensive, we will reflect on what may be helpful next. Depending on your needs, this might include continuing with your current therapist, scheduling an additional intensive, or arranging a follow-up session with me.
Investment
Initial Evaluation: $195/50 minutes
EMDR Intensive Therapy: $225/hour
Most intensives are scheduled in 2-3 hour blocks depending upon your treatment goals.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Yes, and I am happy to collaborate with your therapist with your written permission.
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An intensive may be appropriate when you are generally stable in your daily life and would like focused help with a specific traumatic experience, emotional trigger, relationship pattern, or negative belief.
This format may not be appropriate when someone currently needs a higher level of support or stabilization before trauma processing can safely begin. This may include an active crisis, significant safety concerns, uncontrolled substance use, severe dissociative symptoms, or other circumstances that would make extended trauma-focused work difficult to tolerate safely.
The complimentary consultation and Initial Evaluation will help us determine whether an intensive is appropriate. If it is not the best fit, I will discuss other treatment options or referrals with you.
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EMDR Intensives take place either in person in my office in the Lincoln Park neighborhood of Chicago, or virtually for clients located in Illinois or Washington when telehealth is clinically appropriate.
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No— EMDR can be integrated into regular weekly sessions, as well as in a combination of weekly sessions and intensives, depending on your needs.
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I am an out-of-network provider and do not bill insurance directly.
If you have out-of-network mental health benefits, you may be eligible for partial reimbursement from your insurance company. Upon request, I can provide a superbill for you to submit to your insurance for possible reimbursement.
Because coverage varies by plan, I recommend contacting your insurance company directly to ask about your specific out-of-network benefits. Please note that reimbursement cannot be guaranteed.
If you're unfamiliar with out-of-network benefits, I'm happy to answer general questions about the process during your consultation.