EMDR INTENSIVES

EMDR Intensives for deeper trauma processing and personalized treatment plans are designed to support your preferred schedule and timeline for accomplishing your treatment goals. Serving Pleasant Hill, Walnut Creek, Danville & Lafayette Area

The traditional weekly psychotherapy model often lacks the flexibility necessary to meet your needs. In contrast, EMDR intensives offer personalized treatment plans that allow you to bypass waitlists and access care more quickly. These intensives are designed to align perfectly with your schedule and treatment goals, providing a respectful and considerate approach to your healing process.

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Are Intensives for you?

  • EMDR intensives can be worth the investment, depending on your goals, needs, and circumstances. Here are some factors to consider:

    Potential Benefits

    ✔️ Faster Progress: Instead of spreading out EMDR therapy over weeks or months, intensives allow for deep work in a condensed timeframe, leading to quicker resolution of traumatic experiences and their associated symptoms.

    ✔️ Reduced Distress Between Sessions: Weekly EMDR can sometimes leave clients processing difficult emotions between sessions. An intensive provides more time to process experiences in one go, offering a welcome relief from the distress that can linger between weekly sessions.

    ✔️ Customized & Focused: Intensives are tailored to specific needs, allowing for a structured and immersive experience. This means that the therapy will be designed to address your unique trauma and its effects, providing a more targeted approach to healing.

    ✔️ Convenient for Busy Schedules: Ideal for those who struggle to commit to weekly sessions due to work, travel, or life demands.

    ✔️ Comprehensive Approach: Many intensives include preparation, resourcing (coping skills), and integration work to support lasting change, providing a comprehensive and supportive framework for your healing journey.

    Who Might Benefit Most?

  • Individuals who feel “stuck” in therapy or traditional EMDR sessions.

  • Those with a specific trauma or issue they want to target in a focused way.

  • People with limited availability for ongoing therapy.

  • Clients who have already done some groundwork in therapy are ready for deep processing.

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Research Supporting The Effectiveness Of EMDR Intensives.

  • Intensive application of trauma-focused therapy seems to be well tolerated in patients with PTSD, enabling faster symptom reduction with similar, or even better, results while reducing the risk that patients drop out prematurely. Learn more here and here.

  • Intensive EMDR treatment is feasible and is indicative of reliable improvement in PTSD symptoms in a very short time frame. Learn more here.here

  • An intensive program using EMDR therapy is a potentially safe and effective treatment alternative for complex PTSD. Learn more here.

  • The economy is compelling: even compared to other trauma therapy, the intensive format may decrease treatment time, because of time not spent on a) checking in at the beginning of each session, b) addressing current crises and concerns, c) focusing on stabilizing and coping skills that the client won’t need after trauma healing, or d) assisting the client in regaining composure at the end of the session. Learn more here.

EMDR Intensive Investment

Many clients choose intensives when they feel ready to move through a stuck pattern or traumatic memory with more focused support

Investment

  • Jennifer  Villena  Marriage Family Therapist  EMDR

    3 hour EMDR Intensive $950 (***most popular***)

    It is designed for clients seeking to alleviate their trauma symptoms and significantly enhance their therapeutic outcomes. The program is tailored to your unique needs, and this session is focused on pinpointing specific targets for EMDR processing.

    The program includes a 90-minute intake session to identify specific processing targets. The following four sessions will focus on resourcing, processing, and integration.

  • EMDR Intensive

    4.5 hours - $1350

    This program is designed for individuals who want to reduce symptoms and effectively process traumatic experiences. Our goal is to provide you with the tools and support you need to overcome your trauma. Clients will receive a customized treatment plan, workbook, and self-care resources to help them during this process.

    The program includes a 90-minute intake session to identify specific processing targets. The following four sessions will focus on resourcing, processing, and integration.

  • EMDR INTENSIVE

    6 hours - $1800

    This program is designed for individuals who want to reduce symptoms and effectively process traumatic experiences. Our goal is to provide you with the tools and support you need to overcome your trauma. Clients will receive a customized treatment plan, workbook, and self-care resources to help them during this process.

    The program includes a 90-minute intake session to identify specific processing targets. Following seven sessions focus on resourcing, processing, and integration.

 FAQs

  • EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) is a practical therapeutic approach that addresses the psychological and physiological symptoms resulting from adverse life experiences. While it is widely recognized for its application in treating trauma, EMDR is also utilized to enhance performance in various contexts.

  • EMDR intensives offer a powerful way to address your symptoms more effectively and with a sharper focus, moving beyond the limitations of traditional 50-minute sessions. Each session addresses urgent crises and concerns, emphasizing stabilization and coping strategies that truly matter.

    By choosing the intensive format, you can significantly reduce overall treatment time by skipping unnecessary components like a) routine check-ins at the beginning of each session, b) focusing on skills that may become irrelevant after healing, and c) the time spent helping clients regain composure at the end of a session.

    This streamlined approach enhances the therapeutic experience and fosters quicker and more meaningful progress on the healing journey.

  • Yes. EMDR intensives for current clients are available in modified formats and pricing.

  • Yes, it's possible you feel that something significant hasn't changed yet, but you're unsure how to shift into a new experience of yourself with your current therapist. While you may now understand new concepts intellectually, your body may still feel confused. If that's the case, you might be interested in exploring adjunct EMDR intensive therapy to help facilitate that shift. We will determine which format works best for you during your initial consultation.

    The term "adjunct" refers to something that is added to another thing but is not an essential part. In various contexts, it can imply a supplementary or supportive role. In therapy, an adjunct therapist is an additional therapist who works separately from the primary therapist.

  • Allows for deeper processing of multiple memories or related themes within one focused session.

  • A full-day EMDR intensive that allows time to process multiple memories and integrate the work in one focused session.

  • Yes. Many insurance companies reimburse a significant portion of the cost of psychotherapy. For insurance purposes, I am considered an out-of-network provider. It's best to determine the exact details of your policy ahead of time, including what benefits are available regarding out-of-network providers and if your insurance will reimburse several hours of therapy in one day or one week. I will provide you with a Superbill for all direct contact therapy services included in the program.

  • EMDR intensives provide an efficient and focused approach to trauma healing, allowing you to make significant progress in a shorter amount of time. This approach is especially beneficial if you’ve been struggling to find lasting relief or if your schedule makes weekly sessions difficult to commit to.

    While intensives may have a higher upfront cost, offering flexible payment methods like Klarna (separate from our practice) and other options makes them more accessible. You can break up the cost into manageable payments, making this life-changing experience more affordable without straining your finances.

    We want to support you and make EMDR intensives accessible, so you can invest in your well-being, healing, and future. By committing to your growth now, you’re setting the foundation for long-term peace and emotional freedom.

    Please contact us for more information.

EMDR intensives are scheduled after an initial consultation to ensure they are the right fit for your needs.

The EMDR Intensive Process

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    Comprehensive Intake

    Before beginning any intensive program, your therapist will conduct a thorough intake session. During this session, we will gather important information about your symptoms, discuss your goals for the intensive, and finalize the schedule for your experience.

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    Readiness and Skill Enhancement

    Before participating in any intensive experience, we offer a comprehensive workbook to help you with EMDR resourcing-grounding techniques. This ensures you feel safe, supported, and secure throughout the EMDR process. You can keep the workbook after the intensive for continued reference and use.

  • Continued Processing

    Continued Processing

    Throughout the intensive, each session will last 90 minutes and focus on deep trauma processing. We will incorporate integrative therapies like mindfulness and somatics like movement, grounding techniques, and breathwork in between processing to enhance your well-being and ensure a balanced and effective healing journey.

EMDR Intensives available to Pleasant Hill, Walnut Creek, Danville & Lafayette Area