EMDR Intensive Sessions

Kate Kinney in her office chair in Portland Maine

Feel better faster.

Accelerate your progress with EMDR Intensive Therapy.

Ready to do the deep work? 

You’re no stranger to therapy. You’ve done the talking, you’ve gained the insight, you’ve practiced the skills, you’ve reflected. You get it. But you still feel stuck in the feelings, triggers, and patterns. You’re over it. 

You’re ready to go beyond managing symptoms and coping. You’re ready to liberate yourself from limiting cycles that are holding you back and align with your authenticity and fullest potential.

Working intensively with EMDR, we have the room to go deep and wide, below the level of thought, to work with what is held in your body. We work with the parts of you that get stuck in painful and frustrating patterns to access a deeper level of healing, insight, and agency. 

Why Intensive EMDR?

EMDR Intensives are a unique offering that can help you find relief and results faster than the weekly therapy model allows.

Intensive EMDR therapy is a treatment approach in which EMDR is offered in a series of longer sessions. The Intensive model allows us to minimize interrupted sessions and time spent on opening and closing every week, addressing your day-to-day struggles and concerns, and focus on stabilization and coping skills that will be less relevant when you have resolved your core issues. Intensives allow us to go deep, relax into the work, and access healing in a thoughtful, meaningful, and efficient way.

The research has been positive, showing that EMDR intensive can be highly effective for trauma symptom reduction and may reduce your overall treatment time. Progress can be made much more quickly in this condensed approach, so individuals can start feeling better in a matter of days instead of months.

How does it work? Two ways:

  1. A series of 90-minute EMDR intensive sessions.

  2. An EMDR intensive program

An EMDR Intensive program typically consists of the following:

  • 90-minute intake session

  • 3-4 three-hour sessions

  • 60-minute integration session

In the intensive format, we are focusing on one main issue. This could be:

  • Recent trauma (within the last 6 months)

  • Specific traumatic events or significant experiences that continue to cause distress

  • A problematic belief/thought pattern (ex., “I’m not good enough”, feeling disconnected or isolated from others)

  • A problematic behavior (ex., avoidance of speaking up or connecting with others)

  • Performance enhancement

Frequently Asked Questions

    • Schedule. This is a good option for people with demanding schedules or jobs that find it difficult to get away for a regular weekly session. It can save overall on lost work and life time.

    • Focused attention. EMDR intensives offer a sort of sacred and protected container in which you can focus on yourself and your healing without distraction or pull of your other roles and responsibilities. Weekly therapy requires transitioning mentally from your day to trauma processing and back again, which can feel jarring every week.

    • Efficient and cost-effective. Investments are greater up front, but intensives have been shown to be cost-effective in the long run due to the shorter overall duration of therapy.

    • Increased availability. EMDR intensives have shorter wait times. Increased availability allows you to skip the waitlists and get to work.

  • EMDR intensives may be a good fit for people who:

    • have been in talk therapy or seen many different therapists and are feeling stuck

    • are overall doing well in life but are struggling under the surface

    • have done their work but have been knocked off kilter by a recent trauma or trigger

    • are aware of some block or pattern they can't seem to shake

    • are neurodivergent (formally diagnosed or self-identified) and have experienced trauma from the accumulated experiences living in a world that was not designed for them and that does not understand them

    • are parents (or want to be parents) and are being triggered by or around their kids, or want to interrupt and heal intergenerational patterns

    • are healers and want to do or deepen their own healing

    • are in a relationship that isn’t right for them but they feel stuck or scared to make a change

    • want to enhance their ability to excel in relationships, careers, athletics, and passions.

  • I have worked with and feel confident in my ability to support people who experience or have experienced:

    • single incident traumas (ex. car accident, medical emergency, natural disaster, assault, etc.)

    • recent trauma (within 6 months)

    • pre-verbal & early trauma 

    • medical trauma

    • exposure to multiple traumatic events

    • relational or interpersonal trauma

    • social defeat and experiences of alienation

    • social anxiety

    • traumatic grief and loss

    • panic disorder

    • issues with self-esteem and self-defeating patterns of behavior

  • People who are strong candidates for and tend to respond well to intensive EMDR therapy: 

    • have a clear understanding of the issue(s) they want to work on with EMDR

    • can be present in mind and body to notice and identify the emotions & sensations they experience when talking or thinking about something difficult or traumatic

    • be able and willing to feel worse for a short period

    • have skills and willingness to handle high levels of emotion and be able to tolerate some distress

    • have adaptive resources for comfort, coping, and calming themselves

    • are prepared to experience significant changes in their life and heal through a profound and transformative process

  • EMDR intensives are powerful but certainly not for everyone. Some clients are better suited for an ongoing therapeutic relationship. EMDR intensives are not appropriate for those with:

    • a psychiatric hospitalization within the last 12 months

    • active thoughts of suicide or harming others,

    • self-harming behaviors,

    • active addiction or abuse of drugs or alcohol,

    • or highly dissociative individuals.

    • history of complex trauma, including severe or chronic abuse or neglect

    • personality disorders

    • rely on benzodiazepines to get through the day

    Clients may need to have an established relationship with a primary therapist to be considered for EMDR intensive therapy.

  • Most commonly, EMDR intensive sessions are 3 hours. A full day option (6 hours) is also available.

    • Dress comfortably for your session

    • Give yourself space and time around your sessions as possible. Plan to take the day off from work and parenting if possible. Block out as much time as possible for after your session

    • Plan ahead to set yourself up for a restful, calm, and restorative day following your session

    • Think about your intention for the session as well as what you may want and need for support after your session

  • Learn about my rates here.

  • At this point, unfortunately, no. However, you may be able to get a portion covered. Learn more here.

  • Cancellation Policy

    Sessions under 2 hours: A minimum of 48 hours notice is required for rescheduling or canceling an appointment 2 hours in length or less. Appointments canceled or rescheduled within that time or missed appointments will be charged the full session fee.

    Intensive Cancellation Policy: A minimum of two weeks is required to cancel or reschedule intensive appointments. You may be charged 75% of the session fee for rescheduled, missed, or canceled sessions within two weeks. ​

  • I have some limited availability for people who want shorter weekly or biweekly sessions.

  • Many people come to EMDR during or after their experience with talk therapy.

  • Yes! While in-person sessions for intensive work is preferable, I also offer sessions remotely for those who prefer or live out of town.

  • No! One of the lovely things about intensive work is that it can be done over the course of several days, rather that on an ongoing weekly basis for months or years. Clients are invited to travel to Maine for several days for a retreat style Intensive experience of your own design. This allows you to remove yourself from the daily responsibilities and distractions of your daily life so you can focus on your healing without distraction.

  • Learn more here.

What to Expect

Logistics of your Session - Before, During, and After

Preparing for your EMDR Intensive

Intensives are an opportunity to lean into healing, so treating the days of and around your Intensive sessions as a personal retreat can deepen and amplify the work we do together. This can look like scheduling a massage, taking a long restorative yoga class, eating healthy food, staying hydrated, getting a couple of extra hours of sleep, unplugging for a few days, journaling, or doing a morning hike. It is important to give yourself time and care around this work. Bringing comfort items to sessions like extra layers, favorite snacks or drinks, or any comforting or meaningful personal items is welcomed and encouraged.

A typical Intensive day

For a full day, we typically begin at 9 am and finish around 4 pm, although there can be some flexibility in start and stop times. We will take an hour for lunch and rest around noon. I encourage you to listen to your body and needs throughout our work together and take breaks as needed. Learning how to attune to your body and respond to your own needs by moving your body, having a snack, taking a moment to ground, or just sitting and breathing is often part of the healing process.

The course of EMDR Intensive treatment is different for everyone. Still, EMDR therapy is a highly structured and focused approach described here.

deocrations in kate's office

After your EMDR session

The EMDR experience is unique to each person. It is common to feel tired or drained for a few days following Intensive work, as we will be working with and clearing painful experiences from the nervous system, and it takes energy for the body to re-adjust. Usually, this lasts only a day or two.

Still, many others report feeling energized, clearer, or lighter after a session. One of the benefits of EMDR Intensives is that they give us much more space within which we have a better chance of bringing resolution to a target versus opening and closing a memory up repeatedly over multiple sessions due to time constraints. Cliets often share their experience of being able to sit with big emotions and move through them when previously they felt stuck in their feelings or unable to access them at all. It is also common for clients to report feelings of relief, empowerment, a newfound sense of understanding or meaning, feelings of peace, and resolution.

Note any shifts or changes you notice and please try to practice self-care and self-compassion.