How to Start EMDR Intensive Trauma Therapy

EMDR therapy is a way of talking about traumatic memories while simultaneously moving your eyes or tapping your hands. This keeps you from getting overwhelmed and helps you feel safe. Together we’ll make a custom plan based on your needs, build your skills of self-regulation, increase your awareness of your subconscious thoughts, and then talk about the moments that taught you how to think and act. You’ll start to replace old, unhealthy life lessons with new ones that feel right to you, and that’s where your personal transformation takes off!

A traumatic memory may involve violence, overwhelming grief, a painful violation of trust, a bad medical experience or something else you can’t let go of. We all experience these things. However, a traumatic memory can become a problem when it distracts you in your daily life, comes up whenever you’re faced with a big accomplishment or failure, or keeps you from a restful night’s sleep. Sometimes a traumatic memory might cause you to say things you never meant to say or totally isolate yourself so you can feel safe.

An EMDR Intensive is a multi-hour appointment that allows for much more progress to be made in a shorter time.

Consider this: When meeting with a therapist weekly, a few minutes at the beginning of your appointment is used to help you acclimate to the therapy environment, give updates, and pick a topic of focus. After you talk for a bit, a few minutes at the end of the session are used to help you “wrap up” and summarize the session and lessons for the week. This is a perfectly fine way to experience therapy; you learn to build and maintain a safe human bond, you let a couple major concerns out, and that helps you deal with your life.

The difference with working in longer sessions is that we don’t interrupt your mental process after 30 or 40 minutes for wrapping up. You get more intense focus to sort through the challenging stuff on your mind. This allows for several weeks worth of progress in one day.

It’s custom and based on your needs. We’ll start with a 90 minute assessment so we can both be on the same page about where you’re at and where you want to go. We’ll develop a schedule that works for you. Want longer weekly sessions, once a week? One long intensive over a weekend? 3 meetings in one week? We’ll figure out what makes sense for you.

You’ll be able to come back for more therapy and you’ll get to decide how long you want to wait before you do.

Yes! This is called “Adjunct EMDR Therapy.” I recommend that you do meet with your current therapist. A long-term therapeutic relationship with a trained professional helps you unlearn old patterns and keeps you feeling stabilized over time. We will develop a plan that supports your other therapy work, and share info with your therapist or psychiatrist.

Yes, and I’ve been providing online EMDR since March of 2020. You are also welcome to meet with me in the office in Rancho Cucamonga, CA.

While you can get scheduled from anywhere in the world, you will be asked to be present in the state of California during our appointments.

If you’re not living in California, consider traveling here: Rancho Cucamonga is less than 10 minutes from the Ontario Airport. If you let me know where you’re coming from, I’ll help you start your prep work before you come to your intensive.

Intensive work with me is a great option for you if you’re an adult and you:

-are ready to to get to the root of your behavior/thoughts
-can’t clear an hour every week right now because of work, caregiving, or school obligations
-you’ve been in therapy before, but that one thing in your brain STILL won’t leave you alone, OR
-you’re sick of the wait lists to see the Black Lady EMDR therapist in your area/under your insurance.

When we talk, I’ll ask you a little more about yourself, and if I don’t think this approach is a good fit for you, I’m happy to refer you to a better option.

Pricing for weekly therapy and intensive therapy is HERE. While weekly therapy has a lower up front cost, intensive therapy is a more cost efficient; you’re handling months worth of work in a week. I’m happy to discuss expected outcomes for you in a personalized way at when we meet.

If you need to reschedule your appointment, you will be expected to notify me more than 24 hours in advance to avoid the session fee. Reschedule options will be offered based upon the calendar availability.

Insurance may cover a portion of the cost, but will not cover intensive appointments in full. You are responsible for the cost of treatment. To find out how your insurance could reduce your out-of-pocket costs, please submit a request via Advekit and they’ll get us both a summary of your benefits. No superbills necessary; they’ll bill on your behalf, you get a discount up front, and save you the paperwork.