Thoughts on Therapy Intensives

By Christina Frank, LMFT

To any clinician considering adding Intensives to your list of services as a provider, this is your sign to take the plunge. I am on the heels of another powerful, game changing 2-day EMDR Intensive with an individual exhibiting symptoms of shame and codependency stemming from her experience of complex developmental trauma in childhood. The two days we spent together resulted in a complete shift of the negative core beliefs she came in with.

Let’s be completely clear: the insights and transformations that she experienced during the intensive would have happened in therapy regardless—she’s highly motivated, she has a strong foundation in therapy priming her for the great work that she’s doing, she’s incredibly resourced. So what’s the difference? Why bother utilizing this longer, more intensive model if it was working already? It’s simple: the relief she experienced in two days would have taken months in the traditional hourly model of therapy. It is not a one-to-one calculation. The work that was done in 6 hours on the first day alone is not equal to 6 hours of weekly therapy over the course of 6 weeks. Each hour of therapy in the hourly model must also make space for running five minutes late because of traffic, settling in, some current life stressor or frustration, and then containing and closing up at the end of each session. And what about when a protective part appears in the midst of the work? Reactivity, dissociation—rather than slowing the process down, the adaptive protective mechanisms that are an inherent part of the work become opportunities for lasting change in the intensive model, because now we have time to spend with that part. Now we can explore, now we can seek to understand, now we can find gratitude, now we can widen that window of tolerance simply because of the time that we have.

 So I say again, if you have been considering the idea of incorporating a more intensive model of therapy, this is the sign to take that first step. We have several on-demand training options to facilitate the process of exploration. Additionally, we offer an intensive startup packet that will take you from the seed of the thought through to a concrete, fully formed plan of integration.

Sometimes we are held up by the belief that a change like this is too big or too hard to make, and is it worth it if your current model is already working? This is an opportunity to reframe that thought pattern to open the door to the idea that it is actually not as complicated as you may believe if you have the right steps in place.

I am feeling energized and inspired, I hope I can pass that energy and inspiration on to you…