emdr intensives
A focused, extended format for deeper work—designed to help you move through what’s been keeping you stuck more efficiently
WHAT IF YOU COULD DO MONTHS OF HEALING IN A MATTER OF DAYS?
Instead of spreading the work out over months, intensives allow us to dedicate uninterrupted time to processing and creating meaningful change.
Weekly therapy is valuable. But for a lot of people, 45-50 minutes a week isn't enough time. You spend the first few minutes settling in, the last few wrapping up, and just when something real starts to surface — the session ends. You leave with things open. You spend the week trying to hold onto what came up. And then you start over.
EMDR Intensives work differently.
Instead of spreading the processing across weeks or months, we dedicate a focused block of time — typically a few hours — to staying with the work until it actually moves. Your nervous system gets what it needs to go deeper, process more completely, and come out the other side of a session feeling genuinely different, not just opened up and left hanging.
Many clients describe their intensive as the most significant shift they've experienced in their healing process.
Not sure if an intensive is right for you? You can always start with a traditional EMDR session and see how it feels.
Who Are Intensives For?
EMDR Intensives may be for YOU if…
You've hit a ceiling in weekly therapy. You've done the work, you understand your patterns, but something isn't shifting. Intensive formats often reach what weekly sessions can't because there's simply more time to get underneath the surface.
You want results without an open-ended commitment. Intensives are structured and goal-oriented. You know what you're working on, you do the work, and you have a clear sense of what you've accomplished. For clients who find open-ended weekly therapy hard to sustain, this format can be a better match.
You're processing something specific. A particular relationship, experience, period of life, or belief system. Intensives are well-suited to focused, targeted work.
You're a therapist or clinician doing your own work. Many clinicians choose intensives specifically because the extended format allows for deeper personal processing than weekly therapy permits, and because they understand the value of the model professionally.
You're traveling to work with a specific therapist. If you're coming from outside Westchester or Connecticut to work with me specifically, an intensive makes the travel worthwhile. We can accomplish in one or two days what might otherwise take months of weekly sessions.
If you’re not sure whether an intensive is the right fit, we can talk through your goals and decide together.
Why EMDR Intensives produce results that weekly therapy often can’t
Traditional weekly therapy can feel slow—not because the work isn’t effective, but because there’s limited time to fully process what comes up.
In a standard 45-50-minute EMDR session, the actual reprocessing window is short. Time goes to check-in, grounding, assessment, and closing. By the time you're really in it, the session is winding down. Week to week, momentum is hard to maintain.
An intensive changes the math entirely.
As an EMDRIA Certified EMDR Therapist with over a decade of clinical experience, I designed this format to give clients the extended time EMDR often needs to fully land.
With several uninterrupted hours, your brain and nervous system can move through a full arc of processing. You don't have to stop when things get real. You don't spend the week in a half-open emotional state waiting for the next appointment. You go in, you do the work, and you come out the other side of it.
Research supports what clients consistently report: EMDR in extended formats tends to produce faster symptom reduction and deeper integration than the same number of hours spread across weekly sessions. The continuity matters.
This often allows for:
More sustained focus without interruption
Deeper processing within a shorter period of time
Less time spent reorienting at the start of each session
A greater sense of continuity and momentum
For many clients, this format feels more efficient, more contained, and more impactful than spreading the work out over time.
CURIOUS IF EMDR IS THE RIGHT FIT FOR YOU?
what does an intensive look like?
Each intensive is tailored to your needs, but generally follows a clear and structured process:
Before: Preparation Session (1 hour)
Before your intensive, we meet to map out your goals, gather relevant history, and build the safety and grounding resources you'll need for the work. Nothing gets processed in this session. This is purely about preparation, so when we sit down for the intensive itself, we can use every minute intentionally.
During: The Intensive Session (3 hours of reprocessing)
This is where the real work happens. Using EMDR, we process the specific memories, beliefs, or experiences we identified together. We take breaks as needed. The pace is always calibrated to what your nervous system can handle. You are never pushed faster than feels safe.
After: Integration Session (1 hour)
After the intensive, we meet again to help you make sense of what shifted, support your system as it integrates the work, and determine whether additional sessions would be useful. This is an often-overlooked part of the format that makes a significant difference in how the work lands.
Also included: a personalized workbook and grounding resources to support you between and after sessions.
Investment: $850
investment
EMDR Intensives are $850.
Sage Talk Therapy is a private pay practice, which means we do not bill insurance directly.
Questions about cost or whether this format makes sense for you? Reach out and we can talk through it.
FAQs
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The difference is more than just length. An intensive is a structured, planned experience with a preparation phase, a focused reprocessing block, and a dedicated integration session. It's designed specifically to allow deeper processing than a standard session permits, and the continuity of staying with the work for several hours makes a meaningful clinical difference.
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No. We can use the preparation session to introduce you to the model and build the resources you need before any processing begins. That said, if you've already done EMDR, you may move through preparation more quickly and have more time for reprocessing.
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Pacing and safety are central to how I work. We build grounding resources during preparation specifically so you have tools to use if things feel intense. The intensive is not about pushing through at any cost. If we need to slow down or shift focus, we do. Your nervous system leads.
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Yes. Many clients do intensives as a complement to their ongoing work elsewhere. I'm happy to coordinate with your current therapist if that would be useful.
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For some people, yes. For others, especially those working with complex or developmental trauma, one intensive is a significant start but additional sessions are helpful. We'll have a clear conversation about this during your consultation and after the intensive itself.
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Yes. Virtual intensives are available for clients in New York and Connecticut who prefer to work from home or are unable to travel to White Plains. The format and structure are the same, and research supports the efficacy of virtual EMDR.
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The main thing is to clear your schedule. Give yourself a lighter day after your intensive if at all possible. Avoid scheduling anything demanding immediately after. Drink water, eat something beforehand, and come with an open mind. We handle everything else together.
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If you’re ready for deeper focus, want to maintain momentum without weekly interruptions, or have specific challenges to address, an intensive may be a good fit. If you’re unsure, start with a traditional session.
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Pre-intensive planning session
Grounding and preparation resources
Intensive session (3 hours reprocessing)
Post-intensive integration session
Personalized workbook
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Sage Talk Therapy is a private pay practice. I do not bill insurance directly.
If you have out-of-network benefits, you may be able to get reimbursed for a portion of session costs. I partner with Thrizer to make that process simple — use the tool on the Services & Fees page to check your benefits in about two minutes.
If you have questions about cost or want to talk through what working together might look like financially, feel free to bring that up on our consultation call.