Therapy Intensives in Washington, D.C., Virginia & Maryland

A therapy intensive is a focused, deep-dive approach where you spend 90 minutes or more in a single session to make faster, more meaningful progress. Unlike traditional weekly therapy, intensives give you the time and space to explore your challenges more deeply, addressing the root causes of issues like perfectionism, self-doubt, anxiety, and creative blocks. With extended sessions, we go beyond surface-level problems, helping you break through patterns that regular therapy may not reach. If you're frustrated with slow progress, intensives offer a powerful, focused way to create lasting change.

A therapy intensive is a focused, extended session designed to help you dive deep into your healing without the usual constraints of weekly therapy. Instead of spreading the work over months, an intensive allows us to work more efficiently in a condensed timeframe, helping you gain clarity and relief more quickly.

Here's how it typically works:

1. Initial Consultation and Planning: Before scheduling your intensive, we'll meet for a consultation to discuss your goals, current challenges, and whether an intensive is the right approach. Together, we'll determine the order of your goals and we'll provide a recommendation for the length and structure of your intensive. This might be a one-time 3-hour session next week, a full 6-hour day, or shorter 90-minute sessions every other week depending on your needs and schedule.
2. Extended, Focused Sessions: Therapy intensives range from 90 minutes to a full day (6 hours), with breaks as needed to support regulation. During this time, we use evidence-based, brain-and-body-based modalities like EMDR, IFS, and Sensorimotor Psychotherapy to process stuck patterns, resolve past trauma, and create lasting shifts.
3. A Personalized Approach: Unlike a standard therapy session, intensives allow us to follow your process without having to pause just as you're getting to the root of something. We absolutely LOVE the immersive quality of intensives, and witnessing tangible shifts happen for our clients in just one session.
4. Integration and Follow-Up: Healing doesn't stop when the session ends. At the end of session or in-between sessions, you'll receive personalized integration strategies to help you absorb and apply what we've worked on, and we'll discuss next steps for continued support, whether that's additional therapy or self-guided practices.

Many people find that an intensive can jump-start their healing, break through stuck patterns, or provide relief from issues that have felt unmovable. If you're curious about whether this could be the right approach for you, please reach out!

If you're tired of feeling stuck in endless weekly sessions, a therapy intensive could be the game-changer you need. In 90 minutes or more, you and your therapist will dive into those nagging issues like self-criticism, burnout, anxiety, or trauma symptoms that have been holding you back. This isn't about dragging things out. It's about making real progress in less time. Ready to break through those barriers and start moving forward? Therapy intensives give you the focused time to make it happen.

There's SO much research that supports the effectiveness of intensives.

Intensives prove to be effective for 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 indicative of reliable improvement in PTSD symptoms in a very short time frame. Learn more here.

Compared to other trauma therapy, the intensive format may decrease treatment time, thus reducing cost. Learn more here.

Yes, therapy intensives can absolutely be used with EMDR, IFS, and Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, and this combination makes the process that much more effective. The extended time allows us to go deeper, faster, and truly dive into the heart of your issues. With EMDR, we recommend at least 90 minutes to allow for deeper processing in one session. Using the traditional 45-minute model can slow things down, requiring multiple reopenings of trauma processing, which can feel frustrating. Therapy intensives help you move through your healing faster and more efficiently!

If you're feeling stuck in the same old loop, whether it's perfectionism, self-doubt, anxiety, creative blocks, or PTSD symptoms, and you're over it, an intensive could be just what you need. If you're motivated to actually make progress, break through those frustrating patterns, and want something more than traditional therapy, then you're a strong candidate! Therapy intensives are for people who are ready to roll up their sleeves, dive in, and create real change, not just talk about it. So, if you're done with "just getting by," let's get started!

It's completely normal to wonder if you'll have the stamina for an extended session! Many clients are surprised by how quickly the time flies, and we feel that way too. The focused, intentional nature of intensives helps keep the work engaging and meaningful. We'll take breaks as needed, and our therapists will adjust the pace to match what feels right for you. Clients often finish feeling a sense of clarity and accomplishment, saying they got far more out of the time than they expected. Our goal is to make the process feel manageable and supportive from start to finish.

Insurance may cover a portion of the cost, depending on your out-of-network benefits. While we're an out-of-network provider, many clients are able to receive partial reimbursement by submitting a detailed invoice (superbill) to their insurance company. We recommend checking with your provider to understand your out-of-network mental health benefits and what's required for reimbursement. If you have questions about the process, we're happy to help guide you through it and provide the documentation you'll need!

In a 3-hour intensive, you can expect to make meaningful progress on specific issues. For example, we might fully process a traumatic event or association, such as feeling that you need to be perfect to be accepted, struggling with the belief that everything is your fault, or dealing with the impact of past rejection or criticism. While we may not fully resolve every issue in this time, you'll make great headway in understanding and working through these emotions, challenging negative beliefs, and practicing coping strategies.

For clients experiencing Complex PTSD, starting with intensives can be especially valuable to build a strong foundation of self-regulation techniques and experiential somatic exercises. It's important to note that Complex PTSD often requires continued treatment, and many clients benefit from regular half-day or full-day intensives to support long-term growth and progress.

In a 6-hour intensive, you can expect to accomplish deep and significant progress on complex issues. This extended time allows for thorough processing of one or more traumatic events or associations, such as navigating the impact of feeling unworthy of love, struggling with trust issues after betrayal, or dealing with the lingering effects of critical or dismissive relationships. You'll have the space to work through challenging emotions, challenge negative beliefs, and practice new coping strategies. We'll also use experiential somatic exercises to support self-regulation and help integrate what you're learning.

While meaningful healing can happen in one day, Complex PTSD often requires ongoing work to fully address deeper trauma. Many clients find that regular half-day or full-day intensives help support lasting growth and keep them moving forward on their healing journey.

To get the most out of your intensive session, here are some tips for planning your day:

• Block out as much of the day as possible: Clear as much of your schedule as you can, especially if you're a parent or have other responsibilities.
• Prioritize self-care: Plan for a lighter schedule before and after the session. Stay hydrated, eat a balanced meal, and avoid heavy foods right before the session.
• Expect continued processing: Emotional and mental processing often continues for up to three days after an intensive. Give yourself time to rest and integrate the experience.
• Create a comfortable environment: If your session is virtual, set up a quiet space where you feel safe and focused.
• Allow time for reflection: Take time after the session to journal or go for a walk and process what came up.