EMDR Intensive
Unwinding what’s tangled.
Reclaiming what’s lost.
Naming what’s unknown.
Think of trauma therapy like renovating a home.
Traditional weekly sessions are akin to updating one room at a time—addressing the kitchen this week, the bathroom the next, and so on. In contrast, EMDR intensives are like undertaking a well-planned renovation of the entire home over a focused period. This approach allows for cohesive, comprehensive work, minimising the disruption and time spent in transition.
It allows us to target what’s most stuck or pressing in a short space of time, without rushing the work or spreading it out over months. An EMDR intensive typically involves 3–5 hours of focused clinical work in a single day, that can include resourcing, trauma processing, and integration. People often choose intensives to work through a specific memory or pattern, or when they feel ready for a shift.
EMDR intensives may not be the format for you, if you:
Are in acute crisis or at risk of harm
Struggle to manage intense emotions without external support
Have had recent hospitalisation or major medication changes
Are new to therapy and still learning to tolerate distress
Need longer-term, open-ended support
Are currently affected by substance use that impacts functioning
Weekly therapy vs EMDR intensive
Weekly therapy is like emotional first aid—tending to wounds, checking in, and slowly building capacity over time. EMDR intensives are more like planned emotional surgery: structured, targeted, and requiring space around it to prepare and recover.
Both formats are valuable—they just serve different ways of healing. They can also often be combined.
Curious if an intensive could help? The first consult is a chance to explore that together.
