EMDR Intensives in Denver
For the work that goes at your pace.
An intensive is a different container, not a better therapy
Weekly therapy is often the place where healing happens, and it offers some things that an intensive can’t. An intensive does something weekly trauma therapy sessions aren't built for. Memory reprocessing has its own arc; settling in, going to the memory, processing it through, and coming all the way back out. That arc doesn't always divide neatly into hourly pieces. An intensive sets aside enough protected time to follow it through in one sitting. Many clients who benefit from intensives are in weekly therapy they value, and come for this one focused piece of work.
What to expect
This is a short, concentrated course of trauma therapy, not just a long session. The research on intensive trauma treatment is consistent on this point: what works is the whole structure, with real preparation before the processing day, and real follow up after it. My intensives looks like this:
A free 15-minute consult. We make sure the format is right for you before anything is scheduled.
Two to three preparation sessions (60–90 minutes each, in person in Denver or online). Your history and goals, a careful look at readiness, and the groundwork that makes the processing day work well. Importantly, every part of you gets to weigh in on whether or not we move forward, including the parts that are wary. IFS (parts work) helps us make sure nothing gets opened on the processing day that we haven't prepared for together.
A processing day (4.5 hours, in person or online). Extended EMDR work in two unhurried blocks, with a real break between them. You’re able to rest, nourish, or head outside and move a bit during the break. That's part of the method, not a pause from it.
Two integration sessions (about one week and one month after). The work keeps moving after the processing day ends, and you shouldn't have to make sense of that alone. We track your progress with the same standardized measures used in the research, so you can see the change, not just feel it.
When an intensive may be a good fit
You've done therapy, maybe years of good therapy that gave you real skills. It’s natural to try to work around what still feels stuck after you understand your patterns, but often there are a few specific memories that just need focused reprocessing time.
Your schedule, energy, or processing style doesn't fit weekly fifty-minute sessions. You'd rather go deep in fewer, longer sittings.
Something is coming, a move, a transition, a family event, a decision, and you want to do real work on what it's stirring up before it arrives.
You're already in weekly therapy you value, and you and your therapist agree a focused EMDR block could move something your regular work keeps circling. (Your therapist stays your therapist. I handle the EMDR piece and you get to do the integration within that trusted relationship.)
Intensive work isn't right for everyone, or for every season. Extended processing asks a lot of your nervous system, and part of my job is making sure we don't ask for it before you're resourced enough to answer. The preparation sessions include formal screening, and we'll look together at where you are: stability, support, what's currently carrying you. Some situations call for adjustments to the format or for weekly work first, with me or someone else. If that's true, I'll say so plainly, help you find it, and refund your deposit in full. The goal is the work that actually serves you, not the format.
Complex trauma, queer and trans lives
My practice exists at the intersection of complex and relational trauma, and queer and trans identity, because for so many of us they aren't separate stories. The intensive format doesn't change that.
You won't spend your processing day explaining your identity, your relationship structure, or your community to your therapist. That groundwork is already done, and extended sessions go as deep as they're built to go.
Investment
An EMDR intensive is $2,800, which includes everything: your preparation sessions and materials, formal assessment and screening with standardized measures, the 4.5-hour processing day, both integration sessions, and outcome measurement so you can see your progress in numbers, not just impressions.
A 50% deposit reserves your intensive dates; the balance is due on your processing day. If screening during preparation shows the format isn't right for you, your deposit is refunded in full.
HSA/FSA cards are accepted.
Intensives are self-pay. If you have out-of-network benefits, I'll provide a superbill. Some plans reimburse a meaningful portion, and it's worth a call to ask about out-of-network coverage for multiple therapy hours in one day.
You'll receive a Good Faith Estimate of costs as part of your intake paperwork, in accordance with the No Surprises Act.
Why intensives cost what they do: the full package holds roughly two months of clinical time. Preparation, a time-protected day, follow up, and the assessment work throughout, delivered in a concentrated arc. The research on intensive formats finds outcomes comparable to the same work spread across months of weekly therapy.
For therapists
A meaningful part of my practice is supporting therapists doing their own work. This format offers one protected day instead of a weekly slot your schedule can't spare, with a clearly boundaried container and a clinician who specializes in the complex, relational trauma so many of us in this field carry. Queer and trans clinicians, crisis clinicians, the busy, the ones who show up for everyone else; you are especially welcome here.
Wondering if this is the right container for your work?
Start with a free 15-minute consult. We'll talk about what you're carrying, whether an intensive fits it or whether weekly work would serve you better, and what the path would look like either way.
FAQ
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Yes. Intensive trauma-focused treatment, including intensive EMDR specifically, has been studied in clinical trials, including with complex trauma. The consistent findings: outcomes equal to months of weekly therapy, no evidence that the concentrated format makes people worse, and much lower dropout. I'm glad to share the studies; ask in the consult.
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Then that part gets a say. Literally. The preparation sessions draw on Internal Family Systems work, so before we process anything, we get to know the parts of you that protect you, and nothing is targeted without their agreement. Processing days go better when nobody inside is being dragged along.
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No. EMDR works without narrating your history in detail. It’s part of why extended sessions are tolerable in a way people don't expect.
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The preparation sessions and the processing day can be in person in Denver or online anywhere in Colorado. You must be located in Colorado for us to work together.
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Yes, that's a common and often ideal arrangement. See "For fellow therapists" above; I'm glad to coordinate with them.
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Then we work at the level you are ready for. Resourcing and stabilization are legitimate intensive work, not a failure of it. Collaborative pacing is part of the method, and that's stated in your consent paperwork up front. A processing day starts with a check-in and proceeds only with your consent, on the day, every time.
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It’s the same method in a different container. Reprocessing a memory takes the time it takes, and a weekly hour sometimes means pausing mid-arc and picking the thread back up the next week. That works just fine and is how most EMDR is done. An intensive is different because it lets one piece of work run start to finish in a single sitting. Whether that difference matters for you depends on what we're targeting; it's part of what we sort out in the consult.