Focus — Jocelyn Fitzgerald: LMFT, EMDR Practitioner, and Creator of Colorful Therapy Tools

Understanding An EMDR Intensive

___ STEP ONE: Identify the benefits of EMDR Intensives.

Why choose intensive work? Below are some examples:

- The traditional model of weekly psychotherapy is shifting to meet your needs. Now more than ever, we need flexibility in how we get support.

- EMDR intensives are personalized treatment plans that allow you to skip the waitlist by giving you faster access to select spots, and are designed to support your preferred schedule and timeline for your treatment goals.

___ STEP TWO: Identify your ideal EMDR Intensive client.

Who is your ideal client for intensive work? Below are some examples:

Perhaps you’ve had a felt sense that something profound has yet to change, but you’re not quite sure how to shift all the way into a new experience of yourself with your current therapist. Maybe you now cognitively understand new things, yet your body is still confused, so you’re curious about how intensive EMDR therapy can help as you work with your primary talk therapist.
Perhaps you’ve been meaning to get into weekly therapy for a while now, but your schedule has been so hectic and demanding that a weekly therapy appointment feels more overwhelming than supportive.
Perhaps you’re needing help —- and a lot of it—- right now, and you don’t want to spend months in the traditional weekly model of therapy treatment to feel better.
Perhaps, with COVID, you need more efficient support as the busy parent with kids doing virtual learning and/or the working professional who has even more on their plate since the pandemic.
Perhaps you are a current, weekly client who is needing extra, focused support quickly.
Perhaps you are a new client who just prefers to work intensively.

___ STEP THREE: Share the research supporting the effectiveness of EMDR Intensives.

Intensive application of trauma-focused therapy seems to be well tolerated in patients with PTSD, enabling faster symptom reduction with similar, or even better, results, while reducing the risk that patients drop out prematurely. Learn more here andhere.
Intensive EMDR treatment is feasible and is indicative of reliable improvement in PTSD symptoms in a very short time frame. Learn more here.
An intensive program using EMDR therapy is a potentially safe and effective treatment alternative for complex PTSD. Learn more here.
The economy is compelling: even compared to other trauma therapy, the intensive format may decrease treatment time, because of time not spent on a) checking in at the beginning of each session, b) addressing current crises and concerns, c) focusing on stabilizing and coping skills that the client won’t need after trauma healing, or d) assisting the client in regaining composure at the end of the session. Learn more here.