Speeding Up Healing: EMDR Intensives
After having my second daughter and taking a long hard look at my practice, what was working, what was not working, I set out on a goal to learn more about EMDR intensives and how they could help me have more of a work life balance (that I preach to my clients).
About two years ago I took a training from Kambria Evans about implementing EMDR intensives into your practice. GROUND BREAKING. I then, as any mom with a bone, went on a deep dive into podcasts, articles, websites and searching the internet for anything I could find about EMDR intensives and intensive based therapy practices.
Finally, I felt confident launching EMDR Intensives into my practice at the start of 2022. In this blog post, I’m taking some time to reflect on the reasoning and how it’s become the most beneficial treatment to my clients.
The beginning and the shift.
As I was ready to head back from parental leave there were million thoughts (I am sure some of you can relate) that were going through my head about how I could possibly going to balance it all. I was crunching the numbers and looking at schedules and trying to figure out how many clients could be on my caseload or on my weekly schedule without pulling my hair out but also providing the best care possible to my clients. It’s when I knew there needed to be a shift.
The community.
Community is the most important thing when being not only a therapist but a business owner. I leaned on my local friends/therapists, worked on my money mindset with Tiffany McLain, listened to all of Kambria’s podcasts and got some 1:1 consultation. Though all of this I had come to challenge my own beliefs around what it means to be a business owner AND uphold my social worker values, what it means to be a therapist stuck in a medical model, and what it means to be a parent of young kids and not be able to balance it all.
The math isn’t mathing.
The ‘therapeutic hour’, 53 minutes, is just not enough time to complete EMDR treatment. EMDR was designed to be used in 90 minute sessions, however the medical model has forced the therapists that take/ accept insurance and insurance based organizations that 60 minutes (but not really, it’s only 45-53) that is enough time. I am here to tell you it isn’t. I have had countless sessions where I can hear and feel a shift about to happen but am also watching the clock and realizing we just aren’t going to get there today. IF ONLY we had more time.
I am going to use some round numbers here for ease.
Let’s say insurance wants you to work towards your deductible and you pay for your treatment $100/session.
Your appointment is at 9:00am, you exchange pleasantries, update on some life things that happened in the last 2 weeks, fill your therapist in about your cat now having diabetes and that you yet again had a nightmare about the thing that shall not be named. It is now 9:17am, you have 36 minutes left. Your therapist invites you to bring up the target, you start processing and your therapist gives you 10 minutes at the end to close up, ground, and reschedule. You processed for 26 minutes.
It isn’t your fault, it isn’t your providers, it just is the reality of the medical model being forced onto your treatment plan.
So over 16 weeks, seeing each other bi weekly (every other week) you get approximately three hours and forty-six minutes of reprocessing and you pay, $800.
Okay okay okay, you see each other weekly for 16 weeks, you get approximately seven hours of reprocessing. At $100/hour that’s $1,600
Now let’s look at an intensive model.
3 hours:
Your appointment is at 9:00am, you exchange the same pleasantries and provide the same update you then set up your target and start processing. Your provider gives you 10 minutes at the end for closure and to wrap up the session and reschedule. You spent approximately two and a half hours reprocessing.
6 hours:
You do that twice in a week, you spend less time updating the provider because less things have happened in the time since you’ve seen each other, you complete another three hour intensive.
You spend approximately two hours and forty minutes processing.
In the three hour intensive you pay $100/hour for a total of $300, for two and a half hours of therapy.
In a six hour intensive you pay $100/hour for a total of $600, for over five hours of therapy.
And you complete over five hours of reprocessing in two days. NOT 16 WEEKS. Resulting in feeling better and seeing a difference sooner.
The pros for my clients.
1. It Saves Time.
As I proposed above in weekly or bi weekly EMDR therapy sessions there is limited time for EMDR processing. What is being accomplished in weeks takes one or two days.
2. It Saves Money.
As I proposed above, the numbers don’t lie. Whether you plan to use your insurance (OON) or not you probably have a large deductible to work towards.
3. More Focused Therapy.
Instead of coming in with the “crisis of the week”, or feel like you’re putting out fires or just complaining, EMDR intensives is the dedicated time for working on a particular presenting issue that brings you into therapy in the first place.
4. It Offers Fast Relief.
EMDR therapy in general offers relief for many symptoms and is used to treat anxiety, depression, PTSD, phobias, substance use, grief and loss, maladaptive thinking, and more! In an intensive format you get a deeper experience which provides relief from the symptoms you are suffering from sooner.
5. Less Time Off Work.
Anyone annoyed with having to take time off work? Find childcare? Fit our schedule into a therapist’s schedule on a weekly or biweekly basis?
With EMDR Intensives you just carve out the time needed, with limited disruption to your week. I offer EMDR Intensives on weekend or weekdays. Again as a mom and business owner I know first hand how daunting it can be to coordinate schedules. I am trying to make it easier for you.
6. Out of State Licensure Limitation.
You may be from out of state. At the moment I am only licensed in the state of Ohio. What EMDR Intensives offers you is removing that out of state limitations. You can take advantage of working with a therapist, maybe me, who resides in another state. You would just need to be in the state during your appointment time (either virtually or in person). Which would seem impossible on a weekly basis, but not for an intensive.
7. Adjunct EMDR.
You may already have an established relationship with a provider, I think that’s wonderful! If you’re feeling stuck, or don’t have a provider that offers EMDR you could just add EMDR Intensives as an Adjunct treatment model.
What does this mean? It means for one or two days, you work with me on EMDR goals and once we are complete you head back to your current therapist and continue on.
So there you have it. EMDR Intensives. The not so new wave of therapy, perfect for working professionals, busy parents, and those just truly seeking to feel better quicker.
Fostering Fortitude is an therapy practice located in Dublin, Ohio. I offer in person services to those within Central Ohio. As a therapist licensed in the state of Ohio, I am able to provide telehealth to anyone physically in the state at the time of service. If you have further questions after reading the above, or if you’d like to schedule an assessment to determine if an EMDR Intensive is a good fit for you, please contact Melissa Foster.
