Metropolitan Counseling Associates
EMDR Therapy & EMDR Intensives
Helping the Brain Process What Has Been Difficult to Move Past
Sometimes we understand exactly why we feel or react the way we do, and still cannot change it.
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is an evidence-based psychotherapy designed to help people process distressing experiences that continue to influence emotions, beliefs, relationships, behavior, or the body’s response to present-day situations.
At Metropolitan Counseling Associates, our clinicians have extensive experience integrating EMDR into trauma-informed psychotherapy. We offer both traditional EMDR therapy and extended EMDR intensives, allowing treatment to be structured around the needs, goals, readiness, and circumstances of each individual.
What Is EMDR?
EMDR is based on the understanding that experiences can sometimes remain insufficiently processed, leaving elements of the original experience, including emotions, beliefs, physical sensations, and threat responses, easily activated in the present.
How EMDR Works
EMDR uses a structured eight-phase treatment model that includes:
- History taking
- Preparation
- Assessment
- Reprocessing
- Integration
- Future Planning
During reprocessing, bilateral stimulation, often through guided eye movements, is used while the client briefly attends to aspects of a distressing memory or experience.
EMDR does not erase what happened or convince you it was less important. It helps you process the experience so the past can be carried forward with less power in the present.
What Can EMDR Address?
EMDR may be used to treat:
- Trauma and post-traumatic stress (PTSD)
- Anxiety and fears
- Distressing or intrusive memories
- Grief and loss
- Experiences that continue to feel emotionally “stuck”
- Negative beliefs about oneself developed through difficult experiences
- Performance anxiety and blocks
- Reactions to medical experiences or other significant life events
EMDR can be provided as part of ongoing psychotherapy or as a more focused course of treatment when clinically appropriate.
EMDR Intensives: More Time for Focused Therapeutic Work
Traditional psychotherapy is generally organized around weekly sessions. That structure works well for many people—but it’s not the only way meaningful therapeutic work can happen.
EMDR intensives provide longer blocks of uninterrupted treatment time, allowing clients to engage in preparation, reprocessing, and integration without stopping simply because a traditional therapy hour has ended.
Instead of spreading focused work across many weekly appointments, an EMDR intensive may allow several hours—or several days—to be devoted to a clearly identified treatment goal.
Why Choose an EMDR Intensive?
There are many reasons someone may prefer the intensive format.
EMDR intensives do not rush therapy. They create more concentrated and uninterrupted time for it.
Who Benefits Most from EMDR Intensives?
EMDR intensives may be particularly useful for people who:
- Want to focus on a specific traumatic or distressing experience
- Feel stuck around a particular fear, belief, or pattern
- Want to address a defined performance block or source of anxiety
- Are preparing for a significant transition, medical procedure, travel, or performance event
- Have completed previous therapy but continue to experience distress connected to particular experiences
- Are currently in therapy and want to devote concentrated time to a specific treatment target
- Have work, travel, or scheduling demands that make weekly therapy difficult
- Prefer focused, immersive therapeutic work
What to Expect from EMDR Intensives
Assessment Always Comes First
An EMDR intensive begins with assessment—not reprocessing.
Your therapist will spend time understanding your:
- History and current symptoms
- Treatment goals
- Existing supports
- Readiness for intensive EMDR work
Together, you’ll determine whether an intensive is clinically appropriate and identify the focus and structure of treatment.
What’s Included in EMDR Intensives
Depending on your individual needs, an EMDR intensive may include:
- Comprehensive assessment and treatment planning
- Preparation and development of regulation and grounding strategies
- Identification of specific memories, beliefs, experiences, or patterns to target
- Extended periods of EMDR reprocessing
- Planned breaks throughout longer sessions
- Time for integration and closure
- Recommendations for follow-up care when appropriate
EMDR Intensive Formats
EMDR intensives may be structured as:
- Half-day intensive (3-4 hours)
- Full-day intensive (6-8 hours)
- Multiple-day intensive (2-3 consecutive days)
The format depends on your clinical needs, goals, and circumstances.
Is an EMDR Intensive Right for Everyone?
No.
Some clients benefit most from the pacing and continuity of traditional weekly psychotherapy. Others may need additional stabilization, relationship-building, or preparatory work before trauma processing is appropriate. Certain clinical circumstances may make an intensive format inappropriate.
Our first priority is determining the treatment structure most likely to be helpful.
EMDR Within Ongoing Therapy
You don’t need to participate in an EMDR intensive to benefit from EMDR.
MCA therapists also integrate EMDR into ongoing psychotherapy when appropriate. This allows EMDR processing to occur within:
- An established therapeutic relationship
- Alongside other approaches to emotion regulation
- Work on relationships, behavioral change, and personal growth
Getting Started
The process begins with a consultation and assessment to understand what you hope to address, and whether traditional EMDR, an EMDR intensive, or another treatment approach is the best fit
Ready to Learn More?
Let us help you learn whether EMDR intensives may be right for you?