Dedicated restorative psychotherapy sanctuary for EMDR intensives in Arlington MA

CONCENTRATED EMDR INTENSIVES • ARLINGTON MASSACHUSETTS • DEEP TRAUMA RESOLUTION

Arlington • Cambridge • Greater Boston

You understand what happened. Why doesn't it feel over?

You may have talked about the relationship, childhood, loss, betrayal, or trauma for years. Intellectually, you understand it. But your body still reacts, your relationships are still affected, or part of you still feels caught inside what happened.

An EMDR intensive gives us more time than a traditional 50-minute session to work with that material without repeatedly having to stop just as the work deepens.

Schedule a Free 15-Minute Consultation Self-Assessment Checklist

Readiness & Alignment

An EMDR Intensive May Be Right for You If…

You have spent years understanding your trauma but still feel emotionally caught in it.
You keep returning to the same painful relationship or betrayal in your mind.
You know intellectually that something wasn't your fault but don't yet feel it.
You struggle with shame, attachment wounds, grief, or loss of trust.
You are functioning successfully professionally while carrying significant distress privately.
You have tried weekly therapy and feel frustrated by having to stop after 50 minutes.
You want focused time to address a particular memory, relationship, or period of your life.

How Extended EMDR Sessions Work

EMDR intensives offer a concentrated, uninterrupted way of doing trauma therapy for people who want to make meaningful progress without limiting the work to 50 minutes each week. Rather than stopping just as important material begins to emerge, an intensive provides dedicated, continuous time for preparation, sustained processing, grounding, and closure—ensuring you thoroughly process disturbing material and leave each session feeling settled and integrated.

Intensives are scheduled in focused 2-hour, 3-hour, or 4-hour blocks and may take place over one day or several arranged days. I currently offer intensives throughout the week at my office in Arlington, MA, welcoming clients from Cambridge, Boston, and across the Commonwealth. Extended session blocks are ideal for clients with busy schedules, targeted memories or chapters to address, or those working with an existing therapist who desire adjunctive EMDR reprocessing.

Some clients feel that one intensive helps them move forward with a different understanding of what happened to them and a greater sense of relief, clarity, or emotional freedom. Others choose to schedule several intensives so that we can address a number of memories, patterns, or treatment goals.

A Note on Pacing and Nervous System Autonomy: While extended sessions provide dedicated time free from the constraints of the 50-minute clock, total therapy time is not guaranteed to be shorter. Healing cannot be rushed or compressed on an artificial timeline; every client's nervous system moves at its own natural pace, and careful preparation, resourcing, and safe closure are always our top clinical priorities.

Practice Location

EMDR intensives are held in person at my private office in Arlington, Massachusetts, conveniently accessible to Cambridge, Somerville, and Greater Boston. I do not routinely offer intensives by telehealth, although remote formats can be considered when clinically appropriate.

Candidate Profiles

Who Is an EMDR Intensive Right For?

Extended intensives are specially tailored for individuals seeking focused, profound therapeutic momentum.

Narcissistic Abuse & Painful Relationship Endings

Many people come to EMDR after years of carrying complex trauma, attachment wounds, grief, shame, or confusing relationship dynamics. You may know logically that a partner, parent, or colleague was emotionally manipulative or abusive, yet your body remains flooded with guilt, cognitive dissonance, fear of intimacy, or difficulty trusting your own instincts. An intensive provides the concentrated space needed to reprocess the specific episodes that broke your sense of safety.

Bipolar Disorder & Emotional Healing

I also work with people living with bipolar disorder at different stages of coming to terms with the illness. EMDR can help address the emotional impact of diagnosis, hospitalization, loss of confidence, shame about past episodes, fear of relapse, and the essential work of rebuilding a grounded, meaningful identity.

High-Functioning Professionals, Scholars & Caregivers

I am especially interested in working with high-functioning people whose suffering may be largely invisible to others, including academics, lawyers, physicians, tech leaders, scientists, writers, artists, and fellow therapists. You may be highly capable and accomplished while privately struggling with perfectionism, career anxiety, imposter syndrome, burnout, or childhood wounds. As an academic with a PhD in English Literature from the University of Chicago, a writer, and a licensed clinician, I move easily between intellectual, creative, professional, and emotional worlds.

Clinical Specialization

Concerns That May Be Addressed in an Intensive

Depending on clinical appropriateness and treatment readiness, EMDR intensives may address traumatic memories, complex PTSD symptoms, the effects of narcissistic or emotional abuse, attachment injuries, shame, grief, anxiety, and persistent negative beliefs. Clients with bipolar disorder, dissociative symptoms, or other complex psychiatric histories require individualized assessment and may need coordination with existing treatment providers.

Trauma and complex trauma

Narcissistic abuse and painful relationship endings

Attachment wounds and difficulty trusting others

Bipolar disorder and the emotional effects of illness

Grief, shame, anxiety, and hypervigilance

Perfectionism, burnout, and career-related fears

Creative blocks and major life transitions

Transparent Investment

Intensive Session Formats

View Full Fee Schedule

2-Hour Intensive $600

Targeted memory or phobia focus.

3-Hour Intensive (Most Popular) $900

Relational & attachment themes.

4-Hour Intensive $1,200

Deep complex trauma healing.

"An intensive offers more time and depth than a standard weekly session, allowing us to work directly with the memories, beliefs, and emotional responses that continue to affect your life."

— Christina Carlson, LMHC, PhD