EMDR Intensives
What is EMDR? EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) is a treatment modality used for helping individuals overcome traumas. Unprocessed trauma memories often stick around in the body, in nightmares, flashbacks, cognitively, unexplained pain or general overwhelm, and behaviorally.
How does EMDR work? EMDR helps to get the left and right hemispheres talking to each other. The right hemisphere is emotional, and the left hemisphere is logical (simply put). This is done in quick succession (known as bilateral stimulation) through rapid eye movements, tactile methods, and a variety of other ways – all of which help the brain to process the memories.
EMDR Intensives are tailored treatment plans that give you faster access to trauma therapy and can boost your progress through the challenges that are surfacing from traumatic/less than nurturing events – both from adulthood and childhood.
EMDR Intensives allow an individual more time to increase the efficiency of memory processing, feel less distress around the event(s) rather quickly; while allowing that person to discover skills to govern nervous system dysregulation. With multiple sessions placed into one day, less time is spent opening and closing each session; therefore, more progress can be made. The length of these intensives allows for you to end your session at a lower level of distress and potentially fewer side effects following that session – compared to standard 50-minute weekly appointments. By having a dedicated time frame committed to treatment all at once, we can increase the time spent addressing those memories and symptoms that brought you into treatment in the first place.
What Can I Expect From an EMDR Intensive?
-The initial sessions (1.5-2 hours) are where I gather history and make sure that an EMDR intensive is appropriate for you, assist in developing resources for you, and see how you tolerate EMDR. These appointments are used to assess candidacy for an Intensive, discuss the concerns that brought you to treatment, address questions, and identify the negative belief systems that have reinforced the old patterns of thinking, feeling, and behaving. Often times, individuals will meet 3-5 more times in an effort to support an upcoming intensive, developing resources and more.
-Expect a longer session with breaks from thinking about the memory. Don’t worry, you will not be trauma-processing the entire time. You will take breaks and do some nervous system regulation skills/strategies such as yoga, and breathing exercises, or we might even go for walk and drink some cold tea. We will be mindful of your body’s needs throughout.
-One of the major benefits is that we do not have to spend time with intros and wrap-ups like we usually would. Usually, especially with regard to recent adulthood traumas, we can fully complete the processing around a memory, leaving you with little physical distress when bringing the memory to mind. With childhood memories, we can decrease the intensity and perhaps duration/frequency of negative feelings/thoughts surrounding those old less than nurturing experiences. We can navigate without having to start/stop like we would in weekly sessions which in essence helps you with reprocessing and healing.
-I hope to assist you in significantly lowering the distress around the incident(s) which can eliminate ongoing needs for EMDR work. However, a more complex trauma treatment plan and multiple incidents will require more than likely additional sessions.
-Expect to come away with more emotional tolerance skills and resources. You will be practicing the pendulation between memory processing and taking breaks with skills and resourcing. These skills are yours to take post-session and use in your daily life to ground, be present, and regulate your nervous system.
-After your intensive, additional EMDR therapy appointments may be necessary to achieve treatment goals. Please Note: In complex cases, especially with multiple traumatic events, additional intensive work will be recommended.
EMDR Intensive Processing Sessions:
Available Thursday or Friday in your choice of either Half-Day (3-4 hours) or Full-Day (6 hours) formats.
Your EMDR sessions begin with developing resources to increase your sense of calm, security, and control – which will allow you to feel/be more confident when examining your trauma(s). The initial sessions will be spent creating these resources to help support you during reprocessing and post-processing. The reprocessing portion will last 3 - 4 hours for the half-day, and 6 hours for the full-day formats. There are self-care breaks as needed.
Investment:
Half-Day – *email/call
Full-Day – *email/call
Your Co-Traveler
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Brandon Lutman, MSW, RCSWI, CAP, CTP, EMDR
Brandon is a Certified Trauma Professional (CTP) and Certified Addictions Professional (CAP) with over 6 years experience. Brandon works with those struggling with unresolved trauma, less than nurturing experiences, codependency, addictions, and shame.
