Therapy Intensives

There has been a recent shift towards therapy intensives lately, and you might find yourself wondering what that is, and is it for you. 

Therapy intensives are a newer model that differ significantly from what most folks typically think of when they think of therapy. Traditional therapy is once per week (or every other week) for roughly 50 minutes at a time. You come in, likely spend some time reviewing your week and what’s been going on since you last saw your therapist, spend some time getting to the “meat” of the work, and then spend the last few minutes closing up, scheduling for next time, and saying goodbye. This setup is what most of us are held to by our insurance companies, which only pay for up to about an hour of therapy. While this is great for many people, some therapists have noticed that this setup doesn’t work for everyone for a variety of reasons. Enter therapy intensives. 

Some people hear the word “intensive” and think it must mean that you need to have incredibly severe issues in order to benefit from treatment. This isn’t the case at all! A therapy intensive is simply an extended session, anywhere from 90 minutes to multiple hours, where you are digging really deep into a particular issue. As opposed to traditional therapy, where you often jump from topic to topic, never getting to the root of the problem. Some intensives are held one day only, while some can be multiple days, or even a week at a time! Some people may do one intensive session monthly or quarterly, while others do one and that’s all they need. 

So why do an intensive? Well, there are plenty of reasons! One thing that many clients love is that you can block out time and get a lot of work done during one session. Instead of having to carve time out of your schedule weekly, you can come in and work intently towards healing over the course of a few hours on the same day. Intensives are also great for those who travel out of state a lot, as therapists can only work with someone when they are physically located in a state the therapist is licensed in. This means those who travel between states for work, college students, or are often on the go can get the therapy they need without the significant breaks in treatment. You can often get months' worth of work done in one longer day. 

Another benefit of a therapy intensive is that it helps keep you focused on what you want to work on. There’s often time at the beginning and end of each weekly therapy session building up to the issue and then coming down from it, leaving less time in the session for the true work. With an intensive model, there’s no need to catch up between sessions. You get to spend more total time focused on your treatment goals. You’re also able to focus more on your goal because there aren’t the life distractions that happen between sessions that can sometimes get things a little off course. 

One last potential benefit is cost. While yes, intensives are more money up front, when you factor in how much longer you may be in more traditional therapy, plus the extended time off work (or school, or away from family) for weekly sessions, you can end up saving money in the long run. And with laser-focused treatment, it’s easier to keep your attention on what you truly want to work on. 

What do you work on during a therapy intensive?
Well, that depends on what you want to work on. Oftentimes, intensives can be great for working with significant traumas. They allow you to dig deep and get a lot of work done during one session. Some folks have a life event that is coming up that they want to work on during an intensive. Maybe you’re preparing for a big move, a promotion, a divorce, or another significant change. Intensives allow you extra time to focus on these concerns. You get to develop your goals with your therapist to decide what you want to address. 

What types of therapy are done in intensive form?

Different therapists offer different types of intensives. I offer Brainspotting for therapy intensives. Brainspotting is a neuroexperiential treatment that uses eye positioning to help your brain process and make sense of traumas, hurts, and other life issues. Brainspotting intensives can also be used to help increase creativity or sports performance. You can address many different concerns, even ones you don’t necessarily have the words for! I prefer using brainspotting for my therapy intensives because it allows your brain ample time to process and heal. We can also find expansion areas, where instead of focusing on the bad, we can focus on your greatest potential and how to get there. 

Interested in talking more about intensives? Contact me here and I’m happy to answer more questions!