For therapists and referring clinicians
Adjunct EMDR intensives for your clients
When insight alone hasn’t been enough
An EMDR intensive gives focused EMDR work more uninterrupted time. Instead of opening a memory and closing it again within a 50-minute hour, we have a longer block to prepare, process and pause when needed, so there’s room to stay with something long enough for it to move.
Many of the clients who come for an intensive have done good therapy already. They understand their patterns and can name where they come from, yet a particular memory, belief or body response hasn’t changed. EMDR works with how experiences are stored in the nervous system, not only with the conscious mind, so the work can reach a deeper level.
As an adjunct, an intensive sits alongside the work you’re already doing. With your client’s consent, we talk before we begin so the focus fits your work together, and afterward they come back to you.
What an adjunct intensive looks like:
Free 15-minute call with your client, or with you first if you prefer.
Assessment. A separate 50-minute appointment, $215. We look at history, current support, stabilization and readiness, and decide together whether an intensive is appropriate. No obligation.
Preparation session, 90 minutes. We agree on the target, set up grounding and resourcing, and plan the day.
Intensive session, 3 hours. Focused EMDR on the agreed target, with breaks and pacing built in.
Integration session, 50 minutes. We make sense of what shifted, note what’s still open, and plan next steps, including the return to your ongoing work.
The three package appointments are on separate, non-consecutive days, usually within two to four weeks. In person in Flatiron, Manhattan or Williamsburg, Brooklyn, or online.
Your client stays your client
Who it’s for
Who may benefit
Clients with a specific, well-defined target: a single-incident trauma such as an accident, a medical event, a breakup or a loss, or a discrete memory or belief underneath a pattern like perfectionism or people-pleasing
Clients working through birth trauma or pregnancy loss
Clients who have the insight and the stabilization skills from your work and still say “I know it, but I don’t feel it”
Clients with anxiety or panic, or with childhood experiences that still shape their relationships now
Clients who feel emotionally stuck despite years of insight-oriented therapy and want to try a different modality on one piece without leaving you
Healthcare professionals and high achievers looking for deeper change in a shorter period of time
Who needs further assessment first. Please still refer if you’re unsure. I’d rather say “not yet” after a 50-minute assessment than have someone sit through a three-hour session they aren’t ready for. These situations usually call for more preparation, or for weekly work, before an intensive makes sense:
Active suicidality, or recent self-harm or hospitalization
Substance use that would interfere with processing
Significant dissociation, or dissociation that hasn’t yet been assessed
Acute crisis or major instability
Grounding and affect-tolerance skills that aren’t yet in place
How we coordinate
Before the intensive. With your client’s consent, I’ll set up a call with you. It helps to hear what you’re treating, what feels stuck, what stabilization skills your client has, any risk history or dissociation, medications and prescriber, and what you’d hope the intensive could target. If I think a different target would serve your client better, I’ll say so and we’ll talk it through.
During. Your client remains in your care, and keeping their regular sessions with you is fine and often helpful. After the reprocessing session, I offer check-ins if your client has questions before we meet for integration.
After. If your client requests it, I can provide a written summary of the work. I share information with you only with your client’s consent.
Who is responsible for what:
You remain the treating therapist throughout. Your relationship with the client is their primary support before, between and after the intensive appointments.
I am responsible for the assessment, the preparation, the intensive and the integration session, and for check-ins after reprocessing.
I don’t become the client’s ongoing therapist afterward unless you, the client and I all agree that’s the right plan.
If the client has no current therapist, intensives can be stand-alone. We’ll talk at the integration session about whether ongoing support is needed and where to find it.
Questions from referring therapists
FAQs
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Yes. That’s the design. The intensive is a block of time on one target, and your client remains yours throughout. With their consent, we coordinate before we begin.
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No. If you do practice EMDR, an intensive can still make sense when a client wants a longer block than your weekly format allows.
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Yes, and I’d encourage it. The three intensive appointments are spread over a few weeks, and your regular sessions give the client a familiar place to process what comes up.
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I’ll say so at the assessment, explain why, and suggest what would help first. The assessment carries no obligation.
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Yes, for clients physically in New York or California at the time of each appointment. In person in Flatiron, Manhattan, or Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
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Yes. The same process applies: free call, assessment, then a decision. With consent, I’ll coordinate with the prescriber the same way I would with a therapist.
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Yes. It meets on Zoom and is open to therapists in any state, and associates are welcome.
Fees
Assessment: $215, separate from any package, no obligation.
Intensive package: $1,850 for the Focused Intensive (a 90-minute preparation session, a 3-hour EMDR intensive and a 50-minute integration session).
Additional sessions, if useful: $525 per 90 minutes or $1,050 per 3 hours.
Intensives are private pay, with no superbill, because insurance generally doesn’t reimburse sessions longer than 60 minutes. Full details are in my article on EMDR intensive costs.
About me
I’m a licensed clinical social worker in New York and California with 10 years in practice, and an EMDRIA Certified Therapist. My training includes Attachment-Focused EMDR, IFS and EMDR integration, and Trauma-Informed Stabilization Treatment. I see clients in person in Flatiron, Manhattan, and online across New York and California. More on my About page.
To refer
Email info@therapywithsamira.com with “Referral” in the subject line. Please don’t include client-identifying details in a first email, since email isn’t a secure channel.
For therapists
A consultation group for trauma work
I also run a trauma-informed consultation group for therapists who want to build confidence with complex trauma cases. It’s collaborative and supportive rather than lecture-based, and draws on attachment theory, EMDR, parts work (IFS), psychodynamic and somatic approaches. No formal EMDR training is required.
When: every two weeks, Thursdays, 12:00 to 1:30 PM Eastern
Where: on Zoom, open to therapists in any state
Fee: $50 per session
Group size: up to 6 participants, open group
Who it’s for: therapists with an interest in trauma work, in any state; associates are welcome
EMDRIA hours: sessions don’t count toward EMDRIA consultation hours
Interested? Email me to schedule a brief chat and see if it’s a good fit.