EMDR Therapy & Intensive

EMDR vs. Talk Therapy: What’s the Difference?

While talk therapy can be incredibly helpful, EMDR takes a more targeted, brain-based approach. It doesn’t require you to talk through every detail of a traumatic event. Instead, EMDR works directly with the nervous system to shift how memories are stored—helping you find resolution without re-traumatization.

It’s especially useful if you’ve felt “stuck” in other forms of therapy or if your symptoms feel rooted in something you can’t quite explain.

What to Expect in Your EMDR Therapy

In an EMDR session, we’ll guide you to focus on a specific memory or emotional “target” and ask a series of questions about the kinds of beliefs that developed from this experience. Before your EMDR session, you will be provided with helpful coping and grounding strategies to ensure that you have an effective EMDR experience. We will collaborate to develop a treatment plan that makes the most sense given your identified goals.

Then, through a pattern of eye movements, the EMDR process creates new neural pathways and associations, allowing negative stuck memories to find movement and be reprocessed in a healthier, more adaptive way. MLB Therapy has extensive training and expertise in advanced EMDR treatments to match your therapy goals.

You may start with thoughts like “I’m not safe” or “I’m not good enough,” and through the process, begin to feel calmer, more grounded, and even develop new beliefs like “I can handle this” or “I am worthy.”

EMDR Adjunct Therapy

If you’re currently working with a primary therapist but feel stuck in trauma-related symptoms, EMDR Adjunct Therapy may provide the extra support you need. These specialized sessions are designed to complement (not replace) your ongoing therapy, offering a focused space to process unresolved trauma and accelerate emotional healing. At MLB Therapy, we provide trauma-informed, compassionate care in a safe and confidential environment. Our certified EMDR practitioners collaborate seamlessly with your primary therapist, honoring the work you’ve already done while helping you move through blocks that may be interfering with your progress.

What to Expect

Step 1: Initial Consultation

We begin with a thorough intake session to review your history and therapy goals to determine if EMDR is a good option for you.

Step 2: Treatment Planning

Together with your primary therapist, we identify specific targets for EMDR processing. The length and structure of the intensive will be based on your unique treatment goals and the focus areas we’ve identified together.

Step 3: EMDR Sessions

Sessions typically last 45 to 120 minutes and may be scheduled weekly or bi-monthly, depending on your needs. During this time, you’ll work closely with your therapist to reprocess distressing memories at a pace that feels safe, while also building a coping toolkit with skills and strategies to manage any emotional distress that may arise along the way.

Step 4: Post-Session Progress Updates

With your consent, we share updates with your primary therapist to maintain coordinated care. We will then follow up with you after your treatment.

Need Accelerated Healing? Try an EMDR Intensive

This focused, accelerated format allows us to target the root of your pain and begin processing it in a matter of days, not months. With support and structure, you can break free from past patterns and start responding to life from a place of clarity, calm, and intention.

EMDR Intensives offer a concentrated therapeutic experience designed to help you make meaningful progress in a shorter amount of time. These extended sessions typically last 2 to 4 hours and can take place over one or multiple days, often over a weekend for greater flexibility.

In fact, many people think of Therapy Intensives like a retreat. For that week you can unplug, take time off work, get a babysitter, or even stay in a hotel. This time is completely dedicated to you so you can focus on healing, reflecting, and reconnecting.

Because the time is uninterrupted and highly focused, EMDR Intensives can often achieve in days what might take weeks or months in traditional weekly sessions. They’re especially helpful for clients with busy schedules, a desire to work through something more quickly, or those feeling stuck in the pacing of weekly therapy.

We offer two types of intensives: standard EMDR Intensives, which focus on personal trauma and stuck emotional patterns, and EMDR Parenting Intensives, which are tailored for parents who want to explore how their past experiences may be affecting their parenting approach, co-parenting or relationship with their child.

• Our standard EMDR Intensives are ideal for individuals navigating the effects of trauma, anxiety, or depression, particularly after a recent loss, crisis, or major life stressor. With a clear focus and personalized goals, these intensives create the space for deeper processing, greater clarity, and lasting change.
• Through EMDR Parenting Intensives, we explore how unresolved trauma, old belief systems, or emotional reactivity may be interfering with your ability to set boundaries, stay present, and parent from your values, not your past. While many parents come in hoping to fix their child’s behavior, the real magic happens when parents begin to shift their patterns. We work with one parent of a co-parenting relationship. This is deep work, but if you’re ready to model change instead of demand it, the ripple effects can be transformational!

The Intensive Process

Step 1: Pre-Screening Phone Call

We’ll start with a quick conversation to learn more about what’s bringing you in and see if an EMDR intensive might be a good option to explore.

Step 2: Pre-Intake Consultation

This session offers a more in-depth assessment of your goals, history, and current needs. We’ll take time to ensure that an EMDR intensive is clinically appropriate and tailored to your specific situation.

Step 3: Intensive Planning

If it’s determined that you’re a good fit for an EMDR intensive, we’ll begin planning your intensive. The length and structure of the intensive will be based on your unique treatment goals and the focus areas we’ve identified together.

Step 4: Scheduling & Preparation

Before beginning EMDR, you’ll receive a personalized workbook to help you reflect, clarify your goals, and prepare emotionally for the work ahead and other resourcing. We collaborate on treatment planning, goals, pathway and timeline. Once you’re ready, we’ll schedule your intensive.

Step 5: EMDR Sessions

During your intensive, you’ll work with your therapist to reprocess distressing memories, taking the time you need to move through each phase with care. We’ll help you build a coping toolkit with skills and strategies to manage any emotional distress that may arise during the process.

EMDR Advanced Training

At MLB Therapy we continually strive to advance our knowledge of EMDR Therapy through additional training, certifications and continuing education programs.

• EMDR Basic Training
• EMDR Certification
• EMDR Consultant in Training (CIT)
• Evolved EMDR: Book Club 1:
  • Attachment-Focused EMDR by Laurel Parnell
  • EMDR with Complex Trauma by Thomas Zimmerman
• EMDR GAP Training:
  • EMDR Therapy Protocols for Early Intervention & Ongoing Traumatic Stress
  • EMDR Protocol for Recent Critical Incidents and Ongoing Traumatic Stress (EMDR-PRECI) by Ignacio Jarero & Lucina Artigas
  • Acute Stress Syndrome Stabilization Individual Procedure (ASSYST-I) by Ignacio Jarero
  • Acute Stress Syndrome Stabilization For Groups (ASSYST-G) by Ignacio Jarero
  • EMDR Integrative Group Treatment Protocol for Ongoing Traumatic Stress (EMDR-IGTP-OTS)
• FLASH by Dr. Ricky Greenwald
• Four Blinks
• EMDR Therapy Butterfly Hug Method for Self-Administered BLS by Ignacio Jarero & Lucina Artigas
• Developmental Needs Meeting Strategy By Shirley Jean Schmidt, MA, LPC
• Intensive Design Lab by Steffeny Feld @ Kaleidoscope
• Intensives and More by Kambria Evans, MED, MA @ Zero Disturbance
• EMDR Intensives Course by Scaling Up

Common Questions About EMDR Intensives