Intensive EMDR Therapy
If you are carrying the weight of past experiences that continue to affect your day-to-day life, whether that is anxiety, low mood, trauma, or old patterns that keep showing up, you might be considering therapy. But you might also be wondering when you will find the time.
A lot of professionals worry about how long things will take to change. They have full lives they do not want to put on hold. The idea of committing to open-ended weekly sessions, fitting them around work and everything else, can feel like one more thing to manage rather than something that actually helps.
If that resonates, Intensive EMDR might be worth considering. Rather than spreading the work across months of weekly appointments, intensive EMDR works in concentrated blocks, allowing for deeper processing in a much shorter period of time.
I'm Dr Brett Hayes, a Clinical Psychologist and EMDR therapist. I work with professionals who want to deal with what is holding them back properly, without it taking over their life to do so.
Find out if this is right for youIntensive EMDR
Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR) is a well-established therapy recommended by NICE guidelines for treating trauma. It helps the brain reprocess distressing memories so they lose their emotional charge and no longer intrude on the present.
Sessions are traditionally delivered weekly. More recently though, intensive EMDR has been shown to be just as effective when delivered in a shorter, more concentrated timeframe. Working in half or full day blocks, we move through the reprocessing work with momentum rather than picking up and putting down week by week.
Why the intensive format
A lot of the people I work with value efficiency. They want to do meaningful work without it dragging on indefinitely. The intensive format tends to work well when:
- You are dealing with specific traumatic events or longstanding patterns that are affecting your work, relationships or wellbeing
- Weekly therapy feels too slow or too difficult to fit around a busy schedule
- You have had some success in previous therapy but want to tackle more entrenched issues properly
- You want a dedicated block of time focused on this, with minimal ongoing disruption to the rest of your life
After EMDR, people often describe feeling lighter and more present. Intrusive thoughts reduce. Sleep improves. Things that felt stuck start to shift. Research shows that intensive EMDR can produce rapid reductions in PTSD and anxiety symptoms, often comparable to months of traditional weekly work. You can read the full paper here if you're interested.
How it works
- Free consultation — A 30-minute call to talk through what you're dealing with and whether this format is the right fit.
- Preparation — The initial sessions cover your history, build resources for emotional regulation, and identify the targets we will work on.
- Intensive sessions — Half-day (3 hours), full-day (6 hours) or multi-day blocks, tailored to what you need. Delivered online for flexibility.
- Follow-up — Integration support to consolidate the work, with recommendations for anything ongoing if needed.
The pace is always guided by you. This is collaborative work and safety comes first throughout.
Is this right for you?
Intensive EMDR isn't suitable for everyone. If you are in acute crisis or managing significant ongoing instability, this format may not be the right starting point and we will work that out together during consultation.
If you think weekly sessions might suit you better, you can read more about weekly therapy here.
If you are ready to address what has been holding you back and create space for a more engaged life, this could be a meaningful step forward.
Book a free consultationOr email adminpsychology@proton.me
Dr Brett Hayes
Clinical Psychologist and EMDR Therapist