EMDR/IFS
Intensives

Focused, personalised therapy for people who are ready to work more intensively

Sometimes weekly therapy is the right pace. At other times, having dedicated time and space for deeper therapeutic work can help you make meaningful progress with an issue that has remained stuck.

I offer EMDR and Internal Family Systems (IFS) informed intensives for adults experiencing trauma-related difficulties, including developmental and attachment trauma, and patterns of coping that may have developed in response to overwhelming experiences.

An intensive is not a promise to heal complex trauma in a day. Rather, it is a carefully planned episode of therapy that allows us to concentrate on a specific therapeutic focus while giving sufficient time for preparation, processing and integration.

What are EMDR and IFS intensives?

EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing) is a trauma-focused psychotherapy that can help the brain and nervous system process distressing experiences that continue to affect you in the present.

Internal Family Systems (IFS) is an approach that understands our minds as containing different parts or patterns of responding. Some parts may carry painful emotions or memories, while others have developed protective strategies to help us cope.

When appropriate, these approaches can complement one another. IFS can help us develop curiosity and compassion towards the different parts of your internal system, while EMDR may then help process experiences that continue to contribute to distress, reactivity, shame, fear or relational difficulties.

The intensive format gives us more uninterrupted therapeutic time than a standard weekly appointment, while maintaining careful attention to pacing, safety and your individual needs.

Who might benefit from an intensive?

An intensive may be appropriate if you:

Have experienced trauma or difficult attachment experiences that continue to affect you.
Find yourself repeatedly responding to situations in ways that feel disproportionate or difficult to control.
Understand your experiences intellectually but still feel emotionally or physically affected by them.
Have already undertaken therapy but feel that particular patterns remain “stuck”.
Have a specific traumatic experience or target that you would like to work on in a more concentrated way.
Have sufficient stability and support to undertake more concentrated therapeutic work.

You do not need to have everything figured out before beginning. Part of the purpose of the assessment is to determine together what approach and pace are most appropriate for you.

When might an intensive not be appropriate?

Intensive trauma processing is not suitable for everyone.

An intensive may not be appropriate if you are currently experiencing significant instability, are in an unsafe or ongoing traumatic situation, or need a period of stabilisation before processing traumatic material.

Additional care may be needed where there is:

Significant current risk of suicide or self-harm.
Acute substance dependence, intoxication or withdrawal.
Severe or uncontrolled dissociation.
Acute psychiatric instability.
Significant ongoing safety concerns.
Insufficient emotional or practical support following an intensive.
A presentation requiring specialist services beyond the scope of this work.

If an intensive is not clinically appropriate, this does not mean that therapy cannot help. We may instead decide that weekly or fortnightly therapy, stabilisation work, addiction support, or another form of specialist care would be a safer and more appropriate starting point.

I will always prioritise what is clinically appropriate rather than recommending an intensive simply because it is available.

What does an intensive involve?

An intensive is a structured treatment process rather than simply a longer therapy session.

1. Initial assessment

We begin with a comprehensive assessment to understand:

What brings you to therapy.
Your current circumstances and level of stability.
Relevant trauma and attachment experiences.
Previous therapy and other forms of support.
Your current coping strategies and patterns.
Any experiences of dissociation.
What you hope to change.
Whether concentrated therapy is appropriate for you at this stage.

This assessment also gives us an opportunity to decide that an intensive is not the right approach. There is no obligation to proceed.

2. Formulation and treatment planning

If an intensive appears appropriate, we identify a focused therapeutic aim.

Together we may explore:

The situations that currently trigger you.
The beliefs and emotions associated with them.
Protective patterns or “parts” that have developed over time.
Relevant attachment experiences.
Memories or experiences that may be contributing to the current pattern.
What you would like to be different following treatment.

I will develop a personalised treatment plan so that the intensive has a clear clinical purpose.

3. Preparation

Before undertaking trauma processing, we make sure that you have sufficient resources and understanding to engage safely.

Preparation may include:

Understanding your internal system through an IFS-informed approach.
Developing greater awareness of protective parts.
Learning ways of recognising and managing activation.
Establishing grounding and regulation strategies.
Identifying what helps you feel safe and present.
Discussing pacing, consent and your ability to pause or stop the work at any point.

Preparation is not something we rush. For some people, this stage may take longer and may become the focus of several ordinary therapy sessions before an intensive is appropriate.

4. The intensive

The intensive itself provides a longer period of uninterrupted therapeutic time.

Depending on your needs, this may involve a combination of:

IFS-informed therapeutic work.
EMDR processing where clinically appropriate.
Exploration of attachment-related experiences.
Working with protective responses.
Regulation and grounding.
Periods of reflection and integration.
Future-oriented work.

There will be regular breaks. The aim is not to process as much trauma as possible, but to work at a pace that your system can manage and that is therapeutically useful.

5. Integration and follow-up

The work does not end when the intensive finishes.

A follow-up appointment allows us to explore what you notice afterwards, including changes in emotions, memories, relationships, body sensations or protective responses.

We then decide what would be most helpful going forward.

This might include:

Returning to your existing therapist.
Continuing therapy with me.
Further focused intensive work.
A period of stabilisation or integration.
Referral or liaison with another appropriate professional where needed.

What is included in the intensive package?

A typical intensive package includes:

Before the intensive

Comprehensive assessment.
Clinical screening and suitability assessment.
Personalised formulation.
Treatment planning.
Preparation session(s).

During the intensive

A dedicated half-day therapeutic session.
EMDR and/or IFS-informed work as clinically appropriate.
Regular breaks.
Grounding and regulation support.
Integration and closure.

After the intensive

A dedicated integration/follow-up session.
Review of progress and any ongoing needs.
Recommendations for the next stage of treatment.

A note about complex trauma and attachment

Complex and developmental trauma is rarely a single event that can be “processed and completed” in one session.

If you have a long history of trauma, attachment difficulties or complex PTSD, an intensive may be one part of a longer therapeutic journey rather than the whole journey.

For some people, an intensive can provide a focused opportunity to work with a particular traumatic memory, attachment wound or recurring pattern. For others, the most appropriate approach may be to establish a therapeutic relationship and build stability gradually before undertaking deeper trauma processing.

There is no expectation that you should be ready to process everything at once.

The aim is to understand what your system needs and work at a pace that respects that.

Location and practicalities

Intensives take place in a private therapy setting in Gort, Co Galway. You do not need to stay overnight. If you are travelling from outside Galway, I can provide general information about local accommodation and practical arrangements, but accommodation is arranged independently by the client.

Following the intensive, you will be encouraged to allow yourself some quiet time rather than immediately returning to a demanding schedule.

Interested in finding out whether an intensive is right for you?

The first step is an initial conversation and assessment. This allows us to understand what you are looking for and decide whether an intensive, regular therapy, or another form of support would be the most appropriate way forward.

An intensive is an invitation to slow down, create space for deeper work, and approach your healing with care—not a requirement to resolve everything at once.

EMDR/IFS Intensives

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