THERAPY INTENSIVES · SAN MATEO
Sometimes you need more than an hour.
There are times when you finally get to the thing that matters and then the session is over.
Maybe your schedule makes weekly therapy difficult. Maybe something has happened and you need more time than a regular session gives you. That’s what intensives are for.
THE THREE FORMATS
Half Day
Four hours, with breaks.
Two Days
Two consecutive full days, with an overnight break between them.
Full Day
Eight hours, including an hour for lunch.
Every intensive starts with an intake
We use the intake to understand what you want to work on, decide whether an intensive is the right format, and establish a clear focus for the day.
The day itself has a shape.
We begin with what we agreed to focus on. We work in blocks with real breaks, because the breaks matter more than people expect. Because we have more time, we can stay with what emerges rather than stopping simply because the hour is over.
We close by talking about what you’re taking with you and what follow-up makes sense.
COUPLES INTENSIVES
For some couples, a weekly session can end just as something important begins to emerge. A longer format gives us time to move past the surface argument, understand what’s underneath it, and stay with the work without immediately having to stop.
INDIVIDUAL INTENSIVES
Useful when there’s something specific: a breakup you can’t get past, a decision that’s been sitting on you, a pattern you understand completely and can’t interrupt.
For some individual clients, the longer format works particularly well with focused EMDR because we have more uninterrupted time to stay with what we’re working on.
WHAT AN INTENSIVE ISN’T
It isn’t a faster version of therapy that gets you a year’s work in a day. It’s a different shape, better suited to some things and not to others.
It isn’t a rescue. A day of good work doesn’t undo what took years to build.
It isn’t the right container if there’s violence or ongoing abuse in the relationship, or if untreated addiction is driving what’s happening. It also isn’t right if one partner is being brought in to be fixed. I’ll say so at the intake, and help you find what would actually help.
We’ll discuss the format and fee before anything is scheduled, so you’ll know exactly what to expect.