Story-Clearing EMDR Intensive Therapy

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Sometimes what you’re carrying isn’t just one event, but a series of experiences that feel connected—across relationships, life chapters, or different periods of time.

A Story-Clearing EMDR Intensive is designed for moments like this, when you want to work with the broader arc of your experience in a way that feels structured, contained, and responsive to your nervous system, rather than trying to isolate a single issue.

What is a Story-Clearing EMDR Intensive?

In a Story-Clearing EMDR Intensive, the work is organized around multiple linked experiences or relational patterns, rather than a single, isolated event.

The focus is on how these experiences connect and reinforce one another over time, while still keeping the scope of the work intentional and well-contained. This allows for deeper integration without opening more than your system can comfortably hold at once.

Examples may include:

  • Ways you learned to see yourself in the world — such as constantly second-guessing your decisions, feeling responsible for keeping others calm or happy, or moving through life with a quiet sense that you’re not quite safe, welcome, or enough

  • Patterns that keep replaying in adult life — like repeatedly ending up in relationships where you feel unseen, over-responsible, or anxious; feeling intense shame or self-doubt without knowing why; or always bracing for things to fall apart even when nothing is “wrong”

  • Long-standing ways of coping that no longer feel optional — such as chronic people-pleasing, staying guarded or detached, feeling on edge in close relationships, or struggling to trust yourself even when you’re competent

When a Story-Clearing Intensive may be a Good Fit

A Story-Clearing EMDR Intensive may feel like a good fit if:

  • Your experiences feel layered or interconnected rather than centered on one event

  • You notice repeating relational patterns that developed over time

  • Past therapy has helped, but the larger picture still feels unresolved

  • It’s hard to separate one issue from the broader story of how things unfolded

  • You’re seeking depth while still wanting structure, pacing, and containment

Fit is always explored collaboratively, with attention to readiness and what feels supportive for you.

How Story-Clearing Intensives Are Structured in This Practice

Story-Clearing EMDR Intensives are offered within the broader framework of EMDR intensive therapy, with added attention to pacing, preparation, and integration when working across multiple targets.

The process includes time to orient to the overall story, identify linked themes or chapters, and move through EMDR reprocessing in a way that respects how your system responds. Integration is built in throughout, rather than saved for the end.

EMDR is used intentionally here—not to push through material quickly, but to support trauma processing in a way that aligns with the principles of EMDR therapy and the complexity of the work.

Story-Clearing vs Single-Issue Intensives

Both Story-Clearing and Single-Issue EMDR intensives offer focused, extended time for trauma processing. The difference is primarily about scope, not effectiveness.

A Single-Issue EMDR Intensive often focuses on:

  • One clearly defined experience or pattern

  • A narrow, contained target

  • Recent or ongoing experiences

A Story-Clearing EMDR Intensive often focuses on:

  • Multiple linked experiences or relational chapters

  • Patterns that developed over time

  • Holding the broader context while working in a structured way

Choosing between these formats depends on what you want to work on and how contained or expansive the focus needs to be.

Who This Format May Not Be the Right Starting Point For

A Story-Clearing EMDR Intensive may not be the best place to start if:

  • There is one clearly-defined, specific issue that feels ready to be addressed on its own

  • Stabilization or foundational support is still needed

  • A shorter or more narrowly focused format would feel more regulating

In those situations, other EMDR formats may offer a more supportive entry point.

Scheduling and Investment

Story-Clearing EMDR Intensives are designed for work that spans multiple linked experiences or relational chapters across your life history and are typically structured as multi-day experiences.

Scheduling

Most Story-Clearing EMDR Intensives are scheduled over four to five days total. Because people’s experiences and the ways they’ve adapted to them vary, the exact length is shaped by the scope of the work, how your system responds to processing, and what feels most supportive given your current capacity and resources.

Investment

  • Half-day (4 hours): $800

  • Full-day (8 hours): $1,600

Story-Clearing EMDR Intensives are billed based on the actual time used, rounded by the half day, rather than as a bundled package.

A 50% deposit is required to reserve intensive time. The remaining balance is collected after the intensive, based on the time used.

Frequently Asked Questions About Story-Clearing EMDR Intensives

  • Single-issue intensives stay focused on one defined target, while story-clearing intensives work across multiple connected experiences or patterns. The difference is about scope, not depth or effectiveness.

  • Not necessarily. The focus is on the parts of your story that are most relevant to your current goals, while keeping the work contained and paced rather than exhaustive.

  • In many cases, yes. Story-clearing intensives can sometimes complement ongoing therapy, depending on timing and readiness. This is something we consider together before moving forward.

  • The structure and pacing of a story-clearing intensive are designed to help you stay grounded and supported as the work unfolds, rather than pushing your system too quickly. We move at a pace that respects your capacity, with ongoing attention to what feels manageable in the moment.

Next Steps

If you’re considering a Story-Clearing EMDR intensive, the next step is simply to reach out. We can talk through what you’re hoping to work on and explore whether this format feels like a supportive fit for you right now.

→To see if another intensive therapy fits better, visit the Single-Issue EMDR Intensive page.

→To see how intensive therapy fits within the broader EMDR care model, visit the Services Overview page.

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