My Extended EMDR Sessions are an amazing EMDR intensive style therapy session which blends the benefits of a longer-form EMDR session (3 hours per session) with the flexibility of weekly/bi-weekly/monthly sessions. These sessions are perfect for the individual that wants faster results, but maybe has a bit more to work on than a weekend EMDR intensive would allow. These also function as “bonus” sessions that someone can utilize after an EMDR intensive for any material that they weren’t able to clear during their intensive experience.
The Extended EMDR Session format is powerful and structured specifically to help move you closer to your goals each and every time we meet. Typically, after each session my clients experience a noticeable shift in their understanding, increase in their awareness, and a gentle decrease in their distress. Our work together helps you uncover and heal what years of prior therapy may have not. After extended processing sessions I’ve had clients finally quit the job that has been weighing them down and land a new opportunity more aligned with their passion, stop ruminating on the ex that kept dragging them back into their life, have relief from chronic pain symptoms, and more. Because I’ve seen the good that EMDR intensive style therapy can provide, I want to demystify the process so that those seeking relief can feel informed on their options. With that in mind, let’s talk about the Extended EMDR Session structure and how it can promote rapid change.
SESSION ONE
Our very first session will set the foundation for our work together. I make sure that our sessions are filled with plenty of psychoeducation to help you understand the mechanics behind everything that we do as well as empowerment to choose our path forward. This is your EMDR experience and I want to make sure you’re in the driver’s seat.
Goal Setting
The first thing we discuss is what you want from this experience. If you could magically walk away from this experience with any 1-3 things, what would they be? This question not only sets the guide for our work together, but it also helps understand how you are functioning right now.
Body Scan
Before we dive into history taking and emotionally charged material, I’ll show you how to do a basic body scan. This is a mental activity that gives you a good understanding of your current distress level in the body, while also allowing me to assess the strength of your mind-body connection. We’ll typically follow-up your body scan with some breathwork–a type of somatic intervention–if you notice anything more than low-level distress.
Resource Installation
After we’ve reset your overall distress to a lower level we’ll begin creating and installing your first EMDR resources. While all clients will create and utilize safe place imagery, we may install other resources as needed. During your session I’ll also teach you container imagery to help with any distressing feelings between sessions.
History Taking
This is typically the meatiest bit of our first session and can take the rest of the session for some folks. We start at the beginning of your life and work all the way up to present day. We will cover topics related to your earliest caregivers, family dynamics, your developmental environment, major life events, important social interactions, romantic partnerships, and more. With history taking we “zoom in”--meaning I ask for detailed questions about specific times in your life to get an understanding of when specific core beliefs formed–and we “zoom out” in a way that allows us to notice the impact of these events across the lifespan—allowing us to identify overarching themes and potential targets for EMDR processing.
After each activity we debrief. It’s important for me to understand how you felt about doing a specific activity and to give you control in the process. We’ll end the session by practicing container and safe place imagery again.
SESSION TWO
Your second session is when we start using EMDR specific processing techniques. This can be an exciting time for clients because it is where they get to witness for the first time the healing effect of EMDR intensive therapy.
Meeting Space
If we weren’t able to get to it in your first EMDR session, we will begin your second session (after reflecting on how you’ve been since the previous session) with an amazing advanced EMDR technique that I’m trained in called “Meeting Space.” Meeting space is a wonderful tool that blends parts work (Ego State Therapy) with an advanced EMDR skill called “Flash Technique.” This unique combination allows us to not only identify where your core wounds lie across your lifespan, but also allows those parts to unburden themselves and decrease your overall distress. Clients often report after completing Meeting Space feeling like the “edge” has been taken off their emotional burden, some even stating that friends and family could tell a difference in their demeanor afterwards.
Reassess Goals
Meeting Space has the ability to be a very eye-opening experience for some. Because of this, I always debrief with clients afterwards and reassess their goals to see if they need to add, subtract, or change anything about their original goals. Throughout our time together we continually reassess to make sure that you are getting exactly what you want out of the experience.
Minimal Target
Session two is also when we process your very first EMDR target, the “minimal target.” In EMDR we will often check your “subjective units of distress” (SUDs) score. This score ranges from zero (no distress) to 10 (the most distress). The minimal target will typically be in that 3-5 SUDs range. We start at a target with this lower level of distress so that you can learn about how EMDR works in a lower stakes situation and we can be made aware of any potential pitfalls that could interfere with your processing (most people have one or two that come up and we discuss how to work around them). After your minimal target processing we’ll walk away with a better understanding of how you uniquely process, what potential targets you’d like to work on next, and some you’ll experience relief from a mildly distressing situation (work stress and friendship issues are popular minimal targets).
We close out session two by debriefing about your experience and assessing which targets or theme you’d like to focus on for next session.
SESSION 3+
After you’ve completed a session with your minimal target, the training wheels come off and we’re ready to move on to bigger targets between 6-10 on the SUDs scale. While most of your sessions will be spent doing EMDR standard protocol processing, we will spend some time utilizing Flash Technique for your most distressing targets in order to bring down their distress before you ever have to go into them. We’ll typically be able to process 1-2 targets during your session until we meet the goals that you’ve set out to achieve. For some clients this looks like doing sessions until they’ve cleaned up the majority of their negative beliefs. For other clients this looks like processing the most distressing bits and coming back after a break (weeks, months, years) to process the rest. What your path forward looks like is completely up to you.
So there you have it, the complete outline of the Extended EMDR Session process. I hope this helps demystify the process for you so that you can feel informed and empowered to make the right therapy choices for you. If you ever want to chat about any of my services, please feel free to reach out as I offer a free 15 minute consultation for anyone interested in learning more or deciding which service best fits their particular needs.
Remember: You are worthy. You are capable. You are enough.
Best, Jessica
