EMDR Intensives
In New York and North Carolina
EMDR Intensives with Marina Cline offer a concentrated, supportive approach to trauma therapy for individuals who are ready to engage in deeper healing in a shorter period of time. This model provides extended, uninterrupted sessions over one or several days, creating the space needed for thorough preparation, effective processing, and intentional integration, something that traditional weekly therapy may not always allow.
What is an EMDR Intensive?
An EMDR intensive is a structured form of EMDR therapy that takes place in extended, uninterrupted sessions over one or multiple days rather than weekly appointments. This format allows for deeper focus and continuity, without the repeated start-and-stop of traditional therapy. Each intensive includes intentional preparation to clarify goals and ensure nervous system readiness, followed by concentrated EMDR sessions and a post-intensive follow-up to support integration and stabilization. EMDR intensives are not about rushing the process, but about creating a contained, supportive space for meaningful, focused work that supports lasting integration and healing.
The Benefits of EMDR Intensives
The intensive format allows for deeper therapeutic momentum by offering extended time to prepare the nervous system, process traumatic memories, and support integration afterward. Rather than stopping sessions just as important material begins to surface, intensives provide continuity and spaciousness that many clients experience as grounding and effective.
Clients often report that intensives feel more efficient and emotionally contained, with fewer disruptions between sessions. This approach can shorten the overall treatment length while still honoring the pacing, care, and safety required for trauma work. EMDR Intensives also allow for individualized attention, flexibility, and intentional rest between sessions to support regulation and reflection.
Is EMDR Intensive Right For You?
EMDR intensives are designed for individuals who feel ready for focused trauma work and prefer an immersive, short-term format rather than weekly therapy. This approach is often helpful for those with demanding schedules, clients traveling from out of town, or individuals who feel stuck despite consistent therapy and want to work more intentionally with specific experiences.
Intensives may be a good fit if you are seeking contained, uninterrupted time to address trauma that continues to impact your emotional well-being, relationships, or sense of safety. They are especially supportive when you want momentum without rushing the healing process.
An EMDR Intensive may be a good fit if you:
Feel stuck, overwhelmed, or repeatedly triggered despite therapy
Have experienced medical trauma, pregnancy or birth complications, or loss
Have a history of single-incident or layered trauma
Have experienced abuse, neglect, or chronic childhood trauma
Survived an accident, natural disaster, robbery, or other life-threatening event
Experienced sexual assault or interpersonal violence
Helping professionals carrying secondary or vicarious trauma
If you’re unsure whether an intensive is the right next step, an initial consultation can help determine the best path forward.
When EMDR Intensives May Not Be the Right Fit
EMDR intensives are not appropriate for everyone, which is why the process always begins with an initial consultation. This helps determine whether an intensive or a different therapeutic approach would best support your needs.
If an intensive is considered appropriate, an extended intake follows to explore your history, strengths, and support systems in a thoughtful, collaborative way. Preparation includes identifying what has helped or hindered healing in the past, exploring core beliefs, and practicing grounding and regulation skills. This ensures your intensive is carefully tailored to you, helping you feel supported, prepared, and confident as you move into deeper healing work.
EMDR Intensives vs. Weekly EMDR Therapy
Both intensive EMDR and weekly EMDR therapy are effective, trauma-informed approaches the difference lies in structure, pacing, and context, not quality of care. Weekly EMDR therapy offers steady, ongoing support and is often ideal for long-term healing, complex trauma, or when consistency and routine feel grounding. You can learn more about this option on our EMDR Therapy Services page.
An EMDR Intensive is an accelerated format of EMDR therapy delivered over a much shorter period of time. In many cases, an intensive session can accomplish what might otherwise take weeks or months of weekly EMDR and trauma therapy within hours or a few days.
Intensive EMDR, sometimes referred to as short-term trauma therapy, involves extended, uninterrupted sessions conducted over one or multiple days. This approach reduces the start-and-stop nature of weekly therapy, limits reactivation between sessions, and supports greater momentum and integration.
Intensives are especially helpful when time is limited, travel is involved, or a specific traumatic experience requires focused attention. Choosing an intensive is not about doing therapy “faster,” but about selecting the format that best fits your needs, readiness, and current life circumstances.
Marina Cline’s Approach to EMDR Intensives
Marina Cline brings a relational, trauma-informed approach to EMDR intensives that prioritizes safety, containment, and depth over speed. As an EMDR-certified therapist and EMDR Consultant-in-Training, she integrates careful preparation, thoughtful pacing, and a strong emphasis on nervous system regulation and integration. Her work is also informed by Internal Family Systems (IFS), allowing space to gently address protective parts, younger parts, and internal conflicts that often emerge during intensive trauma processing.
Marina has advanced training in perinatal mental health and specializes in pregnancy-related trauma, birth trauma, medical trauma, and complex life transitions. Each intensive is intentionally tailored never one-size-fits-all, with attention to your history, strengths, readiness, and available support. Learn more about Marina’s background and approach.
Pregnancy- and Birth-Related Trauma and How EMDR Intensive can help
A significant focus of Marina Cline’s work centers on pregnancy, birth, and postpartum experiences that were frightening, overwhelming, or deeply disappointing. Trauma related to fertility challenges, miscarriage, stillbirth, termination for medical reasons, complicated pregnancies, NICU stays, or difficult births is often minimized or misunderstood, despite its lasting emotional impact.
EMDR Intensives provide a compassionate space to process these experiences without rushing or pathologizing natural emotional responses. This work honors both the medical realities and the emotional meaning of what occurred. Many individuals seek intensives to address lingering fear, grief, guilt, anger, or disconnection, especially when these experiences interfere with bonding, daily functioning, or future family planning.
EMDR Intensive Research & Evidence
EMDR intensives are gaining attention not only through client experience but also through growing research support. Studies show that intensive EMDR therapy can significantly reduce trauma symptoms and, in some cases, produce outcomes comparable to or better than traditional weekly therapy.
Research from trauma treatment programs in the Netherlands found that intensive EMDR delivered over a short period reduced PTSD symptoms while also lowering treatment dropout rates, an important factor when trauma work feels overwhelming over time. Additional findings suggest that, with proper preparation and support, intensive EMDR can be a safe and effective option for some individuals with complex PTSD. Research informs Marina’s clinical decisions, while individual readiness and nervous system safety always guide care.
What Does an EMDR Intensive Include?
An EMDR intensive is a carefully structured process designed to support safety, depth, and integration. Each intensive begins with a pre-planning session, during which goals are clarified, history is reviewed, and regulatory strategies are established to ensure readiness for focused trauma work. This preparation allows the intensive to be tailored to your needs rather than following a one-size-fits-all approach.
The intensive sessions involve extended, uninterrupted EMDR therapy over one or multiple days, allowing for sustained focus and reduced reactivation between sessions. The process concludes with a post-intensive follow-up session, typically scheduled one to two weeks later, to support integration, stabilization, and next steps.
The length and structure of intensive sessions allow clients to end treatment days at a significantly lower level of distress, with the potential for fewer post-session side effects.
Because intensive work minimizes treatment interruptions and external distractions often referred to as “crisis of the week” or day-to-day life stressors, less time is spent re-orienting or regaining momentum between sessions. With a half-day or full day dedicated solely to the client and their treatment goals, there is sufficient time to process trauma thoroughly and work toward meaningful reductions in distress.
In many cases, clients are able to accomplish what might otherwise take weeks or months of weekly one-hour sessions within one to three days.
Structure, Scheduling & Fees
EMDR intensives are offered as a self-pay service and are not covered by insurance. This model is designed for individuals seeking focused trauma work who may not have the availability or desire for traditional weekly therapy. A required two-hour pre-planning session ensures clinical fit, clarifies goals, and builds emotional regulation resources. Intensives range from a minimum of four hours to full-day or multi-day formats, with built-in breaks and integration time to support nervous system safety and depth of work.
Example Intensive Schedules
A half-day intensive typically runs from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.
A full-day intensive is commonly scheduled from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., followed by a one-hour lunch break, and resumes from 2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Multi-day or weekend-long intensives follow a similar daily structure and are planned collaboratively based on clinical needs and capacity.
Availability
At this time, Marina is not accepting new clients for long-term or individual ongoing therapy. She is accepting a limited number of EMDR intensive cases on a case-by-case basis.
Currently scheduling sessions for April 2026.
If you are seeking ongoing therapy, I warmly invite you to explore the profiles of the other skilled clinicians at Hearth Counseling & Consulting, who offer a range of specialties and availability.
EMDR Pricing & Fees
All EMDR Intensives include the full scope of services associated with this model, including intensive therapy hours, a required two-hour pre-planning session, and a one-hour post-intensive follow-up session. The follow-up session typically occurs one to two weeks after the intensive to support integration and stabilization.
Half-day EMDR Intensive: $1,750
Includes a two-hour pre-planning session, four consecutive hours of intensive EMDR therapy, and a one-hour post-intensive follow-up session.
Full-day EMDR Intensive: $2,500
Includes a two-hour pre-planning session, seven consecutive hours of intensive EMDR therapy with a one-hour lunch break, and a one-hour post-intensive follow-up session.
Three-day or Weekend-long EMDR Intensive: $4,500
Includes a two-hour pre-planning session, three consecutive days of six hours of intensive EMDR therapy per day with a one-hour lunch break each day, and a one-hour post-intensive follow-up session.
Frequently Asked Questions About EMDR Intensives
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No. EMDR Intensives are not a replacement for ongoing therapy and can be used in conjunction with it. Some clients choose intensives to focus on issues that may be difficult to address within the limits of weekly sessions, while others integrate this work alongside treatment with their existing therapist.
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No prior experience with EMDR is required. Education and preparation are built into the process to support understanding and safety. But Marina Cline encouraged clients to have been in therapy or engage in other clinical work before and after doing intensive.
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While trauma work can be emotionally meaningful, intensives are paced intentionally and grounded in regulation and nervous system safety. The goal is not to overwhelm, but to support effective processing within your window of tolerance.
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Collaboration with an existing therapist is welcomed and often helpful with your consent.
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Intensives are not appropriate for every individual or every situation. The consultation and intake process helps determine whether this approach is a good fit based on your history, current supports, and goals.
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Though EMDR intensive can be done virtually, it is best suited to a half-day session. For multiple-day EMDR intensives, it is best that the sessions are done in-person. Clients generally travel to Raleigh, NC, to meet with Marina Cline, as she is only licensed in NC and NY. If you need Marina Cline to travel to NY for the EMDR intensive, we can explore travel arrangements.
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No, EMDR Intensive is not covered by insurance, and a superbill is not provided. You will get a receipt for the cost of sessions, but it is not a superbill and should not be submitted to insurance.
Regain a Sense of Calm and Steadiness
Begin your healing journey with an EMDR Intensive. Schedule a consultation call to see if this approach is right for you.