Intensives
trauma treatment with an intense focus for you to feel better, faster.
Time does not heal all wounds. In fact, those wounds can become more negatively ingrained in the way you think, feel, and respond. Our intensives get to the root of the problem fast so you can have the life you deserve to live.
We have found that with a focused, organized, and systematic approach you can begin to get years of work completed in just days. Engaging in intensive retreats allows you to avoid the time it takes in reviewing progress since your last session, avoid shifting attention away from your trauma treatment to other upsetting events, and avoid the time in between sessions. You will be your therapist’s only client for those days reserved and that time is solely for you. This approach has proven to be effective using EMDR therapy, imaginal rehearsal, motivational interviewing, relaxation strategies, behavioral therapy, and relapse prevention.
Memory reconsolidation for the treatment of trauma
Trauma is mis-stored information that has not been consolidated appropriately in the memory system of the brain. This is tied to the emotional centers of your brain, which are activated and can misfire when you are presented with a situation that may resemble the original experience. The research indicates a 5-hour window for memory reconsolidation. We use this sacred window to help you reprocess adverse experiences and develop new ways of coping. Intensive retreats help you to focus on the core issues and allow you to process through several traumatic events in just a few days.
Is an intensive for you?
WellMind looks forward to providing a unique, valuable, and researched-based treatment format with day-long therapy sessions with Dr. Johnson. We are able to provide a safe space for you to reprocess your trauma. WellMind does not have partial hospitalization facilities so we cannot take on cases needing psychiatric help. Our intensives are for those who have experience with therapy in the past, are functional, do not have an eating disorder, are not actively suicidal, and are free from addictions. In addition, this format is for those who have a supportive and safe home environment.
Childhood trauma
Explore the patterns of responses you received growing up and how that has developed core negative beliefs for you now.
religious trauma
Some have experienced adverse experiences with religion and would like to have a better connection with their faith but are triggered by poor decisions others have made in their spiritual upbringing.
medical trauma
Explore and reprocess medical events that have led you feeling anxious & helpless. Empower and reconnect.
sexual assault
Violations of your own body whether it was in childhood or as an adult can wreak havoc on the nervous system. Reprocess those memories so that you can begin to connect to yourself, your partner, and your own body again
combat trauma
Begin your posttraumatic growth by reprocessing the events that led to moral injury, destructive coping habits, & disconnection
Responder trauma
Whether you are a dispatcher, police officer, CBP, or firefighter, as a first responder you've experienced people's devastations, hurt, and loss. This can disrupt your own relationships, sense of self, and creates mistrust.
what to expect
It is important to know there are risks with an intensive format. You will dig deep and move forward addressing issues that you may not have ever felt ready to reprocess until now. Choosing an intensive format is a personal decision and is a brave step towards your healing. The brain continues to process in between sessions. You may experience strong emotional reactions, headache, sleep disturbance, and/or flashbacks. However, before reprocessing the past events, we work on all the supportive therapy first so that you are prepared to positively cope with these symptoms. All along the way, you will have the support of your therapist and you will both work on developing strengths and resources your very first day. Imaginal rehearsal for strong attachment figures and or peaceful places can be a very powerful resource to have when you begin to reprocess the painful memories. The result is worth the journey and moving through all of the past will create more space within you to let things be living the life you deserve.
The first thing you will experience is a full assessment identifying historical events at a surface level, identifying current symptoms and your quality of life, strengths, and resources. You will develop specific goals with your therapist and we will discuss what to expect after your intensive retreat. Coordination of care for future sessions will be addressed before ending your intensive so that you have connection for future therapy sessions outside of your retreat.
When you are ready to address the adverse experiences, you will always be grounded with one foot in the present and one foot in the past. Some events can be processed with a technique called the Flash Technique, which is used for memory reconsolidation and desensitization. Some memories may use traditional EMDR therapy using bilateral stimulation via eye-movements, tactile, and/or auditory sounds to keep you in dual-attention when processing. This bilateral stimulation also promotes cortical temporal binding in which your brain moves implicit memories into explicit awareness and this memory connects to adaptive information and becomes more functional going forward. In fact, you may never view the old memory the same way. Your intensive session may also incorporate other psychotherapy techniques to help you process. Deep Brain Reorienting (DBR) is also used to help the brain digest and reprocess the shock that’s locked in deep areas of the brain that most therapeutic techniques cannot access. This therapy provides a somatic and psychological relief like no other.
Intensive Treatment is researched-based
Get better, faster.
Research has proven the successfulness of intensive trauma-focused therapy (Ehlers et al, 2010; Gantt & Tinnin, 2007; Greenwald, 2013b,c, 2014b; Grey, 2011; Hendriks, de Kleine, van Rees, Bult, & van Minnen, 2010; Lobenstine & Courtney, 2013; Wesson & Gould, 2009). It has been shown to be successful with children and adolescents (Greenwald, 2013b,c, 2014a).
A large, well-designed randomized control study found that a 1-week intensive trauma-based therapy using evidence-based trauma therapy had the same outcome compared to the same treatment over several months; of course the only difference was that the results were achieved much more quickly in the intensive format (Ehlers et al, 2014).
Ultimately we know the cost of trauma; however, healing saves and we now know that intensives can heal quicker and save more in the long run. Intensive trauma therapy can be a high quality treatment and a wise investment that more than pays for itself.
References
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