IFS-EMDR Intensive Therapy
IFS-EMDR Intensive Therapy in Maryland & Virginia | Trauma Intensives
Sometimes an hour isn't enough.
IFS-EMDR integrated intensive therapy for people who are ready to do the deep work without waiting a week between every step.
Weekly therapy is powerful. For a lot of people, it's exactly the right format.
But for some people, and some kinds of trauma, it isn't.
When the work requires sustained depth, when scheduling makes weekly sessions impossible, or when you've been in therapy before and something keeps stopping just short of where you need to go, an intensive format can change everything.
This is trauma therapy the way trauma often actually needs to be done: with enough time, enough space, and no artificial stopping point when things are just starting to move. And it's built on an authentic, integrated approach: genuine IFS-EMDR work, not two modalities running side by side, and a real therapeutic relationship rather than a technician running a protocol.
I offer IFS-EMDR integrated intensives in Montgomery County, Maryland, and virtually throughout Maryland and Virginia. Serving clients in the DC metro area, Northern Virginia, Washington DC, Delaware, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and anywhere within a few hours' drive who are ready to do something real.
Is This You?
This might be the right fit if:
You've been in weekly therapy and feel like you're circling something you can never quite reach
You have a demanding schedule that makes consistent weekly appointments nearly impossible
You want to do a defined, focused chunk of trauma work and not open-ended weekly sessions
You're already working with a therapist and want focused IFS-EMDR work on a specific issue alongside that relationship
You're a therapist who does this work with others and knows it's time to do it for yourself
You want to move at a pace that actually matches the urgency you feel about healing
You're not looking for a weekly commitment, and you want longer, less frequent sessions as your primary therapy format
You have a fear or phobia (driving, needles, bridges, claustrophobia, medical procedures, vomiting, blood) that has resisted every other approach you've tried
You've tried therapy before and felt like just when something started to open up, time was up
You're new to therapy altogether and want to start with a focused, contained experience rather than an open-ended weekly commitment
For the Executive, the High Achiever, or Anyone Who Values Privacy
You've built a life that works. Something underneath it doesn't.
You're not in crisis. You're not falling apart. You are, by most measures, doing exceptionally well.
And yet there is something. A pattern you keep returning to, a weight you've been carrying longer than you can remember, a version of yourself that feels just out of reach, that no amount of success has touched.
You've considered therapy. Maybe you've tried it. But the idea of sitting in a waiting room every Tuesday, filing insurance claims, building a years-long relationship with a provider whose schedule doesn't flex around yours, that's not a system that fits your life.
An intensive is different.
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No insurance involvement means no claims submitted on your behalf, no information shared with an insurance company, and no outside parties involved in your care. Documentation is kept minimal and discreet, meeting basic standards of care while protecting your privacy. This is concierge-level, private pay mental health care. Your care stays between you and me.
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You're not spending years in weekly appointments gradually working toward something. You come in with intention, we do concentrated, meaningful work in a defined period of time, and you leave with real movement. Some people accomplish more in a single IFS-EMDR intensive than they did in years of weekly therapy sessions. That's not hyperbole. It's what focused, uninterrupted trauma processing makes possible.
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You already understand that the best outcomes require the best resources. You don't negotiate on the surgeon, the financial advisor, or the attorney. Your nervous system, and what it's been carrying, deserves the same level of serious, expert attention.
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No rigid weekly schedule. No squeezing healing into a 55-minute window between meetings. We build the format around your life and what works for you. Intensives gives you depth without the weekly commitment.
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Montgomery County (Bethesda, Potomac, Chevy Chase, Silver Spring, Gaithersburg) and the broader DC metro area, including Northern Virginia and Washington DC itself, is full of people who are extraordinary at what they do and quietly exhausted by what they're carrying. People travel from Virginia, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and West Virginia for this kind of private, intensive trauma work. If that's you, wherever you're coming from, this is for you.
For the Person Who Just Wants to Do the Work
Not everyone wants to be in therapy forever. Some people just want to heal.
There's a version of this that doesn't look like lying on a couch for ten years unpacking your childhood piece by piece. Some people are high-functioning, self-aware, and deeply tired of carrying something they know is holding them back. They don't want an ongoing therapeutic relationship. They don't want to talk about the same thing every Tuesday for the next three years. They want to go in, do the work, and come out the other side.
A trauma intensive can be that.
Think of it less like ongoing therapy and more like a dedicated retreat for your nervous system: an immersive, focused healing experience designed to move something that has been stuck, so you can get back to your life lighter than you came in.
And for others, an intensive is the beginning rather than the end, a way to build trust and make real headway before settling into ongoing work, whether that's continuing with me or with the therapist you already see.
Some people do a single half-day and walk away with more movement than they got from years of weekly appointments. Some do a few sessions over a month. Some come from out of state (DC, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Delaware) specifically because they want to do something meaningful and leave it behind them when they go home.
This isn't a shortcut. It's a different door into the same healing.
How Does an IFS-EMDR Intensive Work?
Step 1: Free 30-minute consultation. No charge, no commitment. We use that time to get to know each other, talk about your history and what you're hoping to work on, and make sure this format and this relationship are the right fit. This consultation is a preliminary conversation, not the start of a therapeutic relationship.
Step 2: Required intake session. Every intensive begins with a formal intake session, typically scheduled 1 to 2 weeks before your intensive. This is where our therapeutic relationship formally begins: we go deeper into your history, clarify your goals, complete required paperwork, and build the treatment plan your intensive will follow. The intake is billed separately from the intensive itself, at $200/hour, and is required before any intensive session is scheduled.
Step 3: The intensive itself. From there, we build a structure around what you actually need.
Three+ hours for deep healing
For people who want to dedicate focused blocks of time to deep, concentrated trauma processing.
This is the format most people picture when they think of a therapy intensive. We schedule 3 to 4 hours per day, across one or more days: within a single week, one or more weekends, or spread across two weeks, depending on what works for your life and what the work calls for. All intensives run a minimum of 3 hours, which is what sustained processing genuinely requires.
Rather than approaching something, stopping, and returning a week later, we stay in it long enough to actually move through it. There are no rigid break schedules; we work fluidly and take breaks when the work naturally calls for it, not when a clock says to.
This works especially well if you:
Want to dedicate a specific period, like a weekend or a few days, to do deep, focused work
Are traveling to Montgomery County from DC, Northern Virginia, Pennsylvania, Delaware, or West Virginia and want to make the most of your time
Have a clear target or defined period of trauma you want to move through
Are a therapist doing your own healing work and want an immersive, contained experience
Want the retreat-style feeling of stepping outside your daily life to do something transformative
Example structures:
A single 3-hour session for a focused, defined trauma target
One 3-hour session on a Saturday, plus a 3-hour session the following Saturday
4 hours over two or more consecutive days
Intensive Investment
Not sure what works for you? That's exactly what the free consultation is for. We'll figure it out together.
Private pay only. No insurance Accepted.
Free 30-minute consultation: no cost, no commitment
Intake session (required, 1 to 2 weeks before your intensive): $200/hour
Intensive sessions: $200/hour, 3-hour minimum
Sample investment (intake is billed separately and is not included in these totals):
3-hour intensive (minimum): $600
4-hour intensive: $800
10-hour intensive over multiple days: $2,000
15-hour intensive over multiple days: $3,000
Phobias, Specific Fears & Why You Can’t Talk Yourself Out of it
Some fears aren't about the past in any obvious way. They're just there. Immediate, physical, and completely out of proportion to any actual threat. You know the bridge isn't going to collapse. You know the needle won't kill you. You know vomiting is survivable. And yet your body doesn't know that, and no amount of knowing seems to change anything.
That's not weakness. That's not irrationality. That's a nervous system response that got wired in at some point: sometimes after a specific event, sometimes through accumulated experiences, sometimes in ways that don't have a clear origin story at all. The fear isn't in your thoughts. It's in your body. And that's exactly why talking about it rarely makes it go away.
IFS-EMDR is one of the most effective approaches available for specific phobias and the kinds of fear responses that don't respond to logic. EMDR works directly with the nervous system, processing and resolving the stored fear response rather than just teaching you to tolerate it. IFS helps us understand the part of you that is terrified, what it's protecting, and what it would need to feel safe enough to release it. Together, they often move things in a single intensive session that years of CBT or exposure therapy couldn't touch.
This approach works particularly well for:
Fear of driving, including highway driving, merging, bridges, or driving after an accident
Fear of bridges: the freeze, the grip, the overwhelming urge to stop the car, whether you're the driver or the passenger
Fear of flying: the dread that starts days before, the panic on the plane, the avoidance that slowly shrinks your world
Needle phobia: fear of blood draws, injections, IVs, or any medical procedure involving needles
Fear of vomiting (emetophobia), one of the most under recognized and under treated phobias
Fear of blood or medical procedures: vasovagal responses, fainting, avoidance of doctors, dentists, or necessary medical care
Procedural anxiety: fear of surgeries, MRIs, dental work, or any medical setting
Claustrophobia: fear of enclosed spaces, elevators, MRI machines, tunnels, or planes
Any fear or phobic response that has resisted other treatment
A note on intensive format and phobias specifically: phobia processing is one of the clearest fits for an intensive approach. Unlike complex relational trauma that may require more time and careful pacing, many specific phobias can be meaningfully processed in a single 3 to 4 hour session. For many people, one well-structured session is enough to move from avoidance to tolerance, and even to freedom. That's not a promise; outcomes vary, and I'll be honest with you about what's realistic, but the targeted, sustained work of an intensive is genuinely well-suited to this kind of fear.
This IFS-EMDR approach works especially well for:
Complex trauma and cPTSD — layered, relational, or developmental trauma that doesn't have a single clear event at its center; the kind that lives in the nervous system and shapes everything
Attachment wounds — early experiences of abandonment, neglect, inconsistency, or harm within relationships that were supposed to be safe
A specific traumatic event or period — something defined that you want to move through with focus and intention rather than revisiting indefinitely in weekly sessions
Anxiety or depression with trauma underneath — when the symptoms are familiar but the source has never been fully addressed in previous therapy
A note on intensive format and complex trauma specifically: complex trauma and cPTSD are different from a single-incident phobia, and it's important to be honest about that difference. This kind of trauma developed over years, often within relationships, and it doesn't resolve in a single 3 to 4 hour session the way a discrete phobia sometimes can. An intensive won't erase complex trauma or complete that work in one sitting. What it can do is create real, meaningful movement: processing a specific piece of the material, working through a defined event or pattern, or building the internal safety and capacity that ongoing healing depends on. For most people with complex trauma, an intensive is one part of a longer process, whether that's a single focused intensive, a longer multi-day format, or a series of intensives over time alongside ongoing support. We'll talk honestly in your consultation and intake about what's realistic for your specific history and goals.
The Approach
IFS + EMDR. Integrated, on Purpose
These aren't two separate modalities running side by side. This is a genuinely integrated approach where Internal Family Systems (IFS) and EMDR inform each other throughout the session.
IFS helps us understand and work with the parts of you that are protecting against the pain: the ones that have kept you functioning, kept you safe, and sometimes kept you stuck. EMDR moves the trauma through the nervous system in a way that talking alone rarely achieves.
Together, they create the conditions for the kind of deep, sustained trauma processing that an intensive format makes possible. This integration is particularly powerful for people who have tried EMDR before and felt like something kept blocking it, or who have done talk therapy for years without reaching the deeper material underneath. And because the work happens inside a real, authentic therapeutic relationship rather than a manualized protocol, it can adapt to what actually shows up in the room with you, not just what a script anticipated.
Who Is This For?
A Note About Fit
There's more than one way to work with me through an intensive:
As a standalone treatment. A self-contained piece of work with a clear beginning and end. No ongoing therapy required.
Alongside your current therapist. If you're already in therapy elsewhere, an intensive can run in parallel, giving you focused IFS-EMDR work on a specific issue while you continue your primary therapeutic relationship. I'll coordinate as needed.
As a starting point for deeper work with me. Whether you're already my client or brand new to therapy, an intensive can be the entry point into ongoing work together: a way to build trust and make real headway before settling into a longer-term rhythm.
The geographic piece is simple: intensives are open to any adult who is physically located within Maryland or Virginia at the time of service. In-person sessions take place in Montgomery County, Maryland. Virtual intensive sessions are available to anyone within Maryland or Virginia state lines at the time of the session, whether you live here full-time, are visiting, or are traveling specifically for this work.
People travel from across the mid-Atlantic region for in-person intensive work: Washington DC, Northern Virginia, Fairfax, Arlington, Richmond, Delaware, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and beyond. If you're within a few hours and ready to do something real, you're welcome here.
Intensives are a good fit for:
Any adult located within Maryland or Virginia, in-person in Montgomery County or virtually
People traveling from the DC metro area, Northern Virginia, Delaware, Pennsylvania, or West Virginia for in-person work
High-achieving professionals, executives, and busy adults who want efficient, private, results-oriented trauma work
Anyone already in therapy elsewhere who wants focused intensive work on a specific issue
Anyone new to therapy who wants a contained starting point rather than an open-ended commitment
Therapists seeking their own healing
Intensives aren't the right fit for everyone. During our consultation, we'll talk honestly about whether this format, this approach, and this timing make sense for where you are right now. If it isn't the right fit, I'll tell you and help you think through what might be.
Who You're Working With
I'm Emily Lemke, LCSW-C: a trauma therapist based in Montgomery County, Maryland, specializing in complex trauma, cPTSD, and attachment wounds. My practice is built around the cases that require more than symptom management, and the clients who are ready to do the deeper work.
I work from a genuinely integrated IFS and EMDR framework, informed by polyvagal theory, attachment research, and years of clinical experience across community mental health, residential treatment, mobile crisis, inpatient psychiatry, and psychiatric emergency intake. My approach centers on an authentic therapeutic relationship, not a manualized protocol. I've spent my career learning what actually moves people, not just what helps them cope.
Intensive work is one of the most meaningful things I do. It creates the conditions that weekly therapy often can't: enough time, enough safety, and enough continuity within a single session for real movement to happen.
Frequently Asked Questions
Logistics & Practicalities
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In-person intensive sessions take place in Montgomery County, Maryland — centrally located for clients traveling from Washington DC, Northern Virginia, Bethesda, Chevy Chase, Potomac, Silver Spring, Gaithersburg, Delaware, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. Virtual intensive sessions are available to anyone physically located within Maryland or Virginia state lines at the time of service, whether you live here or are visiting.
Many people find that traveling specifically for an intensive deepens the experience. Stepping away from daily life and into a space dedicated entirely to this work creates a kind of intentionality that supports the process.
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Intensives are billed starting at $200/90 minutes — private pay only, with no insurance accepted and no superbills provided. This is intentional: private pay means no insurance claims, no information shared with outside parties, and documentation that is minimal and discreet. Your care stays private.
A deposit is required to hold your intensive slot, with the remaining balance due before we begin. If cost is a concern, please bring it up — I'd rather have an honest conversation than have it be the reason we never talk.
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Because intensive slots require significant planning on both ends:
More than two weeks' notice: Your deposit may be applied toward a rescheduled intensive within three months.
Less than two weeks' notice: The deposit is non-refundable and the full fee applies.
No-shows or late arrivals: The full session fee applies. If you arrive late, the session ends at the originally scheduled time.
If I need to cancel: You'll have the option to reschedule or receive a full refund including your deposit.
If something genuinely unforeseen comes up, reach out as soon as possible and we'll figure it out together.
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We figure that out together in the consultation. Some people come in with a clear, defined trauma target and are well-suited for a focused 3-hour session. Others are working with more layered cPTSD or complex trauma and benefit from a longer format or an ongoing biweekly structure. There's no right answer — just what makes sense for you and what we're working toward.
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Intensive slots are limited and require more lead time than a standard appointment, especially for clients traveling from out of the area. I'd recommend reaching out as soon as you're considering this. Start with the free consultation and we'll go from there.
Safety & Support Between Sessions
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Deep trauma processing can bring things up and that's part of the process. Before we begin, we'll talk through what support looks like between sessions, identify your existing coping strategies and support system, and build a safety plan together if that's clinically appropriate. For non-urgent concerns between sessions, you can reach me through our agreed-upon method during business hours and I'll respond within 24-48 hours. Intensive therapy is not designed for continuous between-session support. Part of what we do before we begin is make sure you have what you need in the spaces between our work.
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If you are in immediate danger, please call 911 or go to your nearest emergency room. For mental health crises, call or text 988 (Suicide and Crisis Lifeline) at any time, or text HOME to 741741 to reach the Crisis Text Line. Please do not wait for a response from me in an emergency. These resources are available around the clock.
About Intensives
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Weekly therapy is structured around 60-minute sessions with a week in between. That format works well for a lot of people — but trauma processing often builds momentum within a session, and stopping at the 50-minute mark can mean repeatedly approaching the edge of something without ever moving through it. An IFS-EMDR intensive gives us the time to get there, stay there, and actually complete the work — rather than setting it down and picking it up again seven days later. For people with complex trauma or cPTSD, accelerated trauma processing in an intensive format can move things that years of weekly therapy didn't reach.
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IFS (Internal Family Systems) and EMDR are two of the most effective trauma modalities available, and they work exceptionally well together. IFS helps us understand and build a relationship with the parts of you that are protecting against pain, so that when we move into EMDR processing, those parts feel safe enough to allow it. Without that groundwork, EMDR can stall. With it, the processing tends to go deeper and resolve more completely. The two are woven together throughout the session, not alternating between approaches, but genuinely integrated.
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Intensive work tends to be most effective for people who have some capacity for self-reflection and emotional regulation — not because you need to be "ready" in a perfect sense, but because the depth and pace of this work requires a foundation of safety. We'll talk through this honestly in your free consultation. If a different starting point makes more sense, I'll tell you.
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Yes. Many clients use an intensive to do focused IFS-EMDR work on a specific issue while continuing their primary therapy relationship elsewhere. We'll talk about coordination during your consultation and intake.
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Some people are done; the work they came for is complete. Others use the intensive as a starting point and move into ongoing therapy, either with me or back with their existing therapist. We'll talk about what makes sense for you as we go.
The Free Consultation
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The consultation is 30 minutes at no charge. We'll talk about your history, what brings you to intensive work, what you're hoping to move through. There's no pressure, no commitment, and no performance required. The consultation is a screening in both directions: I'm assessing whether intensive therapy is clinically appropriate for you, and you're deciding whether this feels like the right fit.
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Come as you are, nothing to prepare. Here's what we'll likely cover:
Your previous therapy experience, including any prior EMDR or IFS work
What's bringing you to intensive work and what you're hoping to address or move through
Your goals and what you're hoping to feel differently on the other side
Practical considerations including scheduling, format, travel if applicable, and structure
You don't need answers to all of these. That's what the conversation is for.
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No. The consultation is a preliminary conversation to explore whether intensive therapy is the right fit. It doesn't establish a formal therapeutic relationship. If we both decide to move forward, that relationship begins when we complete the intake process and schedule your intensive. The consultation is confidential, but because it isn't a therapy session, the scope of that confidentiality is limited to the consultation itself.
Ready to find out if this is the right fit?
The free 30-minute consultation is where we start. No commitment, no pressure, no performance required. Just an honest conversation about where you are and what you need.
People travel from across the DC metro area, Northern Virginia, Washington DC, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and West Virginia to do this work. If you're ready, wherever you're coming from, I'd love to talk.