Therapy intensives in Gig Harbor and across Washington
Deep healing… without the wait.
Grief, motherhood and trauma don’t follow a tidy schedule. And yet traditional therapy gives you 45–50 minutes a week…
…just enough time to scratch the surface before you’re back in the whirlwind of daily life.
That’s where therapy intensives come in. Instead of spreading out the work across months, an intensive allows you to spend focused time creating meaningful change and building a sense of hope. In an intensive you may dive into processing grief or trauma, untangling patterns holding you back, and learning tools you can actually carry into your life right away.
Whether you’re a mom grieving a miscarriage, a woman navigating the loss of a parent, or simply exhausted from holding everything together while privately falling apart, an intensive gives you the gift of:
Time to go deep without interruption.
Relief from carrying it all alone.
Momentum when you feel stuck in your healing.
Tools you can actually use when the hard moments come.
Think of it as hitting pause on the chaos so you can finally give yourself the care you keep putting off.
How does a therapy intensive work?
You can expect a customized therapy intensive to include:
a complimentary consultation about what you’re carrying to see if an intensive approach is right for you
intensive session with a length chosen by you (90 minutes, 3 hours or 6 hours) to do focused work. Leave your intensive with clarity or relief, language for the experience you’re holding, tools, next steps and steadiness to guide you forward.
a follow up session if needed and desired (45 minutes)
-
Intensives for Grief
Grief is a universal, human experience and yet it can feel so isolating and overwhelming. In a Grief Intensive we can explore:
Your unique loss experience, including loss that may not feel recognized or cared for by society or the people around you
Stuck points and trauma related to your grief and ability to live forward meaningfully
How your grief is showing up in your body, emotions, relationships and world around you
Honoring the complexity of your loss, including multiple losses, traumatic loss, and death that feels stigmatized
Coping strategies for navigating living with grief, including on the hardest days of grief where you feel knocked off your feet
Anticipating and planning for difficult seasons, anniversaries and milestones in your grief
Exploring ways to maintain connection with your loved one while living forward into this chapter of your life
-
Intensives for Postpartum and Transition to Motherhood
Transitioning into motherhood can feel like a chaotic whirlwind, often revealing unexpected and challenging moments (even when there is so much love and joy). Therapy Intensives for this season of life help you to:
Unhook from unhelpful personal beliefs that are holding you back
Explore what you thought motherhood “should” look like and examine how those thoughts are different than your reality
Identify symptoms of postpartum depression or postpartum anxiety that deserve time and attention for healing
Begin to tackle underlying perfectionism and fear of “not doing it right” which burns you out, not allowing you to show up fully in your life
Explore and plan for better navigating the invisible load of motherhood without it feeling like you’re suffocating
Acknowledge and navigate the surprising surge of postpartum anger that it seems like no one talks about
Reignite, celebrate and honor the fullness of who you are (not just in your role as mom!)
-
Therapy Intensives for the Messy Middle
Therapy intensives and extended sessions allow you the time and space you deserve to explore and navigate this current season of your life. Through uninterrupted and focused time we explore:
Your current season of life in all of its messiness, recognizing that you’re creating the roadmap instead of being able to follow a scripted plan — and that’s so hard for the Type A in many of us!
Inner people-pleasing and perfectionistic tendencies that keep you stuck in unhelpful spaces, feeling exhausted and burned out while being busier than ever
Painful life experiences that have interrupted your life, causing grief, pain and uncertainty
Strategies for honoring the space you’re in today while exploring ways to move towards a life chapter that includes more peace, alignment and ease.
What on earth is a therapy intensive?
-
A therapy intensive is an extended therapy session. In this modern approach to therapy you experience an opportunity to engage in therapy over the course of several hours and/or days.
These extended sessions allow for unhurried time to receive in-depth support grounded in your current needs, goals and circumstances. Often clients who engage in intensives find they are able to move into their healing and towards their goals at an accelerated pace.
Some clients have likened therapy intensives to the FastPass at Disney—skipping the waitlist for weekly services and jumping right into the main event.
Extended sessions offer you the ability to set the pacing for your work in a way that is unique for your needs, not based on what can be accomplished in a 50 minute session (which actually is simply an arbitrary number of minutes designated by medical insurance companies).
-
You may be drawn to the format of a extended sessions or therapy intensives due to schedule constraints (unpredictable work schedules, childcare considerations, etc) that make traditional 50-minute weekly sessions challenging.
You may notice that 50 minutes is not enough time to dive into what brings you to therapy or that you lose traction between sessions.
An intensive/extended therapy approach allows you to take an unhurried approach to critically important life circumstances, healing and goals.
Therapy Intensives also can jump-start your progress towards your goals. By creating distraction-free, focused time, you are providing your brain, body and spirit the room to dive deep while creating momentum forward into your healing.
Some of the clients I've worked with prefer to schedule extended sessions as part of a self-care commitment, building a day or two of healing practices around their intensive.
-
Imagine accomplishing 6 months of therapy work within a week? In traditional 45 minute models, clients spend 10-15 minutes orienting, catching up and wrapping up. This allows only 30 minutes or so to work on the core needs and goals.
Therapy intensives, on the other hand, can provide overall time and money savings by reducing the time in therapy and being able to address your goals more quickly. You have uninterrupted, focused time to dive deep into what brings you to therapy, build the skills and support you need for navigating this season, and leave feeling the energy that comes with prioritizing your needs.
When engaging in an intensive, clients are often very focused on what brings them to the experience and find that their motivation towards their goals and healing is accelerated.
By choosing an intensive format, clients reduce or eliminate their regular weekly sessions, freeing up their time for living meaningful life.
-
Extended therapy sessions are a premium service in my practice, therefore I maintain current availability for scheduling therapy intensives within approximately two to three weeks.
Personalized intensive services in my practice are customized to your unique needs and desires, ranging from a 90 minute session to a three hour intensive session.
Depending on your clinical needs and desires, a unique plan or package can also be developed that suits you best. During a consultation call we can discuss what feels best for you and what I might recommend based on your initial goals.
I schedule extended sessions and intensive therapy with clients during times that work best for them -- weekends or evenings included.
Because this is a premium service and investment in yourself, it's important that the schedule truly works for you so that you can be fully present in your intensive experience. We will discuss all scheduling consideration during our consultation.
-
A therapy intensive is a premium service in my therapy practice. This service is uniquely tailored to your needs and goals. We will work together to determine a therapy intensive or sequence that works best for you, your goals and needs.
The most frequently scheduled extended services in my practice are:
90 minutes: $540
3 hours: $1,080
Please note that if you require evening or weekend scheduling, there is an additional surcharge.
All fees are communicated ahead of time in accordance with the No Surprises Act. Out of network reimbursement for a portion of the fee may be available through your insurance plan.
I provide free phone or Zoom consultations to discuss what therapy intensives, your goals and needs for a customized intensive. Reach out to coordinate your consultation call.
-
During our free consultation call we will discuss ways to make your Therapy Intensive be a deep, meaningful experience.
When possible, I recommend considering in-person therapy intensives in order to fully protect your time from distractions and to be able to build a rejuvenating, relaxing and comforting experience surrounding your therapy intensive.
For those not local to Gig Harbor I am happy to provide local suggestions for lodging, dining as well as additional services (massage, Reiki, reflexology, yoga, etc) that might add to your plans.
Clients preferring to work in a virtual intensive format are also supported through secure telehealth platform (within the State of Washington).
Additionally, each client will receive a personalized workbook to help you prepare for the Intensive, between sessions (if applicable) and after.
-
I do! I have a beautiful, calming office in Gig Harbor, WA. My therapy office is located within the Compassion Wellness Center which houses other mental health therapists, massage therapists and other integrative medicine services.
Considering traveling to Gig Harbor for a therapy intensive? This is such a powerful, intentional act of self care. I have had many clients who have traveled to Gig Harbor and taken 1-2 days for layering in a therapy intensive and other self-care practices. I am happy to discuss this further with you. Gig Harbor is a beautiful area with lovely scenic spaces, access to nature, shopping and restaurants.
-
Yes! Many of my clients travel from other cities in Washington and I am happy to help you think through how you might schedule your time in Gig Harbor. Some of my clients choose to rent a VRBO or AirBnb, visit scenic areas or engage in recreation in the area, or schedule other self care activities such as massage.