Trauma Intensive Therapy in Colville, Washington & Online throughout Washington, Idaho, Montana, and Texas
Targeted, systematic intervention to fast-track growth and disrupt the patterns keeping you stuck.
For many people, meaningful insight happens just as the session ends. By the next week, life has taken over again. Work demands your attention. Family needs you. Another crisis comes up. Instead of continuing where you left off, you're spending the next session catching your therapist up on everything that happened.
Over time, progress can begin to feel slow, fragmented, or difficult to sustain.
A therapy intensive offers a different approach.
Instead of spreading the work across months—or even years—we create dedicated, uninterrupted time to focus on the patterns that matter most.
Trauma Intensive Therapy
✳︎
done with slow progress
✳︎
stop-start therapy isn’t working
✳︎
break the cycle
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offered online and in person.
Trauma Intensive Therapy ✳︎ done with slow progress ✳︎ stop-start therapy isn’t working ✳︎ break the cycle ✳︎ offered online and in person.
Sometimes weekly therapy is exactly what's needed.
Sometimes it isn't.
If you've ever walked out of therapy thinking...
"I finally got to the important part...and then time was up."
...you're not alone.
Does therapy feel like venting… but not creating real change?
You might choose a therapy intensive if…
You keep getting to the “real” part of therapy right as the session ends.
You understand your patterns, but still repeat them in real life.
Weekly therapy is hard to fit into a demanding schedule.
You need focused support, not another long-term weekly commitment.
You’re ready for change now, not months from now.
Therapy has helped before, but you still feel stuck.
You notice repeating relationship or emotional patterns you can see but not shift.
You’re in a life transition or high-pressure season and need focused support.
You prefer deep, immersive work over brief weekly check-ins.
You want clarity on why patterns persist and how to interrupt them.
You want a dedicated block of time to focus fully on yourself.
A flexible alternative to weekly therapy that fits real-life demands.
Looking for a different way to do therapy?
What You Can Get in a 3-Hour Intensive
In a focused 3-hour intensive, you step out of the stop-start rhythm of weekly therapy and work with your patterns in a continuous, structured way.
In a 3-hour intensive, you step out of the stop-start rhythm of weekly therapy and work with your patterns in one continuous, structured block.
Instead of spreading pieces of the work over time, we stay with the full picture long enough for things to connect.
You will:
Identify the core pattern driving what you’re experiencing
Understand how it formed through early experiences, attachment, and family dynamics
See how it’s actively playing out in your life right now
Clarify what is keeping the cycle in place
Identify where the pattern can be interrupted
Leave with clear direction for what needs to change
By the end, what may have felt scattered begins to organize into a clear map of what’s happening and why.
You leave with clarity, structure, and direction—not just insight.
Frequently Asked Questions
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A therapy intensive is a structured, extended session designed to create uninterrupted time to work with long-standing emotional and behavioral patterns. Instead of meeting weekly over months, we work within a concentrated block of time to understand how these patterns developed and how they are currently operating in your life.
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Weekly therapy often involves starting and stopping across sessions, which can lead to fragmented progress. An intensive allows for continuous work within a single, structured timeframe so we can stay with the full pattern long enough for it to become clear and workable, rather than revisiting it in pieces over time.
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In weekly therapy, it’s common for it to take time to settle into the session—especially if you’re feeling overwhelmed or unsure where to start. Sometimes most of the session is spent getting oriented before you’re able to say what you actually came in wanting to talk about.
It’s also common for the most important or emotional material to come up later in the session, when there isn’t enough time left to fully work with it. You may leave still feeling activated, or like things were only partially expressed.
A therapy intensive removes that time constraint by creating a longer, uninterrupted space to work. This allows you to move through the initial settling-in process and stay with what matters long enough for it to actually be explored and resolved within the same session.
For many people, this creates a more complete experience—where important material isn’t cut off or carried out unfinished, and there is enough time to fully process what comes up and leave feeling more grounded and clear.
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Does research support this approach to intensive therapy?
Yes. The three-hour intensive framework isn't a shortcut; it's a structural pivot strongly backed by clinical data. Traditional weekly sessions are often built around rigid scheduling structures rather than optimal human neuroscience. Gathering your history, tracing automatic patterns, and building daily exit strategies in one concentrated block preserves clinical momentum and prevents your mind from rebuilding its typical defense mechanisms between standard appointments. [1,2]
Our exact process maps onto three major bodies of clinical research:
The Pre-Work Mandate
Standard outpatient therapy has a high premature dropout rate, with long-standing data showing nearly 50% of clients quit their treatment early. This often happens because traditional initial sessions can feel slow, administrative, and disconnected from your active goals.To prevent this, we intentionally request that you complete your biopsychosocial history and goal forms before we meet. Doing this work upfront naturally prompts you to start reflecting on your needs before arrival. It ensures we protect our valuable face-to-face time, skipping routine data collection so we can start meaningful, targeted work together right from minute one.[1]
One part of Intensive Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy (ISTDP) is noticing recurring emotional and relationship patterns, exploring where they may have come from, and asking whether they are still helping you or keeping you stuck today.
Research reviewed in the American Psychological Association's American Psychologist suggests that psychodynamic therapy is linked to lasting improvements in emotional well-being, relationships, and overall functioning, with some studies finding that these improvements continue after therapy ends. This type of therapy often includes exploring how earlier life experiences may influence the way you think, feel, and relate to others today. [1]
Cutting the Noise
The final part of the session focuses on disrupting unhelpful behavioral patterns using principles from Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). ACT uses the concept of “workability” to help individuals evaluate whether their current behaviors are helpful in moving them toward their values and desired life directions, and emphasizes increasing psychological flexibility when responding to difficult thoughts and emotions. ACT also incorporates values clarification as a central process and is applied across a wide range of psychological concerns. [1] -
You leave with a physical, personalized behavioral roadmap that we build together. The first half of our session gives you clarity on exactly where your automatic patterns came from, how they were reinforced, and what they are costing you today. The second half translates that insight into direct action.
Throughout the session, we use a structured handout to support reflection across core areas. Research using EEG and neuroimaging suggests that handwriting involves greater sensorimotor engagement and broader brain network activation compared to typing, particularly during learning tasks. This reflects differences in how information is processed during handwriting, with increased integration of motor and perceptual systems. Writing things down may support more active processing of information compared to listening alone or typing verbatim, which in some situations can improve understanding and later recall. The completed handout also provides a written reference that you can return to later to support continued reflection, refer back to if you struggle, and continue building on outside of session to support personal values and decision-making. [1]
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We structure the intensive as three separate one-hour clinical sessions with scheduled breaks in between to support pacing and reduce fatigue. We do not engage in continuous three-hour conversation. The breaks allow time to stand, move, hydrate, or eat as needed.
If you become emotionally overwhelmed or activated at any point, we can pause the session in real time and use grounding strategies to help regulate distress before continuing.
At the end of each hour, we pause briefly to summarize key insights by writing them down on a structured handout before taking a break. This process is designed to support reflection and organization of material in real time.
Session 1: Tracing the Root (60 minutes) focuses on identifying current patterns and exploring how they developed in response to earlier relational experiences. The final portion is used to complete Section 1 of the handout, followed by a short break.
Session 2: The Cost Analysis (60 minutes) explores how these patterns are maintained and their impact in current life. The final portion is used to complete Section 2 of the handout, followed by a break.
Session 3: Disruption & Daily Choices (60 minutes) focuses on building strategies for interrupting patterns and using personal values to guide responses in daily life. The final portion is used to complete Section 3 of the handout.
This structure is designed to support pacing, reflection, and integration of material across the session, rather than emotional overload or fatigue.
Weekly therapy is like trying to remodel a house in forty-five-minute blocks. Right as you open the wall to find the faulty wiring, time is up. An intensive gives us the uninterrupted time to find the root of the problem, strip out the old wiring, and leave you with a functional, fully updated blueprint that handles your daily power load without blowing a fuse.
What this therapy intensive can help with…
Cycles of feeling stuck despite high self-awareness. For motivated professionals who already understand their patterns intellectually but cannot seem to shift them in real-world situations.
The exhaustion of over-functioning. Unconsciously taking on everyone else's responsibilities, demands, and emotional weight until you run completely out of energy.
White-knuckling through daily stress. Operating on pure survival mode or adrenaline to maintain a successful outer life while feeling internally disconnected or empty.
Compromised choice-making and boundary erosion. Knowing what your values are in theory, but repeatedly abandoning them in real time to manage the immediate noise or reactions of those around you.
Repetitive relationship or emotional loops. Recognizing that your current workplace or personal stressors are actually a direct replay of old family-of-origin dynamics or early childhood roles.
Intellectualizing your problems instead of changing them. For those who have been to traditional therapy before and can explain why they are hurting, but still default to the exact same self-sabotaging actions.
How much does a therapy intensive cost?
The total investment for the three-hour intensive framework is $600.
While my traditional weekly therapy rate is $150 per hour, intensives are priced at a premium rate to account for the specialized structure, advanced clinical planning, and the comprehensive diagnostic work performed before you arrive. Your flat fee fully covers the mandatory biopsychosocial history analysis, goal-mapping preparation, your face-to-face clinical hours, and your personalized, handwritten takeaway roadmap.
Can I use my health insurance for an intensive?
I operate as an out-of-network provider for this service and do not bill insurance companies directly. However, you may be able to secure partial reimbursement depending on your specific health insurance carrier and your plan's out-of-network benefits.
If you wish to seek reimbursement, I will provide you with an official clinical invoice called a superbill after our session. You can submit this superbill directly to your insurance carrier for processing.
To learn more about your rights regarding behavioral health insurance, you can review the federal consumer guidelines on Mental Health Coverage at HealthCare.gov. [1]
Please note an important insurance limitation: Because standard insurance networks typically evaluate superbills using standard, one-hour clinical units, most carriers will only reimburse a portion of a single hour per day, regardless of the intensive's full length. I highly recommend calling the member services number on the back of your insurance card before booking to ask: "Do I have out-of-network behavioral health benefits for outpatient mental health sessions, and what is my reimbursement rate for a single standard therapy session?"
Your Right to a Good Faith Estimate (No Surprises Act)
Under the federal No Surprises Act, you have the right to receive a Good Faith Estimate mapping out exactly what your medical and mental health care will cost before you begin treatment.
Because I am operate as an out-of-network provider, this law protects you from unexpected bills or hidden fees. Once we collaboratively schedule your intensive, I will provide you with a formal, written Good Faith Estimate document detailing the exact $600 cost of your block. You can always review the official consumer protections regarding your medical bill rights at CMS.gov. You will never receive a surprise charge or un-negotiated bill from my practice. [1]
Let's connect first: Free Initial Consultation
Committing to an intensive is a financial and emotional investment. To ensure you feel completely comfortable with the process, I offer a free initial consultation before any paperwork is sent or sessions are booked.
This brief conversation allows us to put a face to a name, gives you a chance to ask any questions about our hourly structure, and lets us collaboratively evaluate if your specific goals are a good fit for the intensive format.
How intensive therapy maximizes your investment
A three-hour intensive removes the operational waste built into traditional treatment by shifting the time math entirely in your favor.
The Reality of Weekly Therapy: In a traditional 50-minute session, up to 60% of your time is absorbed by recurring transactional overhead. You spend 15 minutes catching up on the previous week's immediate stress or updates before active work can start, and another 15 minutes cooling down, winding the session back down, and handling future billing or logistics. This leaves a brief 20-minute window for deep processing.
The Architecture of an Intensive: Because we handle your timeline blueprint ahead of time through your mandatory pre-work, 84% of your investment goes directly into focused clinical resolution. We utilize a continuous, high-density block of processing time to safely trace automatic habits to their original family wiring and write out your value-aligned daily choice blueprint, without forcing your brain to start from scratch week after week.
Traditional 50-Minute Session Breakdown
The Reality of Weekly Therapy
A traditional 50-minute session typically fragments your time into three pieces:
Checking In (15 Minutes): Recapping the previous week's immediate stress before active work can start.
Active Processing (20 Minutes): The brief window where your brain is deep enough in the material to map core patterns.
Closing the Session (15 Minutes): Winding down the work and handling scheduling or billing.
You might spend a full month trying to resolve one specific stressor, costing $600 for four consecutive weekly sessions. But realistically, life happens between appointments. Your focus shifts significantly week-to-week based on immediate demands. In reality, you can easily end up in therapy for multiple months, paying repeatedly, and still not fully resolve the root issue you are dealing with right now.
Traditional 50-Minute Session Breakdown
3-Hour Intensive Value Breakdown
The Architecture of an Intensive
By packing your goals into one dedicated block, the momentum stays structured and continuous throughout the session:
Active Processing & Structured Synthesis (150 Minutes):A focused therapeutic block is used to help you recognize your patterns, learn ways to change them, gain new understanding, and make decisions that align with what matters most to you.
Between-Hour Breaks (10 to 15 minutes each): These breaks are for grounding and regulation, including stretching, using the restroom, and hydrating. During each break, we also take time to write down key insights on the handout, helping you synthesize what you’ve learned. The breaks last between 10 and 15 minutes, depending on what you need.
Our three-hour block of focused work allows for sustained attention and continuity that differs from standard weekly sessions. You do more active work in less time, which can help reduce the need to repeatedly revisit the same material across multiple appointments. You save time, reduce months of fragmented symptom focus, and avoid repeated weekly scheduling demands. You leave with greater clarity and direction more quickly.
Investment: $600 per 3-hour intensive session.
3-Hour Intensive Value Breakdown
The Bottom Line: Less time managing symptoms, more time living. Weekly therapy pays for the clock; an intensive invests in the resolution. By compressing months of start-and-stop momentum into a single, focused afternoon, you stop overthinking the patterns holding you back and walk away with a concrete, value-aligned blueprint to handle the daily noise of real life today.
More Therapy Intensive FAQS
Still have questions? Take a look at the FAQs below or reach out anytime.
If you are ready to get started, go ahead and book a consultation.
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The $600 fee reflects a highly specialized, condensed clinical package, not a typical weekly appointment. In standard therapy, your session fee only covers the 50 minutes you are sitting in the room. With this intensive framework, your investment covers extensive, behind-the-scenes work before you even arrive. It includes the comprehensive analysis of your mandatory biopsychosocial history and the strategic goal-mapping done to ensure we hit the ground running. You are paying for rapid, focused resolution that packs months of fragmented, start-and-stop weekly tracking into a single, high-efficiency afternoon.
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I operate as an out-of-network provider for this service and do not bill insurance companies directly. However, you may be able to secure partial reimbursement depending on your specific carrier and your plan's out-of-network benefits.
If you wish to seek reimbursement, I will provide you with an official clinical invoice called a superbill after our work is complete. You can submit this superbill directly to your insurance carrier for processing.
Please note an important insurance limitation regarding session length: Health insurance companies will not directly approve or reimburse a single, continuous three-hour block of therapy. Because the industry evaluates claims strictly using standard, 50-minute clinical units, your superbill will be coded and billed as three individual, consecutive one-hour sessions held on the same day.
While some insurance carriers will reimburse for multiple sessions in a single day under an intensive framework, others will only cover a portion of one single hour per day, regardless of the intensive's full length. I highly recommend calling the member services number on the back of your insurance card before booking to ask: "Do I have out-of-network behavioral health benefits, and will my plan reimburse me if my therapist bills for multiple individual sessions on the exact same day?
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You have full flexibility based on your preference and location. In-person intensives are held at our office in Colville, Washington.
If you cannot travel or prefer the comfort of your own space, sessions are available completely online via a secure, HIPAA-compliant telehealth platform. Because I hold active clinical licenses across four states, virtual intensives are fully open to any client physically located anywhere throughout Washington, Idaho, Montana, and Texas.
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In healthcare and mental health, there are legally no guarantees of a specific cure or outcome, and any provider promising one is acting unethically.
The Benefits: The structural layout maximizes your time and investment. You entirely bypass the high premature dropout rates common in slow weekly therapy, maintain deep clinical momentum, and walk out the door holding a physical, handwritten behavioral roadmap to filter out daily noise and make clear, value-aligned choices.
The Risks: Tracing lifelong behavioral patterns to their early family origins can cause significant emotional activation and temporary fatigue. To manage this risk, we structure the three hours exactly like three separate, one-hour sessions with mandatory breaks to walk around, rest, and eat. Crucially, if you feel overwhelmed at any point during our work, we will pause in real time, and I will actively guide you through a grounding exercise to safely de-escalate and reset your nervous system.
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The process begins with a free initial consultation. This brief, no-obligation conversation is designed to put a face to a name, allow you to ask any questions about our hourly structure, and lets us collaboratively evaluate if your specific goals are a good fit for the intensive format.
If we both decide to move forward, we will lock in your session date, complete the necessary billing, and release your mandatory pre-work packet. You will need to complete and return your comprehensive biopsychosocial history and goal forms well before our date so your brain can begin self-reflecting, and I can analyze your clinical map before you even arrive.