EMDR Intensive Therapy | Online UK-Wide & In-Person Stourbridge

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For some people, weekly therapy isn't the right shape.
You already know something needs to change. You've probably known for a while. Maybe you've tried to move on from what happened — put distance between yourself and the memory, stayed busy, pushed through — and found that it hasn't worked the way you hoped.

Perhaps you've considered therapy before, or even started it, but the idea of sitting with this every week for months feels like more than you can manage around the rest of your life. Or perhaps what happened is specific and contained — a single event, a defined period — and something in you knows that slow and gradual isn't what you need.

An EMDR intensive is a different format. Not a different therapy — the same evidence-based EMDR that research consistently supports for trauma — but delivered in a sustained, focused block of time rather than weekly across many months.

For the right person, with the right presentation, it can move what has been stuck for years.

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What an EMDR Intensive Is

EMDR — Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing — is a structured, evidence-based therapy specifically designed to process traumatic memories. Rather than talking about what happened in open-ended conversation, EMDR works by helping the brain reprocess distressing memories so that they lose their emotional charge. The memory doesn't disappear — but it stops hijacking you.

In a standard format, EMDR is delivered in 60 or 90-minute sessions, typically weekly. This works well for many people. But the weekly format has a rhythm that doesn't suit everyone: building momentum in a session, closing it down, waiting a week, starting again. For trauma that is specific and well-defined, that rhythm can feel unnecessarily slow.

An intensive changes the format, not the therapy. Instead of weekly sessions stretched across months, you work in a concentrated block — a full day of sustained, careful clinical work, with breaks built in, structured to allow deeper processing than a standard session allows.

The preparation, the processing, and the integration all happen within a single intensive period rather than being separated across weeks.

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Who an Intensive Works Best For

An EMDR intensive tends to be most effective for people with a specific, identifiable trauma — a single incident or a contained event that has left a clear mark. This might include:

• A road traffic accident, medical trauma, or sudden unexpected event

• A single episode of assault, abuse, or threat to life

• A traumatic bereavement or sudden loss

• A distressing incident from work, particularly in high-stakes roles

• A specific memory that keeps returning, even when the rest of life feels manageable

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If you've been carrying one of these for a long time — months, years, sometimes decades — and find that it still intrudes in ways you'd rather it didn't, an intensive may be well suited to your situation.

An intensive also suits people whose life circumstances make weekly therapy difficult: those with demanding or unpredictable work schedules, those who travel frequently, or those who simply don't want to be in active trauma treatment for six months when a more concentrated period of work might achieve the same result.

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Who an Intensive Is Not Right For

It's important to be honest about this, because an intensive is not the right starting point for everyone.
If your trauma is complex and relational — a long history of adverse childhood experiences, prolonged abuse, significant early attachment difficulties — an intensive is unlikely to be appropriate as an initial approach.

Complex trauma typically requires a longer stabilisation phase before active processing begins, and the intensive format doesn't allow for that. In those situations, weekly therapy, or a carefully phased approach, is usually the more appropriate path.

Similarly, if your trauma is closely bound up with ongoing stressors — a current difficult relationship, active grief, significant current life instability — we'd want to understand the full picture before deciding on format.
This is exactly what the assessment is for. I won't recommend an intensive if I don't believe it's clinically appropriate for your situation.

If it isn't, I'll tell you clearly, and we can discuss what would be.

 

The Journey: What to Expect

Step One: The Assessment
Every intensive begins with a 90-minute assessment session. This is not a formality — it is the foundation of effective EMDR, and I take it seriously.

In the assessment we will explore what brings you to therapy, the nature and history of the trauma, your current level of stability and functioning, and whether the intensive format is genuinely appropriate for your situation. We will also establish grounding and stabilisation resources — practical tools you can use to manage emotional intensity — before any processing begins.

The assessment costs £150. If you decide to proceed with the full-day intensive, this cost is absorbed into the overall fee. If, following the assessment, we agree that an intensive is not the right approach for you, the £150 assessment fee stands as a standalone charge, and we can discuss what alternative support might look like.

Step Two: The Intensive Day
The full-day intensive involves approximately six hours of clinical work, with breaks built in throughout. You will not be pushed through material at pace — the structure is responsive to what is actually happening for you on the day.

We begin with grounding and stabilisation, move into active trauma reprocessing using the standard EMDR protocol, and close the day with sufficient time to ensure you leave in a settled, integrated state. You will not finish a full-day intensive and be sent straight back to the demands of ordinary life without adequate closure.
Most people are emotionally tired after an intensive, which is a normal and expected response to sustained therapeutic work. I recommend building in a quiet evening afterwards, and ideally not scheduling demanding commitments for the following day.

After the Intensive
Many people notice continued processing in the days following an intensive — dreams, spontaneous memories surfacing, emotional shifts that weren't there before. This is a normal part of how EMDR works and is generally a sign that the processing is continuing. We will discuss this in the assessment so that you know what to expect.

A follow-up session is available, and in some cases recommended, to review how the processing has settled and address anything that has emerged. This is arranged as a standard 60-minute session at my usual fee.

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Practical Details
Format: Online across the UK — or in-person at my practice in Stourbridge, West Midlands.
In-person address: St John's Chambers, 11 St John's Road, Stourbridge, DY8 1EJ. Two minutes' walk from Stourbridge Town station. If you are travelling specifically for an intensive from outside the West Midlands, this is worth discussing in the assessment conversation.
Fees:

Assessment session: £150 (standalone, or absorbed into the intensive fee if proceeding)
Full-day intensive: £1,200 inclusive of assessment

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Online delivery:

EMDR intensives are fully available online. Online delivery uses the same structured protocol as in-person work, adapted appropriately for a remote format. Many clients find online delivery equally effective and considerably more practical. If you have questions about how the online format works, raise them in our initial conversation.

 

The Next Step

If what you've read here resonates — if you've been carrying something for longer than you'd like, and the idea of a focused, concentrated period of work feels like the right fit you can either contact me to ask any questions you may have or, alternatively, if you're ready to book the assessment directly, you can do so using the button below.

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Christian Hughes is a BABCP-accredited psychotherapist specialising in EMDR, trauma, and evidence-based psychological therapy. He offers EMDR intensives online across the UK and in-person in Stourbridge, West Midlands.