Therapy Intensives in Illinois
Extended focused therapy sessions
for women
Available virtually throughout Illinois
What is therapy intensive?
Therapy intensive gives you dedicated time to focus on what is actually affecting your life without having to squeeze it into a short session or spread the process across weeks. This is not simply a longer therapy session.
It is protected time set aside for you, away from the usual demands, distractions, and weekly rhythm of your life. A few hours, full day, or several days where you can turn your attention toward something that has been asking for it.
There is time to go deeper, but also time to pause, breathe, reflect, and let things settle before moving forward.
In that sense, an intensive can feel a little like a personal retreat, but with the depth, structure, and support of therapy.
You step out of your usual routine for a while and give yourself the space to focus on what is happening in your life, what needs your attention, and what you are ready to change.
You are here because you're ready to go deeper
Anxiety & Nervous System Dysregulation
You've done a lot of work on yourself. You know the tools and still your nervous system runs ahead of your intentions. Anxiety this entrenched doesn't respond to insight alone but to sustained, somatic, relational work. An intensive gives your nervous system time to actually settle into a new pattern.
Perimenopause & Identity Transition
Perimenopause is a threshold that often cracks open everything that was waiting underneath, including old pain, unresolved grief, questions about who you are now and what the second half of life is supposed to feel like. An intensive creates the space to move through this period of your more intentionally, rather than just surviving it.
Burnout & Life at a Crossroads
You've spent years pouring yourself into your family, career, the endless to-do lists. The exhaustion you're feeling right now is not something a vacation or a better schedule is going to fix. It's asking you to get real about what you've been running your life around, and what it might actually look like to start building it around yourself instead.
Trauma & Complex PTSD
Trauma work has a rhythm. You approach, you stabilize, you integrate. A therapy intensive allows us to go all the way through. To sit with what's hard until it actually shifts, and to do the integration work before you walk back into your life. For complex, childhood, or relationship trauma, this format can accomplish in days what might take months.
Relationship Crisis: Pre-Divorce & Post-Betrayal
If you're facing the end of a marriage, trying to make sense of betrayal, or standing at a crossroads in a long-term relationship, therapy intensive gives you focused time to process what happened, get clear on what you need, and begin rebuilding from solid ground, whether or not the relationship continues.
Preparing for or Processing a Major Transition
Job change, move, loss, diagnosis, marriage, divorce… These transitions need dedicated, uninterrupted space. In an intensive, you step away from the everyday chaos, get out of survival mode, and actually be with yourself long enough to figure out what you want, what you need, and where you really want to go from here..
Who are therapy intensives for
Therapy intensives are not simply more therapy packed into a longer session. The difference is what becomes possible when you have uninterrupted time. That continuity creates a different kind of therapeutic space where you can give something important your full attention rather than fitting it into the edges of your week.
You might be a good fit for a therapy intensive if:
You’ve been in therapy but still feel stuck in the same patterns.
You understand your history intellectually but struggle to feel different emotionally.
Anxiety has become more difficult to manage.
You have experienced childhood trauma or complex PTSD.
You’re navigating perimenopause or another major life transition.
You feel emotionally overwhelmed or burned out.
You notice yourself people-pleasing, over-functioning, or constantly taking care of everyone else.
ADHD symptoms have become more difficult to manage during midlife.
You want focused, uninterrupted time to understand yourself more deeply.
You simply know that something needs to change.
WHY I OFFER INTENSIVES
I know deeper healing is possible
I started offering therapy intensives because I kept noticing the same thing. Often my clients and I would get somewhere important in therapy, somewhere we had been slowly working toward, and I would look at the clock. Five minutes left and we had to stop.
There is nothing wrong with weekly therapy. I believe deeply in it, and much of my work happens that way. But I also started wondering what would happen if, sometimes, we didn’t have to keep watching the clock.
What if we had three hours or three days instead of one hour?
What if there was time to arrive slowly instead of immediately getting to work?
Time to follow something without worrying that we needed to wrap it up. Time to notice what was happening in your body.
To sit with a memory, scary feelings, or a realization long enough for something to actually shift.
And time afterward to make sense of what happened instead of rushing straight into the rest of your day.
That’s why I began offering therapy intensives. Not because I think therapy should be faster. Actually, almost the opposite.
I wanted to create more time, more room, and less rushing.
Some things need repetition over months or years. And some experiences, transitions, phases of life, past trauma benefit from having a few uninterrupted hours or days where we can stay with what keeps getting touched briefly and then put away until next week.
An intensive gives us that option. You don’t have to squeeze the most important parts of your life into one hour a week because we can give them the time they actually need.
Why therapy intensives work
Therapy intensives work because:
Less warm-up time. We get to the real work faster and stay there longer.
There are no week-long gaps. The momentum of the work does not get interrupted right when something starts to open.
Integration happens in real time. Rather than spending a week trying to hold onto what shifted in a session, the intensive itself includes time to integrate what moved.
The therapeutic relationship deepens faster. Hours of sustained, attuned connection builds trust and safety that weekly sessions take months to develop.
We can work with multiple layers in a single container. Trauma, grief, identity, nervous system, relationship patterns are all connected and addressed together rather than one part of it each week.
Therapy intensive is particularly effective for:
— Trauma that has resisted traditional weekly work
— Anxiety rooted in early nervous system patterning
— Low self-worth, shame, and inner criticism
— Relationship grief and post-betrayal processing
— Perimenopause and identity threshold work
— Burnout recovery and values clarification
— Pre-divorce clarity and/or preparation
— Grief, loss, or complicated family patterns
— Anyone who needs extended time for processing and healing
Intensives are not crisis intervention and are not a substitute for ongoing therapy They are most effective when you are stable enough to do deep work, and are seeking focused, more concentrated progress.
Approaches used in extended sessions
Somatic & Body-Based Therapy
Trauma, anxiety, and chronic stress are not just things we think about. We feel them in the body too. That is why we pay attention to what is happening in your body, not just what is happening in your thoughts.
We work with sensation, breath, and patterns of activation to help your system respond differently over time. This is an important part of my approach, especially during anxiety and trauma intensives, where we have more time to slow down and stay with what is happening.
Attachment & Relational Therapy
So much of what brings us to therapy has history in relationships. Anxiety, burnout, relationship struggles, and even the way we respond when life becomes overwhelming can be connected to what we learned early on about closeness, safety, and what we had to do to feel loved or accepted.
Together, we look at those patterns with curiosity. And because these patterns were often formed in relationship, the relationship we build in therapy matters too. It becomes a place to experience something different…
Capacity & Nervous System Regulation
There is a difference between going deeper and going too far.Throughout an intensive, we pay attention to your capacity for what we are exploring. Your window of tolerance helps us understand when you are able to stay present and connected to what is happening, and when your system is beginning to move toward overwhelm, urgency, numbness, or shutting down.
We don’t push past those signals. We work with them. Sometimes that means slowing down, sometimes taking a break, and sometimes staying with something just a little longer than you normally would.
Internal Family Systems (Parts Work)
IFS starts with the idea that we all have different parts of ourselves, and even the ones we struggle with are usually trying to help in some way.
Rather than trying to get rid of these parts, we get curious about them. We begin to understand what they learned, what they are afraid might happen, and why they have been working so hard to protect you.
Psychodynamic & Depth-Oriented Work
We explore the meaning you've made, the beliefs formed early, the patterns that have organized your life without your full awareness. This includes the larger systems that shaped you: the culture you were raised in, the gender roles you absorbed before you had words for them, the collective expectations that told you who you were supposed to be and what you were supposed to want.
Interpersonal Neurobiology (IPNB)
IPNB helps us understand how the brain changes through experience and why knowing something intellectually is not always enough to change how you feel or respond.
Your brain is constantly taking in information from your body, your emotions, your environment, and your interactions with other people. Over time, repeated experiences create familiar pathways. But the brain is not fixed. It continues to change throughout life. In therapy, we use that capacity for change by creating new experiences, paying attention to what happens in real time, and helping your brain begin to build different ways of responding.
Investment
Extended Session
2 HOURS — ONLINE
$525
Best for targeted work on one specific pattern, block, or moment when you need more than a standard session can hold. This is a good entry point.
Grounding & nervous system check-in
Core therapy work — trauma processing, parts work, somatic practices
Integration, reflection & aftercare tools
Half Day Session
4 HOURS — ONLINE
$1050
Best for exploring patterns in depth, doing sustained processing, and anchoring real shifts. Enough time to go somewhere new without the commitment of a full day.
Grounding & goal/intention-setting
2.5–3 hours deep, focused therapy with short breaks
Integration session & personalized coping plan
Full Day Intensive
6 HOURS — ONLINE
$1570
Best for exploring patterns in depth, doing sustained processing, and anchoring real shifts. Enough time to go somewhere new without the commitment of a full day.
Grounding & goal/intention-setting
4–5 hours deep, focused therapy with short breaks
Integration session & personalized coping plan
Multi-Day Intensive
12—15 HOURS — ONLINE
$2990 - $3650
Best for: profound, layered healing across multiple days. Paced to allow deep work while giving your nervous system time to integrate between sessions.
Customized across 2–4 days (weekends, weekdays, or spread over 3–4 weeks)
Progressive depth: processing, parts work, somatic regulation, attachment repair
Daily integration periods & practical forward plan
Extended Session
Pricing is based on the scope we design together.
To get a sense of investment for your situation, the consultation call is the right place to start.
Private Intensives in Costa Rica
Alongside my online therapy intensives for women in Illinois, I also offer private, one-on-one personal intensives in Costa Rica.
Sometimes stepping away from everyday life gives you the space to pay attention to yourself in ways that are hard to do at home. On Costa Rica's Caribbean coast, we spend a few days exploring what matters to you, the patterns you may feel stuck in, and the parts of yourself you want to understand better.
There is something about being surrounded by so much life that invites you to become more present. Nature has its own rhythm, and being immersed in it can help you slow down, reconnect with your senses, and become more aware of what is happening within you. It becomes part of the experience, not just the setting.
Our time together can include somatic exploration, parts work, meaningful reflections, movement, and space to simply be. There is no set agenda to follow. We shape the experience around you, what you need, and what feels important.
These personal intensives are separate from psychotherapy, offering a different kind of space for self-exploration, connection, and experience.
Frequently Asked Questions
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A therapy intensive is a longer, immersive session, or series of sessions, that creates space for deeper work than a standard 1-hour session allows. Instead of spreading things out week to week, we go further in one focused stretch.
Intensives can start at 2 hours and extend all the way to 15 hours spread across 3 or 4 days. For those who want depth without full immersion, it's also possible to stretch the work across several weeks in intensive sessions with integration time built in between. The structure is designed around what you need, not a predetermined package.
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Weekly therapy is a slow build. It works, but it takes time. An intensive is for when you want to actually dig in without waiting months to get somewhere meaningful. The longer format creates momentum. Things surface faster. You leave with real clarity, not just a homework assignment.
Intensives also draw more heavily on somatic work, parts work, and interpersonal neurobiology, which are approaches that benefit especially from uninterrupted time. The pacing is different. The depth is different. The integration happens within the container itself, not in the gap between sessions.
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It might be if you're navigating a big transition, feeling stuck, burned out, or disconnected from yourself. Or if there's a specific relationship dynamic, work situation, or life decision you want to really excavate. Or maybe it's not a big life event at all. Maybe you've just been in therapy for a while and feel like you keep circling the same stuff without ever really cracking it. You're not broken, the process just needs more room. An intensive gives you enough time to actually go deep, stay there, and come out the other side with something that finally feels different. If you're still unsure, the consultation call is the place to explore that honestly.
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No. Intensives are available to new clients. Many people come specifically for an intensive without an ongoing therapy relationship, often because they want to go deeper faster, or because the intensive format suits their current needs better than weekly work would.
If you're already working with another therapist, intensives can also be a powerful complement to that ongoing work.
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Weekly therapy is a good fit when you're looking for ongoing support, gradual growth, and continuity over time. An intensive is a better fit when you're at a crossroads, navigating something acute, feeling stuck after months or years of weekly work, or when you simply want to go deeper faster. Many people do both using an intensive to break through a particular layer, then returning to weekly work to integrate and continue.
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During: a range of things. Relief, heaviness, grief, clarity, tiredness, spaciousness. Deep work can move through all of these in a single day. This is normal, and we hold it together.
After: most people feel tired in the first 24–48 hours. This is your nervous system integrating. You may also feel lighter, more settled, or like something has quietly shifted. Some people feel emotional for a few days as the processing continues. I'll give you specific integration support to work with during this time.
This is why I ask that you protect the day or two following your intensive, not scheduling demanding obligations, giving yourself space to rest and be.
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No, therapy intensives are not covered by insurance. They are a private-pay service. Upon request, I can provide a superbill that you may submit to your insurance provider for possible out-of-network reimbursement, though reimbursement is not guaranteed and varies by plan. I accept all major credit cards and HSA/FSA cards.
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Yes. All intensives are conducted via a HIPAA-compliant video platform and are available to residents of Illinois. You'll need a private, comfortable space where you won't be interrupted and a reliable internet connection. I'll send preparation materials beforehand to help you set up your space in a way that supports the work.
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A 50% deposit is due at booking (non-refundable) and the remaining balance is due on the day of the intensive. If you need to cancel, please do so at least 1 week before your start date — cancellations within that window are charged the full amount. Payment plans for larger packages can be discussed during the consultation call. Reach out to discuss specific pricing for your situation.
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We'll connect for a complimentary consultation to talk through what you're hoping to address and whether an intensive makes sense for your situation. There's no pressure and no commitment required from that call. If it feels like a fit, we'll design the structure around you, including any preparation materials or reflections to complete beforehand.
