Intensive Therapy
A convenient, customized treatment option for adults and teens 14+ in Kansas City and online throughout Missouri
Costs for intensives are higher per hour of treatment due to the level of customization and focus they require. Evening and weekend scheduling is available but may be at an additional charge. Just talk to me, we will figure things out!
$200
The assessment is a critical part of planning your individual therapy intensive. I'll get to know you, your history, and your concerns. We will identify goals and determine the right amount of time needed to get you where you want to go.
Duration: approximately 60 minutes
As a therapist, I love the structure of weekly therapy. It allows me to work with clients on long-standing issues piece by piece over time. Seeing clients weekly makes my scheduling convenient and makes my calendar look pretty. But what if weekly sessions don't work for you?
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Getting time away from your responsibilities every week is impossible.
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You're most effective and productive when you can focus on one thing for longer periods of time. By the time you get really rolling on therapy stuff, a weekly session is already over.
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Things are not going well and you need coping skills, new insights, and hope...fast. You don't need to be hospitalized, and you don't really need intensive outpatient, but you need help, NOW.
Intensive individual therapy is a convenient alternative so you can get the therapy you need so you can live the life you want .
Customized therapy on your terms
A therapy intensive might be right for you if:
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You've tried therapy before and you know all the basics. You see the patterns, but you can't seem to make the internal shift towards change. You are ready to focus, dig deep, and find solutions.
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You want a comprehensive, effective start to ongoing therapy. You want to jump start therapy work in a short period of time in order to reduce the overall time until you feel better.
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You have an event coming up, and you want to get manage your stuff before it happens. You're moving in with your partner, or your kid is moving out for college. You're at the beginning of a relationship, or the end of a career. Things are changing and you want to be ready.
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You don't find weekly or biweekly sessions appealing or doable. Your schedule is already packed, or you have a break coming up and you want to get therapy done.
If weekly or biweekly therapy is like a marathon, a therapy intensive is like a combination fitness retreat and spa day. You will push yourself, but in a structured way that leaves you with new insight and feeling ready to move forward. The intensive format saves time by cutting out: Checking in at the beginning of each session. Addressing current crises and concerns. Focusing on stabilizing and coping skills just to get through the week. Time at the end of session reassembling yourself for the day. Most importantly, an intensive provides roughly the equivalent of 2.5 months of weekly therapy or nearly four months of biweekly therapy in a short period of time.
We start with a thorough assessment scheduled before the intensive to so I can get to know you, your concerns, and we can identify your goals for our time together. You get a complete treatment plan, just like you would receive in traditional therapy, with additional customization for the intensive format. Depending on where you are in life and your goals for the Intensive, we may spend time processing relationships and events of your past or present, or your worries for the future. This process is very personal and customized to you. A structured agenda for sessions during the intensive, covering three 90-minute blocks over one or two days. Sessions will include time for talk therapy mixed with clinically proven exercises from cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT), and my own secret stash that have proven helpful with my clients. We will have least one follow-up one to two weeks out from the intensive to check in, reinforce your progress, and determine next steps.
I generally offer intensive blocks on Tuesday afternoons and Wednesday mornings, and I recommend having a buffer between intensive time and when you have to get back to your regular activities. You can also schedule your intensives on evenings or weekends for an additional fee to make it easier to do therapy without missing work or having to transition abruptly between therapy and "real life."
Yes, intensives can be done over video if you live in the state of Missouri. Due to licensing restrictions, if you live in Kansas you will need to come to the office, which is just off of I-435 on Holmes in south Kansas City.
Yes, intensives can be done over video if you live in the state of Missouri. Due to licensing restrictions, if you live in Kansas you will need to come to the office, which is just off of I-435 on Holmes in south Kansas City.
Why NOT choose a therapy intensive
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The thought of facing your "stuff" makes you break out in a cold sweat. Part of what makes weekly therapy work is its slow pace, which makes it possible to gently work around fears and defenses. Intensives are going straight to the hard work.
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You are not committed to big change. If you are ambivalent about change, you will not get as much out of an intensive. Ongoing therapy may more effectively allow us to manage that ambivalence. Engaging in an intensive means you want change, fast.
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For clinical, legal, and ethical reasons, active suicidality, mania/hypomania, schizoaffective personality disorder, and dissociative disorder with complete memory loss are not appropriate for the intensive format, although they are all disorders I work with. Please reach out if you have questions.