What is the First Session of a Therapy Intensive Like?
If you’ve ever been in a traditional 50 minute therapy session, then you likely know how quickly that time can go by. It’s part of why I offer therapy intensives in my practice. A therapy intensive is a shorter form of therapy that happens in three parts:
One 50 minute intake session
One 3 hour processing session
One 50 minute follow up session
There are different numbers that float around on the internet, but it’s not uncommon to hear that a single therapy intensive is the equivalent of 2-3 months of traditional weekly therapy.
If we haven’t met yet, I’m Halle Thomas, an anxiety therapist who provides weekly therapy and therapy intensives for millennials in Colorado and Oregon. In Part 1 of this series, I have an overview of First Therapy Session Anxiety. Now, I’ll be covering what the first session of a therapy intensive is like and what you can expect from the process.
I can already hear you asking, “How is the first session of a therapy intensive different?”
I’m glad you’re thinking about this! Because there are some differences.
We stay focused on one to two issues.
Unlike weekly therapy where people typically want to cover a variety of concerns, a therapy intensive is ultra focused on one to two issues. Some common concerns that people come to me with include:
Anxiety about an upcoming life event (like a wedding, a professional exam for their job, preparing to move to a new location, etc.)
Acute trauma symptoms (following a recent car accident, assault, medical trauma, etc).
Older trauma symptoms that have resurfaced
We go into it knowing we’ll be working together for a brief amount of time.
When starting weekly therapy, we go into it with the assumption that we’ll be working together for several months at minimum. With a therapy intensive, we begin knowing we’ll only be working together for 3 to 4 weeks at most.
What a first therapy session for a therapy intensive is like in my practice
Just like I did in Part 1, I’ll break this down with time stamps:
Minutes 0-5: I’ll check in about your experience with using the Telehealth platform. I’ll also make sure I’m saying your name properly. After that we’ll do a quick review of the structure of the therapy intensive and answer any questions related to my practice policies or the intensive structure.
Minutes 6-10: I’ll provide some context about the questions I’m going to be asking during our session. You’ll notice that many of the questions are focused on your current symptoms as well as any fears or worries you have related to resolving these symptoms.
Minutes 11-40: This is where we get into it! You can expect me to ask about how your anxiety and trauma symptoms are showing up in your day-to-day life. I’ll also be asking about different supports you have in your life, as well as supports you wish you had. And of course, I’ll be gathering info about your cultural and spiritual contexts as well so they’re built into your intensive as well.
Minutes 41-50: We’ll start to bring the session to a close. I’ll share a bit about how we’ll be targeting your concerns during the intensive. I’ll also give you some additional instructions on how to prepare for your intensive session. Before we officially wrap up for the day, you’ll also have the opportunity to ask any additional questions that might have come up.
The first session of a therapy intensive helps set the stage for your 3 hour intensive session.
The first session of a therapy intensive has a lot of overlap with the first session of a weekly therapy relationship. The biggest differences come down to 1) the length of time you know you’ll be working with me for and 2) the focus is on one to two issues rather than a broader scope.
Live in Colorado or Oregon and want to work together?
If you are currently located in Colorado or Oregon and want to experience a therapy intensive for yourself, click the button below to read over some FAQs and send in your contact form. You can expect to hear back from me within 24 hours.
