EMDR & Somatic Therapy Intensives in Houston, TX

At our Houston practice, Ashlie specializes in concentrated trauma treatment that combines EMDR with Somatic Experiencing—because trauma is held in the body, not only in memory. Ashlie’s intensives are available in-person at our office, designed for clients who want more than the stop-and-start rhythm of weekly therapy.

The foundation of Ashlie’s work is relationship. Before your intensive day, you’ll have a dedicated 90-minute intake and preparation session so Ashlie can understand your history, identify targets together, and build the grounding skills you’ll draw on during processing. By the time your intensive begins, you are fully prepared.

Many trauma survivors find themselves cycling through distressing memories and physical anxiety that intellectual insight alone cannot resolve. Ashlie provides uninterrupted processing, advanced clinical technique, and a genuinely soothing environment so you can experience a clear beginning, middle, and end to your healing journey.

6-Hour EMDR & Somatic Intensive

• Structure: Two 3-hour processing blocks.

• Best For: Focused single-event trauma, medical trauma, acute grief, specific phobias, or clearing a specific performance block.

• Scheduling: Can be completed over 2 consecutive days in a single week or split across 2 consecutive weeks.

9-Hour EMDR & Somatic Intensive

• Structure: Three 3-hour processing blocks.

• Best For: Moderate trauma histories, layered relational patterns, or clients who want extended processing time with structured breaks.

• Scheduling: Completed within a single week (e.g., Monday, Wednesday, Friday) or spread across 2–3 weeks.

12-Hour EMDR & Somatic Intensive

• Structure: Three 4-hour processing blocks.

• Best For: Complex PTSD (C-PTSD), developmental trauma, deep attachment work, or situations where your nervous system benefits from a roomier, more gradual pace.

• Scheduling: Scheduled within a single week or spread across 2 to 4 weeks based on your pacing needs.

Why should I choose an intensive over traditional weekly therapy?

Weekly therapy is a wonderful, highly effective format for ongoing support, skill-building, and steady growth. However, the 50-minute weekly structure has natural limitations when it comes to deep trauma work. In a standard hour, you often spend the first 10 to 15 minutes checking in on your week and the last 10 minutes winding down so you can safely drive home or return to work. That leaves only a short 25-minute window for actual trauma reprocessing—often right as you reach the core of a difficult memory.

Intensives offer uninterrupted momentum. By working in 3-hour focused blocks, you skip the start-and-stop cycle, dive straight into the work, and have ample time to process difficult memories completely and return to a grounded, peaceful state before stepping out the door. Many clients find that they can achieve in a 2- or 3-day intensive what might otherwise take 6 to 12 months of traditional weekly sessions.

How can an intensive save me money and time in the long run?

While an intensive requires a larger upfront investment, it is often significantly more cost-effective over time.

When you participate in standard weekly therapy for a year, you are paying for up to 50 individual intake checks, recurring administrative overhead, ongoing travel or lost work time, and most importantly, living through months of continued distress while waiting for relief.

By condensing months of therapeutic processing into a concentrated, high-impact window, you reduce the overall treatment timeline dramatically. You save on long-term session costs, minimize recurring time away from work or family, and reach a state of resolution and emotional ease much faster.

Do I have to live in Houston to do an intensive with Ashlie?

No, you do not need to be a local Houston resident. While sessions are conducted in-person at our boutique office, our intensives are intentionally designed to accommodate clients traveling into Houston specifically for specialized, immersive trauma care.

For traveling clients, an intensive serves as a focused therapeutic retreat. You can stay at a local hotel, step completely away from daily obligations, routines, and stressors, and dedicate a few concentrated days entirely to your healing before returning home.

Who is an intensive best suited for?

Intensives are ideal for individuals who find themselves in a few specific situations:

• Feeling stuck or plateaued: You may have done years of talk therapy and understand why you have certain patterns, but your body still reacts with anxiety, panic, or hypervigilance.
• Demanding or unpredictable schedules: Executives, physicians, business owners, attorneys, and parents who simply cannot commit to an open-ended weekly appointment block every single week.
• Complex or developmental trauma: Immersive processing allows interconnected memories from childhood or family-of-origin patterns to be resolved together as a whole system, rather than piece by piece.
• Impending life transitions: Anyone preparing for a major milestone—such as a wedding, pregnancy/IVF, career change, or surgery—who wants focused emotional preparation and relief on a specific timeline.

How are the 3-hour session blocks scheduled?

Flexibility is built into the program to honor your schedule and your nervous system’s needs. Depending on your goals:

• Concentrated Week: You can complete your 3-hour blocks all within the same week (for example, Monday/Wednesday/Friday or consecutive days) for maximum momentum and rapid progress.

• Spaced Across Weeks: You can space your 3-hour blocks across consecutive weeks to allow additional time between sessions to process, rest, and integrate changes into your daily routine.

During your initial consultation call, Ashlie will help you determine the optimal schedule for your specific goals.

Do I need to have done EMDR or Somatic therapy before?

Not at all. You do not need any prior experience with EMDR, Somatic Experiencing, or intensive therapy. Our 90-minute intake and preparation session is specifically designed to teach you the somatic grounding techniques we will use, explain how EMDR works step-by-step, and ensure your nervous system feels completely safe and prepared before any trauma processing begins.

What do clients typically notice after completing an intensive?

While every individual’s healing journey is unique, clients frequently report significant, noticeable shifts both emotionally and physically:

• A noticeable drop in baseline anxiety, panic, or hypervigilance.

• Feeling “lighter” or less weighed down by past memories.

• Thinking about a past traumatic event without triggering a racing heart, tight chest, or physical distress.

• Breaking long-standing relational patterns or self-sabotaging behaviors.

• Greater emotional capacity, improved sleep, and a restored sense of internal peace.