Brainspotting Intensives
Focused trauma therapy for deeper, faster healing
A Brainspotting intensive is an extended therapy session, typically 3 to 5 hours, that allows focused, continuous Brainspotting work in a single day or over multiple days.
Brainspotting is a brain-based trauma therapy that accesses subcortical processing through eye position, body awareness, and attuned therapeutic presence. Unlike traditional talk therapy, Brainspotting works directly with the nervous system rather than relying on cognitive insight alone. Check out more here.
In an intensive format, we are able to:
Stay with the processing long enough for it to complete
Avoid interrupting activation mid-cycle
Allow regulation, insight, and resolution to emerge organically
This format is especially effective for clients who feel “stuck” despite insight or years of therapy.
Only offered virtually for clients in Montana and Colorado.
Weekly Talk Therapy vs. Brainspotting Intensive
A side-by-side comparison
Please note: the clients below are fictional composites based on common clinical patterns.
Example 1: Weekly Talk Therapy Sessions
Cost: $700 for 4 weekly sessions (50 minutes each)
Allie is a 33-year-old struggling with anxiety, perfectionism, and self-doubt. She feels overwhelmed balancing her job, responsibilities, and her own needs, and she’s frustrated with the slow pace of therapy. She wants to make progress but has a hard time consistently carving out space for herself.
Weekly Session Breakdown:
1 therapy session per week, each lasting 50 minutes
~15 minutes spent on updates, check-ins, and closing
~30 minutes spent on talk therapy and light emotional processing
Total Processing Time:
In Jess’s 4 weekly sessions, only about 30 minutes of each session (on average) are available for deeper therapeutic work, totaling approximately 120 minutes (2 hours) per month.
Because sessions are brief and spaced out:
Progress can feel slow
Sessions often revisit the same themes
Momentum is interrupted week to week
Missed or rescheduled sessions further delay progress
Jess feels like she’s not getting enough uninterrupted time to make real breakthroughs.
Between balancing her job, friends, and therapy, she finds herself stuck in a loop of self-doubt and anxiety. While sessions are supportive, the constant juggling and stop-start pacing leave her feeling frustrated and discouraged.
Not ideal for meaningful progress:
Weekly talk therapy sessions are often not ideal for modalities like EMDR or Brainspotting, which require extended, uninterrupted time for the nervous system to fully process and integrate.
Example 2: Brainspotting Intensive
Cost: $750 for one 3-hour Brainspotting intensive
Sara is a 37-year-old entrepreneur and caregiver dealing with anxiety, emotional blocks, and a sense of being stuck. They’ve tried traditional weekly therapy and found it helpful for insight, but difficult to maintain with their schedule and still felt like something deeper wasn’t shifting. They decide to book a Brainspotting intensive because they’re looking for more focused, efficient progress.
Intensive Session Breakdown:
1 intensive session lasting 3-5 hours
Minimal time spent on updates or small talk
Nearly the full session devoted to deep Brainspotting and nervous-system processing
Total Processing Time:
In one Brainspotting intensive, Sara spends the full 3-5 hours engaged in uninterrupted therapeutic work, more deep processing time than an entire month of weekly sessions.
With sustained focus and continuity:
The nervous system has time to fully settle
Processing is not interrupted or cut short
Core emotional and somatic material can be worked through in one day
Sara’s intensive allows them to fully immerse in the work.
No weekly resets. No stopping just as things deepen. Just focused, contained time for healing and integration. As a result, Cori is able to address core issues, such as anxiety, trauma, or emotional blocks in a fraction of the time.
Ideal for Brainspotting and EMDR:
Therapy intensives are especially well-suited for Brainspotting and EMDR, which rely on uninterrupted processing time to be most effective. With extended sessions, the brain and body are given the time they need to complete deeper healing cycles.
Frequently Asked Questions
Still have questions? Book a free consultation
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Brainspotting intensives may be a strong fit if you:
Are experiencing anxiety, panic, or chronic stress
Feel stuck in long-standing trauma or attachment patterns
Have tried weekly therapy without meaningful movement
Have limited availability for ongoing weekly sessions
Want focused trauma therapy without dragging the process out over months
They are particularly effective for:
Developmental and relational trauma
High Anxiety, Social Anxiety, Panic or Panic attacks and creative blocks
Perfectionism and nervous system hyper-activation
Complex emotional patterns that don’t resolve cognitively
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Before the intensive
A brief consultation to assess readiness and goals
Thoughtful preparation to ensure safety and clarity
During the intensive
3–5 hours of uninterrupted Brainspotting-based therapy
Somatic pacing and regulation throughout
Breaks as needed to support integration
A calm, attuned, non-rushed container
After the intensive
Integration guidance and nervous-system support
Optional follow-up session if clinically appropriate
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Insurance typically does not cover therapy intensives.
Insurance companies are structured to reimburse standard weekly therapy sessions (usually 45–53 minutes). Extended sessions of 3–5 hours fall outside of what most insurance plans define as a covered service, even when the work is clinically appropriate and evidence-based.
For this reason:
Brainspotting intensives are offered as private pay only
Payment is due in full to reserve your intensive date
Some clients choose to submit documentation to their insurance provider independently to inquire about possible out-of-network reimbursement, but reimbursement is not guaranteed and varies widely by plan.
If you have questions about fit or logistics, we can talk through them during a brief consultation.
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All intensives are offered virtually and are private pay only.
3-hour intensive: $750
4-hour intensive: $1,000
5-hour intensive: $1,250
A non-refundable deposit is required during scheduling; the remainder of the deposit will be charged at the time of the session.
Please note: Insurance does not cover therapy intensives.
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Therapy intensives are not a replacement for weekly therapy for everyone. Some people benefit from slower, relational pacing over time. Others are ready for focused work that allows them to move through material more directly.
If you’re unsure whether an intensive is the right fit, we can talk it through together.
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ItIf you’re interested in a therapy intensive:
Reach out via the contact form
We’ll schedule a brief consultation
If it feels aligned, we’ll reserve a date
Availability is limited, and intensives are currently offered only ONLINE AND FRIDAYS ONLY.
Why Bottom-Up Processing Creates Deeper Change Than Talk Therapy Alone
Many people begin therapy through conversation gaining insight, understanding patterns, and making sense of their experiences. This top-down approach can be supportive and stabilizing, but insight alone doesn’t always lead to lasting change.
When people feel stuck despite years of therapy, it’s often because the work has stayed cognitive while the nervous system remains unprocessed.
Top-Down Processing (Talk Therapy)
Top-down therapy works through the thinking brain: language, logic, and meaning-making.
This often looks like:
Talking through emotions and experiences
Identifying patterns and core beliefs
Cognitive reframing and insight
Understanding why something feels the way it does
While helpful, top-down work primarily engages the cortex. Trauma, attachment wounds, and chronic anxiety live largely in subcortical and nervous-system pathways, which do not respond to insight alone.
Common experience:
“I understand my patterns, but nothing changes.”
Repeating the same insights week after week
Feeling better in session, but dysregulated in daily life
Getting caught in cognitive and emotional loops
Bottom-Up Processing (Brainspotting)
Bottom-up therapy works directly with the nervous system, emotional brain, and body.
This approach focuses on:
Sensation and emotional activation
Autonomic nervous system responses
Implicit memory
Subcortical processing
Rather than trying to “think” your way out of patterns, bottom-up work allows the brain and body to process and reorganize what they’ve been holding.
How Brainspotting Works
Brainspotting is a bottom-up, neurobiological therapy that accesses the brain’s natural healing capacity.
It:
Uses eye position to access where emotional material is held in the brain
Allows the nervous system to lead the process
Works beneath cognition rather than through it
Supports completion of processing cycles instead of containment
This makes Brainspotting especially effective for deeply entangled patterns that often remain stuck in talk therapy alone.
Why Bottom-Up Work Is Often More Effective
Bottom-up processing:
Creates nervous-system regulation before insight
Reduces reactivity rather than managing it
Allows emotional patterns to resolve, not just repeat
Leads to changes that hold outside of session
Clients often report feeling different, not just understanding more.
Why Time Matters
Bottom-up processing requires uninterrupted time.
Short, highly cognitive sessions can activate material without allowing it to complete. Let me repeat that Short, highly cognitive sessions (top-down) can ACTIVATE material WITHOUT allowing it to complete (aka you don’t FEEL different or better afterwards). Extended sessions, such as Brainspotting intensives, give the nervous system enough continuity to fully process and integrate.
The Takeaway?
Talk therapy helps people understand their experiences.
Bottom-up therapy helps people change them.
For trauma, anxiety, attachment wounds, and nervous-system dysregulation, Brainspotting offers a direct, efficient path to deeper healing by working where these patterns actually live.
