Cathy Wahkinney
Licensed Professional Counselor
Certified EMDR Clinician
Feelings buried alive never die.
EMDR INTENSIVES
EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) is a psychotherapy that enables people to heal from th
The traditional model of weekly psychotherapy is shifting to meet your needs. Now more than ever, we need flexibility in how we get support.
Perhaps you’ve had a felt sense that something profound has yet to change, but you’re not quite sure how to shift all the way into a new experience of yourself with your current therapist.
Maybe you now cognitively understand new things, yet your body is still confused, so you’re curious about how adjunct EMDR therapy can help.
Perhaps you’ve been meaning to get into weekly therapy for a while now, but your schedule has been so hectic and demanding that a weekly therapy appointment feels more overwhelming than supportive.
Perhaps you’re needing help — and a lot of it— right now, and you don’t want to spend months in the traditional weekly model of therapy treatment to feel better.
EMDR intensives support the busy parent with kids doing virtual learning, the working professional who has even more on their plate since COVID, or the client who needs help now. Whatever the reason that weekly sessions just won’t work for you, EMDR intensives are available to support you during times you need help the most.
I offer EMDR intensives for clients when they are needing extra support, as well as new clients who prefer to work intensively.
EMDR is not just for trauma; it is also used for performance enhancement to excel in areas such as athletics, business, and relationships.
EMDR intensives are personalized treatment plans that allow you to skip the waitlist by giving you faster access to select spots, and are designed to support your preferred schedule and timeline for your treatment goals.
RESEARCH ON INTENSIVE EMDR THERAPY IS POSITIVE
-
Intensive application of trauma-focused therapy seems to be well tolerated in patients with PTSD, enabling faster symptom reduction with similar, or even better, results, while reducing the risk that patients drop out prematurely. Learn more here and here.
-
Intensive EMDR treatment is feasible and is indicative of reliable improvement in PTSD symptoms in a very short time frame. Learn more here.
-
An intensive program using EMDR therapy is a potentially safe and effective treatment alternative for complex PTSD. Learn more here.
-
The economy is compelling: even compared to other trauma therapy, the intensive format may decrease treatment time, because of time not spent on a) checking in at the beginning of each session, b) addressing current crises and concerns, c) focusing on stabilizing and coping skills that the client won’t need after trauma healing, or d) assisting the client in regaining composure at the end of the session. Learn more here.
YOUR EMDR INTENSIVE INCLUDES:
-
Pre-consultation interview to assess for candidacy, as well as target unpleasant beliefs, body sensations, emotions, or images from which you are seeking relief.
-
Personalized treatment workbook, which allows you to work on your treatment goals before, during, and after our EMDR intensive sessions.
-
Post-treatment interview to assess and support your adaption to positive changes from treatment.
-
A customized treatment program with targeted treatment goals. During COVID, EMDR with Cathy can also be done virtually, often for 3-9 sessions (1.5 to 2 hours each session).
*Ongoing intensive EMDR is available if you are wanting long-term support towards several treatment goals.
EMDR ADJUNCT THERAPY
We’ve all had those moments in therapy where we feel stuck or loop on issues related to negative life experiences. It can be discouraging for both the client and the therapist. Oftentimes, when the primary therapist and client collaborate with an EMDR therapist, this partnership can help move treatment forward.
I partner with primary therapists and their clients to target their clients’ specific memories, body sensations, or limiting beliefs with EMDR.
By narrowly targeting specific traumatic memories or intrusive material, adjunct EMDR can accelerate progress in traditional therapy, help the client and the primary therapist to resolve stuck points, and enrich their ongoing work.
Adjunct therapy does not replace or interrupt ongoing therapy; it is supplemental to the primary therapeutic relationship. With adjunct EMDR therapy, clients continue to receive treatment with their primary therapist.
Usually, adjunct therapy is short-term (4-12 extended sessions) and desensitizes single incident trauma or simple phobias that interfere with the client’s therapeutic gains. The success of treatment is based on clearly defined goals for the EMDR therapist, defined in collaboration with the primary therapist and client.
EMDR ADJUNCT THERAPY
We’ve all had those moments in therapy where we feel stuck or loop on issues related to negative life experiences. It can be discouraging for both the client and the therapist. Oftentimes, when the primary therapist and client collaborate with an EMDR therapist, this partnership can help move treatment forward.
I partner with primary therapists and their clients to target their clients’ specific memories, body sensations, or limiting beliefs with EMDR.
By narrowly targeting specific traumatic memories or intrusive material, adjunct EMDR can accelerate progress in traditional therapy, help the client and the primary therapist to resolve stuck points, and enrich their ongoing work.
Adjunct therapy does not replace or interrupt ongoing therapy; it is supplemental to the primary therapeutic relationship. With adjunct EMDR therapy, clients continue to receive treatment with their primary therapist.
Usually, adjunct therapy is short-term (4-12 extended sessions) and desensitizes single incident trauma or simple phobias that interfere with the client’s therapeutic gains. The success of treatment is based on clearly defined goals for the EMDR therapist, defined in collaboration with the primary therapist and client.
EMDR ADJUNCT THERAPY
We’ve all had those moments in therapy where we feel stuck or loop on issues related to negative life experiences. It can be discouraging for both the client and the therapist. Oftentimes, when the primary therapist and client collaborate with an EMDR therapist, this partnership can help move treatment forward.
I partner with primary therapists and their clients to target their clients’ specific memories, body sensations, or limiting beliefs with EMDR.
By narrowly targeting specific traumatic memories or intrusive material, adjunct EMDR can accelerate progress in traditional therapy, help the client and the primary therapist to resolve stuck points, and enrich their ongoing work.
Adjunct therapy does not replace or interrupt ongoing therapy; it is supplemental to the primary therapeutic relationship. With adjunct EMDR therapy, clients continue to receive treatment with their primary therapist.
Usually, adjunct therapy is short-term (4-12 extended sessions) and desensitizes single incident trauma or simple phobias that interfere with the client’s therapeutic gains. The success of treatment is based on clearly defined goals for the EMDR therapist, defined in collaboration with the primary therapist and client.
SAFE AND SOUND PROTOCOL - CALMING THE SYSTEM
What is the Safe & Sound Protocol?
Developed based on the Polyvagal Theory (by Dr. Stephen Porges), the Safe and Sound Protocol (SSP) is a five day auditory, non- invasive, evidenced based intervention designed to be integrated as a preparation, support, enhancement, and even accelerator of existing therapeutic treatments. SSP stimulates nervous system regulation and can help with anxiety, irritability, anger, social interaction and auditory sensitivity.
The intervention uses prosodic vocal music that has been filtered to send signals of soothing safeness that train the middle ear to tune out signals of danger (low frequency sounds) and instead take in more signals of safety (high frequency sounds such as the human voice). The music is heard through headphones in the office or via a digital app while engaging in a calm activity.
What to Expect from the SSP?
SSP assists in calming the physiological and emotional state which leads to improved communication and more successful therapy. Some of the changes that occur with SSP may occur immediately. Most changes occur over 3 months or more as the individual is able to engage and relate in new ways. Support from other therapies (art therapy, psychotherapy, OT, PT) increases gains tremendously. SSP is not a cure-all, but it can create physiological changes that are otherwise difficult to attain.
A great benefit of SSP is that we don’t have to fully understand what has caused your struggles. TSSP is not ‘talk therapy’, so discussing the backstory or your current symptoms and behaviors are not necessary. SSP is best seen as a platform to enable proactive positive choices and used as an adjunct to other therapies, rather than as a standalone intervention. It is necessary to be in therapy while participating in the SSP program. If you are not currently in therapy, we will schedule 5-7 individual therapy sessions following the end of your listening program to process the work. (*The fee for these sessions are not included in the base price of the SSP; they will be billed at my regular therapy hour rate, or you may choose to add the SSP to EMDR Adjunct Therapy or EMDR Intensive Work.
Who might benefit from SSP?
SSP can benefit individuals with:
-
Auditory sensitivity
-
Chronic anxiety
-
Depression
-
Post-traumatic stress disorder
-
Relationship difficulties
-
Social anxiety
-
Separation anxiety
-
Behavioral acting out
-
Anger
-
Learning problems
-
Sleep problems (due to worry and ruminating)
-
Self medicating (overeating, shopping, gambling)
Indications for the non-use of SSP
SSP is a “potent” intervention. Many people experience stronger emotions for a short time as their defense mechanism lower. There are some indications that SSP is not an appropriate intervention if the following is occurring:
-
Living in a home or work situation that is not currently safe
-
Current life upheaval
-
Trauma that has never been addressed in therapy
-
History of disassociation
-
Ongoing substance abuse
-
Current self harm
How does SSP work?
The first thing to understand is the importance of the autonomic nervous system (ANS). The ANS is best described as our “personal surveillance system”, always determining and responding to the question “Am I safe?”
If our ANS is continually aroused through trauma or toxic, chronic stress, the muscles of our middle ear shifts away from listening for human voice and instead listens for low-frequency background noises in preparation for the need to respond (fight or flight). This makes us much less able to be socially engaged and much more likely to be reactive.
The specially calibrated music in SSP trains the auditory pathways to focus on the frequency of human speech and to tune out the frequencies of background noises. Once the ear begins to work more normally, we are more available for social engagement (we must feel safe to be socially engaged) and thus can experience the safety of our relationships much more fully.
The Details
The SSP is a five day auditory intervention. Two additional days are added to the beginning and end of the listening program for preparation and integration.
If you are participating in the SSP remotely via the digital app, you will need to provide your own over-the-ear headphones. I will assist you in finding the type of headphones that meet the criteria for use with the protocol.