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Writer's pictureEmily Smith

The Power of Therapeutic Intensives for Treating Childhood Trauma

Updated: Mar 28

Developmental trauma, often better known as childhood trauma, requires a very comprehensive and specialized approach in order to bring about sustainable healing and quell the long-lived pain within. For those who have experienced significant childhood adversity, traditional "talk" therapy will likely not suffice. This is where therapeutic intensives step in, offering a concentrated and immersive healing experience that can catalyze a more profound transformation than even years of weekly therapy can deliver. Therapeutic intensives for treating childhood trauma can be one of the most impactful components of a healing journey.


A consistent, safe, and secure relationship with a therapist can be such a major key to trauma treatment. After all, childhood trauma most often impacts relationship more than anything else. But what happens when you're at the end of your therapy session hour, and you're left feeling like you've only just started to scratch the surface? Or maybe you're terrified to go deeper, because you know that when the session is over you'll have to re-enter the "real world," and how will you act as if you didn't just dive into something so intense? Perhaps you really value the work between yourself and your regular therapist and there's just a level of depth around developmental trauma that they aren't trained to go to - so you're still left with these unhealed wounds untouched.


If many, all, or parts of words shared so far resonate with you and your experience, you're ready to do something about it but don't know where to go, a therapeutic intensive might be right for you. Here's why:


A Comprehensive and Tailored-to-You Approach:

Therapeutic intensives begin with a thorough assessment process, allowing therapists to gain deep insights into the client's history, attachment patterns, and trauma experiences. This comprehensive understanding forms the foundation for a tailored treatment approach that addresses the individual's unique needs and challenges. Unlike traditional therapy, where sessions are spread out over weeks, months, and often years, therapeutic intensives provide the opportunity for in-depth exploration and intervention within a condensed timeframe.


Immersion in Healing Environment:

One of the key benefits of therapeutic intensives is the immersion in a supportive and nurturing environment conducive to healing. Away from the distractions and stressors of daily life, clients can focus entirely on their therapeutic journey, creating space for introspection, reflection, and growth. If you've ever left an hour long therapy session feeling activated and unsure of how you're going to go in with your regular, every day life for the remainder of the day, this is where an intensive becomes incredibly powerful. There's nothing that says, "OK now you have to clean yourself up and get back to work/life/the kids/school/etc." An intensive experience allows you the space to organically and naturally experience your full process in whatever way shows up. Woven Wholeness offers in-person therapeutic intensives in the healing mountains of Western North Carolina - a space that is known for it's sacred, ancient medicine.


Intensive Methods:

Therapeutic intensives often incorporate a range of evidence-based psychotherapy modalities tailored to the needs of individuals with developmental trauma. These may include Brainspotting, Internal Family Systems (IFS), Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, and Somatic Experiencing, Expressive Arts, Sound Therapy, Guided Imagery and Mediation, and more. By combining multiple approaches within a concentrated timeframe, therapists can delve deeply into the underlying issues contributing to the client's trauma, and the ability that intensive experiences offer to "throw away the clock" means that we get to try exactly what works for you at exactly the times you need it, for however long you need it for.


Focus on Regulation and Integration:

Developmental trauma can profoundly impact the individual's ability to regulate emotions, form healthy relationships, and navigate life's challenges. Therapeutic intensives prioritize the development of co-regulation skills as well as self-regulation skills and the integration of fragmented aspects of the self. Through targeted interventions aimed at soothing the nervous system, fostering emotional resilience, and promoting self-awareness, clients learn to navigate their internal landscape with greater ease and coherence. During a typical hour-long therapy appointment, there is seldom time to do the deep trauma processing and also the integration work all within the same session. Intensives give you and the therapist the ability to follow the process on the timeline that you're brain and body truly need, and still have time and space to incorporate the experience into your everyday life.


Opportunity for Breakthroughs and Resolution:

The condensed nature of therapeutic intensives creates an environment ripe for breakthroughs and resolution. Clients may experience profound insights, emotional releases, and transformative shifts that pave the way for healing and growth. By immersing themselves fully in the therapeutic process, individuals can confront deeply ingrained patterns, reframe limiting beliefs, and cultivate a newfound sense of empowerment and agency in their lives. Too often clients are at the brink of a breakthrough, when they're met with the recognition that the session is over. They won't see their therapist again for a week or longer. They have to get back to their regular lives - among so many other brick walls. Intensives create the space for bursting through that brick wall and bringing immense, sustainable healing.


Woven Wholeness Services offers virtual intensives for those that recognize that they may need the prolonged experience but perhaps are not yet ready or able to commit to a full, in-person experience. In-person trauma-healing intensives are offered over a single day or two-day span, and are uniquely tailored to your needs and desires. We'll work with you, your regular therapist (if applicable), and any other member of your healing team that you deem necessary in order to create an experience that brings you as much rapid resolution as possible.


To schedule a brief consultation in order to learn more, or to get started with booking your intensive experience, reach out via our contact form.


We're looking forward to walking with in your evolution.



Therapeutic intensives in North Carolina to heal deeply rooted trauma

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