Intensive Therapy
A Focused Approach to Making Faster Progress
Sometimes, one hour a week simply isn’t enough. Intensive therapy gives you dedicated, uninterrupted time to go deeper, work through difficult issues, and make meaningful progress without stretching the process across months of weekly sessions.
At Lion Counseling, intensive therapy is provided by Mark Odland, a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, Certified EMDR Therapist, and EMDRIA Approved Consultant with more than 15 years of clinical experience and over 15,000 therapy sessions conducted.
What Is Intensive Therapy?
Intensive therapy is a more concentrated approach to therapy that uses longer sessions, often over several hours or multiple days, rather than the traditional one-hour weekly format. The extra time allows you and your therapist to stay focused on the issues you want to address, explore what may be driving them, and work through them without having to stop just as you’re getting somewhere.
How Intensive Therapy Works
An intensive starts by identifying what you want to work on and what you hope to get from the experience. From there, the therapy is structured around those goals, with longer blocks of dedicated time that allow the work to develop naturally rather than being dictated by the end of a standard appointment. Depending on your needs, an intensive may take place over 6+ hours or across multiple days.
Intensive Therapy vs. Weekly Therapy
Weekly therapy can be an excellent option for ongoing support and gradual progress. Intensive therapy is different because the same work is approached within longer, more concentrated periods of time.
Instead of spending part of each weekly appointment catching up, getting back into an issue, and then stopping until the following week, an intensive allows you to maintain momentum. For people who have a specific issue they want to address or who prefer a more focused approach, this can make intensive therapy a practical alternative to months of weekly appointments.
Benefits of Intensive Therapy
Intensive therapy isn’t the right approach for everyone, but for the right person it can offer several advantages over traditional weekly sessions.
Who Benefits the Most From Intensive Therapy?
Intensive therapy can be useful for many different people, but there are certain situations where having more dedicated time can be particularly valuable.
Executives and Business Owners
Executives and business owners often spend years operating under high levels of pressure while putting their own needs aside. Intensive therapy provides dedicated time away from those demands to focus on issues such as stress, burnout, relationships, anger, or patterns that may be affecting both your personal and professional life.
It can also be much easier to schedule a concentrated block of therapy than commit to weekly appointments around a busy calendar.
Couples and Marriage Issues
When a relationship has been struggling for some time, there is rarely just one issue to work through. Communication problems, resentment, intimacy, trust, conflict, and past experiences can all become intertwined. An intensive gives couples more uninterrupted time to understand these patterns, work through difficult issues together, and focus on rebuilding their relationship.
Trauma and Difficult Past Experiences
Trauma and difficult experiences from the past can continue to influence how you think, feel, react, and relate to others years later. Intensive therapy provides more time to explore these experiences and work through the emotions and patterns connected to them.
When appropriate, approaches such as EMDR intensives may also be incorporated into the intensive.
Burnout, Stress and Anger
Burnout, chronic stress, and anger often have more going on beneath the surface than the immediate pressures of everyday life. An intensive creates the time to look more closely at what is driving these reactions, identify recurring patterns, and begin addressing the underlying issues rather than only managing the symptoms.
Addiction and Compulsive Behaviors
Compulsive behaviors can become difficult to change when they are being used to cope with stress, difficult emotions, past experiences, or other underlying issues. Intensive therapy provides dedicated time to better understand what is driving the behavior, identify triggers and patterns, and work on the issues that may be keeping the cycle going.
Intensive Therapy Options at Lion Counseling
3-Day Intensive in Duluth
The 3-Day Intensive takes place with Mark in Duluth, Minnesota and provides three days of focused therapeutic work. By setting aside several consecutive days, you can step away from your normal routine, maintain momentum between sessions, and dedicate your attention to the issues you want to address.
Concierge Intensive
The Concierge Intensive is also provided in Duluth but is designed for clients who need greater flexibility. It includes priority scheduling and additional flexibility around the intensive, making it particularly well suited to executives, business owners, and others with demanding or unpredictable schedules.
Destination Concierge Intensive
For clients who would prefer not to travel to Duluth, Mark also offers a Destination Concierge Intensive where he travels to you. This option provides the greatest level of convenience, privacy, and flexibility, allowing you to undertake intensive therapy in a location that better suits your personal or professional circumstances.
How Much Does Intensive Therapy Cost?
The cost of intensive therapy at Lion Counseling depends on the length of the intensive, where it takes place, and the level of flexibility you require. We currently offer the following options:
3-Day Intensive in Duluth: $7,500
This option provides three days of focused intensive therapy with Mark in Duluth, Minnesota. It is designed for people who want to step away from their normal routine and dedicate several consecutive days to working through the issues that brought them to therapy.
Concierge Intensive in Duluth: $10,000
The Concierge Intensive provides a more flexible experience in Duluth, including priority scheduling and greater flexibility around how the intensive is arranged. This can be particularly valuable for executives, business owners, and others who need therapy to work around demanding personal or professional commitments.
Destination Concierge Intensive: $15,000
For clients who would prefer Mark to come to them, the Destination Concierge Intensive offers the greatest level of convenience and flexibility. Mark travels to an agreed location, allowing you to undertake intensive therapy without needing to travel to Duluth.
Personalized Intensive: Price Varies
Not everyone needs the same amount of time or the same intensive format. If one of the options above isn’t the best fit, Mark can develop a personalized intensive based on what you want to work through, your availability, and what would be most beneficial for you. The length, structure, location, and therapeutic approach can all be discussed during your initial consultation.
The best place to start is with a free consultation. Mark can learn more about what you want to address, answer your questions, and recommend an intensive option that makes sense for your individual needs.
